File photo courtesy of Ben Queen WVU coach Neal Brown is stressing to his team to make the most out of spring drills before the start of fall camp and the arrival of freshman signees and possible transfer additions.

File photo courtesy of Ben Queen
WVU coach Neal Brown is stressing to his team to make the most out of spring drills before the start of fall camp and the arrival of freshman signees and possible transfer additions.

MORGANTOWN — Spring practice is a time for preparation and, in the West Virginia University football team’s case, identifying difference-makers.

The Mountaineers held their second scrimmage of the spring Saturday morning, but months remain between today and the release of the first official depth chart later this fall. Still, it was a day to truly test the team, simulating a game situation as much as possible in order to see truly where everybody’s skills are at.

“It’s kind of like when you’re taking a class,” WVU coach Neal Brown said, “you do your homework and your daily work as your regular practices, and these scrimmages are exams, and the exams count for more. I haven’t watched the tape, I’ll be able to give you better feedback once I watch it, but yeah, this was. We make it a point to tell them, these count for more.”

With the summer months looming — which feature the addition of numerous freshman signees and potential relocators via the transfer portal — making an impact is at the forefront of Brown’s expectations.

“What we’ve stressed to them, and what we talk about to guys in our program, is we have 15 practices where what we have on campus is what we have,” Brown said. “They know we’re gonna add pieces.

“I think we’ve got 12 or 13 that have signed that’ll be here in June, and then we’ve got another five scholarships that are open, so 18 guys will be added between now and fall camp,” he added. Those 18 guys will have an opportunity to show that they’re ready to play over the first 14, 15 practices of fall camp.”

On both sides of the football, the team is nearing completion on installing plays. With Georgia transfer quarterback J.T. Daniels in Morgantown over the weekend, attention is now taking a hard turn toward the performance of the three guys fighting to start under center.

Garrett Greene, the veteran in the quarterbacks room, continues to show growth, working on flaws previously identified in his limited game action last season.

“He made a really poor decision in our two-minute but, other than that, I thought he had a good day,” Brown said. “He had a couple good runs, made a couple nice plays outside of the pocket — which is something he’s done, but he was accurate when he got out of the pocket, and that’s something he needed to improve on.”

Freshman Nicco Marchiol is also showing progress, in addition to the typical errors a first-semester player will make.

“He had two deep balls on great throws,” Brown said. “Hit Bryce [Ford-Wheaton] on one, he couldn’t place it any better. He missed a protection that would’ve caused a big sack — freshman mistake. I thought he did a better job just managing the game. He got one delay penalty but, other than that, I thought he managed it. It’s slowing down for him a little bit.”

Five practices remain for the Mountaineers this spring, with the final being April 23rd’s annual Gold and Blue Spring Game.

Injury update

Will “Goose” Crowder, one of three competing for the title of starting quarterback, was limited in Saturday’s practice due to a rolled ankle. According to Brown, it’s not a serious injury.

Linebacker Exree Loe will be able to run next month, with the team hoping he will be full activity this summer.

Tight end Mike O’Laughlin is ahead on rehabbing his injury, according to Brown. He is getting closer to being able to jog normally, and he’s on pace to be ready for the season.

Brown could not provide an update on defensive back Saint McLeod, who was the victim of a stabbing in downtown Morgantown last month, saying he didn’t have any recent information.