MORGANTOWN — There’s been a lot of talk about the starting quarterback, who’s in there for running back, or Zac Alley’s aggressive defensive scheme. There hasn’t been a lot of talk about special teams, even though special teams can make or break a game.

“You want to be versed in all three aspects of the game,” special teams coordinator Pat Kirkland said. “Special teams is 18 to 22% of snaps during the game.”

There’s a reason there hasn’t been much talk about special teams this offseason. It’s hard to practice. Kickers can kick field goals, punters can punt, but how do you practice full-speed kickoffs and punts? The NFL is already trying to limit the number of returns, and some want the kickoffs abolished.

It’s hard to do live special teams.

“You’ve got to limit them, because there is the potential for risk there,” Kirkland said.

Kirkland tries to keep coaching special teams in a controlled environment as much as possible.

“We’ve got to get these guys to game day for them to perform,” Kirkland said. “We’ll do some things with some half-line stuff on punt block, and maybe just a little bit of go to thud, or some stuff on kickoff and kickoff return, to try to get them as close to game-like situations as we can. You’ve got to do it because they need to be put in that environment.”

A lot can be done that’s not live, and Kirkland’s used that to decide the depth chart. Like the rest of the team, there are a lot of position battles throughout special teams.

Who the starting kicker is going to be is one of them, and Kirkland said he’s still evaluating who will place kick and kick off. West Virginia’s rostered kickers are sophomore Ethan Head from Tulane, redshirt senior Kade Hensley from Coastal Carolina, and returners Nate Flower and R.J. Kocan.

Although not going live, Kirkland recreates high-stress situations to see who separates themselves.

“It’s tough to really create that environment that they’ll see on game day, but you try your best,” Kirkland said. “You do things throughout practice randomly because a lot of times during the game, we don’t have a big heads up when we’re gonna have to go out and perform. Sometimes it’s under situations where there’s limited time or play clock, sometimes you got a little bit more, dead-ball play, you go out there and do that. We’ve been doing our best we can to put them in those situations. We still got some work to do.”

Kick and punt returners are also hard to evaluate without going live. In the limited time, Kirkland is looking for accountability because there are a lot of decisions when the ball is up in the air, and you’re alone. The returners have to decide to run it, fair catch it, let it go, and then decide where to run the ball.

“Those are the biggest things,” Kirkland said. “Accountability is first, and then you couple that with their athletic potential, which all those guys have the potential for the big play, which is exciting as well.”

Most positions are still up for grabs, but Oliver Straw looks to be West Virginia’s starting punter and holder.

Kirkland is still rotating in players at holder, but Straw’s been a bit easier to rotate in, because he doesn’t have to focus on offense, like a quarterback, who sometimes is the holder. Kirkland said the snapper to holder to kicker needs to be a “symphony,” so the more time spent practicing it, the better.

Straw punted last year for WVU and averaged 43.7 yards per punt. This offseason, Straw’s been working on switching from the roll-out, rugby punt to a more traditional punt.

“He’s very good at staying in the pocket and doing the pro-style kick, which we call the spiral kick,” Kirkland said. “He has the opportunity that he’s got a really quick operation, and he’s got a strong leg, not just from a distance standpoint, but just hang time, where your coverage gets time to get downfield.”

Although it might be hard to practice live special teams, it is important. A major turning point in WVU football history was because of special teams. Pat McAfee missed two under 35-yard field goals in the 2007 loss to Pitt, which kept the Mountaineers out of the National Championship. It was one of the biggest losses in Rich Rodriguez’s career.

If anyone’s going to take special teams seriously this year, it’s Rodriguez and WVU. They are still working on it.

“I don’t know if we’re comfortable right now,” Kirkland said. “We still got a little ways to go.”