When a team ends a season on a 5-1 streak and wins those five games by an average margin of 17 points, you expect a few things. First, you expect to receive some consideration in the coaches and media polls. Second, provided they return a majority of their production, you expect the focus heading into the next season to change. Massive overhauls are no longer required. Instead, we see the 2024 Mountaineers focused on little things heading into Fall camp. As for consideration in the polls, the West Virginia Mountaineers garner very little, much to Head Coach Neal Brown’s chagrin. “What gives?” That is a question he openly asks in his media appearances this offseason.
Mountaineers Focused on Little Things
Often, coaches hold back their playbook at this point in the season. Practices and scrimmages are largely closed. The open sessions include the most vanilla aspects of gameplay. Those permitted to attend have strict embargoes on saying much about what they witness. Brown’s program operates much the same way.
Members of the media receive no invitations to hang out in the locker room or position rooms. A coach rarely, if ever, says “Here is what we tell our players.” The mantra, so the speak, is kept under wraps (well, sort of). To understand what players hear in the locker rooms, we have to guess from context. Once you hear enough coaches and players speak, themes emerge. This year, the early theme we notice points to a focus on the little things.
Of course, the Mountaineers played with a young and less experienced roster last year in most position groups. As players age, however, they start recognizing the value. The light comes on, and athletes understand why the staff emphasizes time in the film room and better nutrition. Those things matter.
Fine Tuning Across the Board
In his August 9 interview, defensive line coach Andrew Jackson talks about how he leads an older group. As a result, he tells the media that he is “doing a lot of fine-tuning” with his seniors. He pushes all of his athletes to focus on what they can be good at and ignore the rest. To get there, he focuses his players on film study and technique.
According to linebacker Josiah Trotter, the film room matters. Indeed, when asked what his dad impressed upon him most, watching the film “The Right Way” clearly wins. In that study, Trotter offers clues in what he looks for. “Everything [from] how they motion [to] how they shift,” is what Trotter says he looks for. Those are small details. How a potential blocker holds his arm before the snap can tell a player a lot. The film room helps player understand what they will see, and supplements the fine-tuning Jackson references.
Offensive line coach Matt Moore adds to the chorus in his August 7 interview, too. He points to communication and “attention to detail” as the number one point of emphasis for his unit this Fall. Of course, Moore has a luxury in that he coaches the most experienced group on the team. That said, the mindset carries through. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley echoes, “The simple things make you good.”
Whether it’s a mantra, per se, remains to be seen. That said, every player and coach offered to the media through Fall camp has touched on the simple things.
The Simple Things Make You Good
Lesley provides the foundation well, but Offensive Coordinator Chad Scott completes the thought. In his August 3 interview, Scott praised his team, “I’m really pleased in their trust of doing the little things right to make the big plays.
Junior running back CJ Donaldson certainly hears Scott. When asked about what advice he offers to fellow back Jahiem White, Donaldson said, “Just stick to the little things. The little things are gonna lead you to the big things.” Fine-tuning his own statement, Donaldson added later, “Keep the main thing the main thing, and everything will work out.”
A brief look at West Virginia’s 2023 results helps frame why we see the Mountaineers focused on little things so heavily. The Mountaineers played four games where a single score made the difference. They finished with three wins and a loss in those games. They played another three games where the margin of victory (or defeat) was two scores or less. WVU finished with two wins and a loss in those games. In tight games, then, West Virginia finished 5-2 last season. With the physical brand of football most of the Mountaineers’ 2024 opponents play, they know the trend will continue. Indeed, senior safety Aubrey Burks told the media in his August 5 interview, “Every game for us is going to be a game of inches.” In contests that close, the simple things certainly matter.
If Brown’s observation that the Mountaineers “look like a contending Power Four team” is accurate, then the focus on the smaller parts should yield huge dividends. Of course, secondary coach ShaDon Brown reminded us in his own August 5 interview, “The fabric of this program is its blue-collar underdog mentality,” but “nothing’s true until you put it on the field and prove it.”
