WVU’s Brown leans into the NFL model during preseason camp

The other day on the platform formerly known as Twitter, I asked this question:
Is it college football season YET?
I’ve caught a little NFL preseason action, but in my marketing gig with Wheelhouse Creative, I’m not knee-deep in WVU or Marshall college football like in my days as a sports columnist.
Yet I can still dip a toe back in the pool occasionally. I can still whet my appetite. (Toss in any of the other cliches at your pleasure.)
Thus, I pulled up WVU coach Neal Brown’s Monday press conference on Tuesday. I’m certainly glad I don’t have to sit through and sift through coach-speak press conferences anymore, but Brown is a good speaker. He’s good to the reporters and gives them what insight he can without giving opponents an edge.
He spoke of this week as a big “prove it” week, as the camp continues through Aug. 21. Said this is a very physical week in Mountaineer Land.
“Who can prove it? Who can we count on? Who are our go-to guys?” he asked.
As always, Brown pointed to a few standouts, like defensive lineman T.J. Jackson, a senior transfer from Troy, and “Eddie V.,” aka Eddie Vesterinen, also a senior d-lineman.
Along the offensive line, he spoke of Brandon Yates “pushing through” and state native Xavier Bausley and “Sully,” aka Sullivan Weidman “making strides” along the offensive line. He mentioned Jaden Bray, the Oklahoma State transfer, with possible NFL potential, perhaps as a return man.
Then he said something I found interesting. As we all know, with money now on the table for college players, the game is becoming more of a professional sport.
So Brown mentioned the NFL model straight out. He was talking about preseason camp. He was talking about making personnel decisions from video.
“We try to give really clear feedback day to day (to the players),” he said. “These guys are graded from a percentage basis and production basis. College football is getting more like the NFL, so we’ve adopted that in our preseason camp. That was Exhibition game No. 1 (last Saturday). We have Preseason game No. 2 coming up this Saturday.
“NFL teams are cutting their rosters. We’re not cutting anybody, but we’re building up who is going to play. There’s not a lot of gray in it. Here’s what your grade was from a percentage standpoint. That’s your effort, your alignment, your assignment. This is what your production looks like. That’s basically ‘Did you make a play?’ When you were in a position to make a play, did you make a play?”
Indeed, it’s tough to hide a mistake these days. As they say, the tape doesn’t lie – especially with large staffs to break it down. The starters mostly make themselves.
Of course there’s always the human element. The “gut” when it’s close. There are the considerations like experience versus younger talent. Which player is “hungrier”?
Overall, though, Brown said the decisions are pretty cut-and-dried.
“For the most part, hey, this is what it looks like,” he said. “This is where we’re at. Of the 22 starting positions, you may have three or four tough conversations, but for the most part it’s clear who is playing.”
Brown did say, however, more personnel will play on defense with “more sub-packages than in the past.”
Now? I’m ready to see who can prove it, who WVU can count on, and who are the go-to guys.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.