Why Mountaineers could be in position to continue their climb

The lasting image of West Virginia‘s 2023 season, which ended with a 30-10 Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory over North Carolina, is that of coach Neal Brown covered in celebratory mayonnaise.

So, what happened to the clothes Brown wore that evening?

“Threw them away,” he said. “They went straight to the trash.”

But one thing Brown and the Mountaineers didn’t throw away from that game was the momentum they got from the win heading into the offseason. Their 9-4 record, which was their best since 2016, came after they were picked to finish 14th in the Big 12 preseason media poll, with many feeling Brown was coaching with his job on the line.

Heading back to reality today like… 🫠🥴😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 pic.twitter.com/7mBWJkLGEu

— Duke’s Mayo (@DukesMayonnaise) January 2, 2024

“There’s a ton of belief program-wide,” Brown said. “We’ve made some really important steps over the last 18 months. But the hardest part is that last piece. It’s the difference between nine wins and 11 — and winning a conference championship.”

Brown explained that once the team got back together this year, there weren’t any dramatic changes to the Mountaineers’ process.

“Just get better, each player,” he said. “We need [quarterback] Garrett Greene to improve his completion percentage. We need [running back] Jahiem White to get better in the pass game. We need [left tackle] Wyatt Milum to be dominant. We need guys just to make a little bit of improvement. We need our receiver room to raise their production on contested catches. We’ve pinpointed these really small growth areas at each position, within each player, and then within each department.

“That’s been the push since January; we need to make incremental growth. We need to be better to give ourselves an opportunity to go play in that championship game.”

Greene doesn’t think meeting those goals will be an issue.

“This spring, there were no really down practices where guys just were struggling to be there,” he said. “I think top to bottom our guys love, love playing football. We could have teed it up the Sunday after the spring game if we needed to.”

A lot of West Virginia’s fortunes in 2024 will rest on the shoulders of Greene, whose favorite players growing up were Johnny Manziel and Baker Mayfield. Greene’s game and on-field charisma emulate their styles; he even wears No. 6 as a salute to Mayfield.

“Something’s going to happen, whether it’s good or bad, something is going to happen,” Greene said. “I think I play with my hair on fire. I love to play. I’m not just going to sit back there and throw it. I love to run around getting [the defense] mixed a little bit.”

Greene finished last season completing 53.1% of his passes with 2,406 yards, 16 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He also had 120 rushes for 772 yards and 13 touchdowns.

“My expectation is he’s going to have a big year,” Brown said. “I think last year, if you go and you just look at productivity, there’s very few quarterbacks in the country that are returning that had the same type of production he had. And he missed two games.

“He’s an elite runner. He throws the ball downfield as good as anyone in college football, I think stats back that up. Our focus since January has been on intermediate throws and improving his completion percentage. And I really believe that he has a chance to go from a 53% completion percentage last year, that can be mid-60s or above.”

Greene has been spending plenty of time this offseason with his quarterback coach, David Morris, in Mobile, Alabama, working on fundamentals, particularly his footwork and body posture.

But Greene won’t be driving the offense alone by any means. The Mountaineers are 24th in the nation out of 134 FBS schools in returning production from 2023.

Offensively, based on metrics by ESPN’s Bill Connelly, they return 89% of their production, third most in the country. White and CJ Donaldson have the potential to be one of the most difficult backfields to defend in the nation. At wide receiver, Traylon Ray, Preston Fox and Hudson Clement return, and West Virginia added Jaden Bray from Oklahoma State.

And despite losing Zach Frazier to the NFL, the Mountaineers bring back an experienced offensive line group in Milum, Brandon Yates, Nick Malone and Ja’Quay Hubbard.

On the other side of the ball, Brown likes his team’s depth on the defensive line and in the linebacking group. On the line, Brown said, “I think that Sean Martin is really ready to take the next step. He’s been a three-year starter for us, but I think he’s ready to take that step and be an all-conference player, an early-round draft pick.”

In the middle of the defense, the Mountaineers lose leader Lee Kpogba, but Brown said they feel they have “high-end Big 12 players” in Josiah Trotter, Trey Lathan, Ben Cutter and Ohio State transfer Reid Carrico.

“We’re going to figure out packages, and we’re going to play them all,” Brown said. At the spur (outside linebacker), Tyrin Bradley and Gardner-Webb transfer Ty French are expected to get to the passer.

Aubrey Burks — whom Greene called the best defensive player in the country — heads the defensive backfield, along with transfer cornerbacks Garnett Hollis Jr. from Northwestern and Ayden Garnes from Duquesne.

“I think the big thing for us is we’ve got to continue to put pressure on the quarterback, limit teams in the run game, and then — for us to go from a team that was nine wins last year to a team that’s capable of going to Dallas [for the conference championship] — we’ve got to play the pass better,” Brown said. “That’s been a point of emphasis for us.”

With an experienced group and the momentum it brought from the bowl game in Charlotte to Morgantown, it will be harder for the Mountaineers to sneak up on teams in 2024.

Their spring game felt like a reflection of the optimism surrounding this group. It started with a fashion show on a blue carpet (instead of red). Lathan was rocking a “Neal Breezy” T-shirt in support of his coach.

Yall want this???👀👀 pic.twitter.com/aUfQYh0ks2

— Trey Lathan (@treylathan5) April 27, 2024

Former West Virginia quarterback Pat White and kicker Pat McAfee were the honorary captains for the Gold and Blue squads.

“Those guys are extremely busy, so spending the time to come back, it shows how important it is to them,” Brown said. “I think that’s what spring football games should be.

Still star-struck 🤩#HailWV pic.twitter.com/i1Yu1JUya3

— WVU Sports (@WVUSports) April 28, 2024

“I tell our guys, the coaches get 14 practices, you get one and we’re going to try to blow out the one you get. And I think we were able to do that.”

In the 14 practices the coaches got, Brown made sure his players received plenty of advice from former Mountaineers. The school’s all-time leading rusher, Avon Cobourne, linebacker Bruce Irvin, safety Karl Joseph and wide receiver David Sills all visited the team ahead of a season with heightened expectations.

“I think we’ve got a great opportunity opening weekend with Penn State coming in here,” Brown said. “We play a challenging schedule, but this is going to be a fun, entertaining team. And our guys love to compete. We’re going to be a tough out.”

Greene agreed.

“There’s not a single guy in the locker room that doesn’t believe that we can be playing in Dallas in the first week of December,” Greene said. “We fully believe that. We definitely have the talent in the room on offense, defense and special teams. Now, it’s just a matter of putting in the work of the summer and, when the season comes, executing.”

“Last year, we were picked to finish 14th, and we didn’t,” he continued. “This year, we felt like we should have been one of the top favorites to win it, and the odds came out and we weren’t where we wanted to be. [The Mountaineers are the 10th pick, at +1800, to win the Big 12 on ESPN BET.] So, I think everything that this team does, we kind of play with a chip on our shoulder. We did that last year. We’re going to continue with this year.

“I would just tell them to sit back and watch the show.”