National Signing Day has come and gone and it seems as though the Mountaineers’s new head coach and staff did just well. On a day where there can be highs, lows, expectations met and not met, drama and commotion; West Virginia’s football program had all in all a Wednesday. Calm, no major hiccups, and overall a pretty easy, successful Wednesday.
Newly appointed head coach Neal Brown met with members of the media to speak on the football team’s signees and recap how National Signing Day went. As seems to be the trend when Coach Brown speaks with the media, the head coach was well-thought in his works and overall happy and positive with how he felt the day went.
” It’s an exciting day; it’s not your normal signing day like in years past, but it’s an exciting day. It’s been a hectic first month, but we’ve accomplished a lot. Top priorities for us were really two fold. No. 1 was to develop relationships with our players that are currently on our roster. And the second thing was solidifying those guys that signed in December,” Brown said. “Give a lot of credit to our staff, and when I say staff, I’m not just talking about our assistant coaches, but everybody that’s involved in recruiting when a young person comes on our campus. We were able to hold onto all 18 guys that signed that were part of the December signing class, and we had little-to-no attrition on our current football team. So, give a lot of credit to all those individuals.”
Coach Brown has made the current members of the football program his top priority going into this year’s Signing Day, and his commitment to creating relationships with current Mountaineers and those incoming Mountaineers shows his desire to create unity across the board. Coach Brown has jumped in head first and has not slowed down since arriving in Morgantown early in the new year.
“I’ve been here all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. So, the first week, I was here the whole week. The good thing about this is, other than I’m speaking at a clinic in Columbus tomorrow, I’m here in Morgantown all week. I’m looking forward to getting in a routine,” Brown said. “That’s the thing, getting in a routine here. My family is moving this weekend, so I’m excited to get all us under one roof again.”
Brown also addressed the signing of transfer quarterback Austin Kendall in mid-January and how that will round out the quarterbacks currently enrolled at West Virginia.
“I think that was as big of a factor as anything. We only had two on scholarship. I have a lot of trust in (redshirt junior quarterback) Jack Allison, and I like (redshirt freshman quarterback) Trey (Lowe III). Trey is playing baseball, so his availability in the spring, depending on how baseball is going, could be limited, and we have to have more guys in that room. That’s college football. The game is played so fast in this league and you play so many plays, you better have at least three quarterbacks in that room that are capable of playing. So, that was probably need No. 1 is we needed to add a quarterback, ” Brown commented. “He (Kendall) has a quick release, really strong arm, he can create plays with his feet – I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s a runner, but he’s a good enough athlete that he creates plays with his feet – and I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a great competition as we move into spring and fall camp.”
Coach Brown ended his press conference pointing out that there is still a lot that lies ahead of his team and his staff. Coach Brown will be providing more details on his coaching staff and their plans for the football team moving forward as it gets closer to spring ball. Overall, the new head coach’s personality and work ethic are fitting in just fine in West Virginia, and Coach Brown seems pleased and content with how things have worked out over the last few weeks.
Here’s to a heck of an off-season for Coach Brown and the Mountaineers.
