Doege was “rann oft.” Have you seen any Mountaineer game with Doege at QB? Obviously not.
About the CBs… WVU couldn’t play man coverage because the CBs lacked the speed to do it. WVU would trade the players they lost - Kerry Martin, Darryl Porter, Jackie Matthews, and Nicktroy Fortune - for Charles Wood, Marcis Floyd, Andrew Wilson-Lamp, Jasir Cox or
Saint McLeod, Aubrey Burks and Hershey McLaurin every day of the week.
The former had some of the lowest game grades on the entire team. While the latter are bigger, stronger and faster.
Secondary coach ShaDon Brown says all you need to know:
https://www.si.com/college/westvirginia/football/quick-hits-shadon-brown-pleased-with-depth-versatility-of-secondary.
Sure WVU lost Leddie Brown to graduation, but the 2022 RBs have more talent and speed. Lyn-J Dixon alone would be an upgrade over Brown, but Tony Mathis is expected to start. Mathis has more speed and balance than Leddie and runs harder even though he’s smaller.
Yet r-fr Jaylen Anderson maybe the best of the RBs. WVU hasn’t had a RB like Anderson since Slaton/Devine. The kid has it. He’s always one cut away from a TD.
Likewise WVU thinks they are better at LB too. Josh Chandler-Semedo played hard, but he was slow. Syracuse transfer Lee Kpogba is a huge upgrade over Josh. He’s a beast.
Neal Brown’s recruiting starts to pay off this year. One of those kids is linebacker Lanell Carr.
At WR WVU lost Sam Brown, Isaiah Esdale, Sean Ryan, and Winston Wright. Esdale, a possession type receiver, was the best of the lot. Sam Brown & Winston Wright had speed but concrete hands. Wright was best as a KR.
Returning are Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Kaden Prather, Sam James, Preston Fox and Reese Smith.
Ford-Wheaton and Sam James are big play receivers who were frustrated by Doege’s inability to get them the ball. When he did, they caught it.
Preston Fox and Reese Smith are possession receivers. Fox catches everything near his vicinity.
Kaden “The Truth” Prather has everything it takes to be a superstar. He’s tall, fast and fights for the ball. He owns 50/50 balls. Prather, as a true freshman, came on late last season as an antidote to the “drops.”
WVU is very excited about the a couple of JuCo newcomers too.
Losing Mesidor hurt, but it was a position WVU has great depth and talent. Let’s start with all Big 12 Dante Stills. Stills - already supremely talented - transformed his body for his final season. He’s NFL ready. Stills must be double-teamed or the QB is going down.
Behind Stills is a host of talent and experience. Taijh Alston, Jordan Jefferson, Sean Martin, Hammond Russell, Taurus Simmons, Jalen Thornton and Edward Vesterinen.
Add to that group transfers Zeiqui Lawton and Mike Lockhart and it’s easy to understand why Mesidor’s departure didn’t change the outlook for 2022.
This group of defensive linemen are arguably the deepest, most talented group, to ever play at WVU. WVU is able to rotate linemen and keep the 1st team fresh. The depth allows them to play a 3 or 4 man front and sometimes flex into a bear look.
More about QB… How bad was Doege? Well, WVU should have been 8-4 instead of the 6-6. Doege’s poor decision making and weak arm cost the Mountaineers the Maryland and Texas Tech games. And he almost blew it against VT.
He held on the ball too long and was often sacked. When he wasn’t sacked he threw into double coverage or fumbled. He missed wide open receivers and ran like a 3-legged baby deer.
WVU was limited to the handful of plays Doege could execute and defenders quickly learned his arm was so weak they could basically play a cover 0 and dare Doege to beat man coverage. He never beat 0 coverage.
Why did Brown stick with Doege? Dana Holgorsen. Holgorsen failed to recruit a single P5 caliber QB. Brown signed Garrett Green and Goose Crowder but both were not ready to be QB1.
WVU’s QB room now has JT Daniels, Garrett Greene, Will Crowder and WVU’s next great QB Nicco Marchiol. Daniels, when healthy, is better than Will Grier. His arm is stronger and he’s more accurate than Grier.
WVU was more than happy with the talent they had at QB. But Brown decided an experienced QB the quality of Daniels would give the Mountaineers a legitimate shot at the Big 12 championship game. WVU’s internal analytics guy predicts 9 or 10 wins with Daniels at QB. Considering WVU plays 11 P5 games a 9 win season is remarkable.
In short the players that left WVU mostly did do because they knew they would lose their jobs. Mesidor is an exception, but considering Brown landed LB Austin-Cave from Miami we consider it a Mesidor for Austin-Cave trade. WVU had plenty of DL but needed LB depth.
Brown has 2 open scholarships. He plans to use them to add experience at CB or the best players available.
WVU has committed to pay for play. The “Country Roads Trust” allows the Mountaineers to be competitive with all but the outlaw programs.
Out of context WVU’s portal loses paints an inaccurate portrait of the program. If you compare the players lost and the players behind them it’s clear what happened.
Mesidor was the only head scratcher and his loss didn’t hurt.
WVU’s portal additions however, improved the team and changed the outlook for the season.
So believe what you want, just be forewarned the Mountaineers that play Pitt on 9/1/22 are vastly different than the team you expect. Instead of a team gutted by portal losses, Pitt gets a team that expects to reach the Big 12 title game.
This next statement isn’t hyperbole. The 2022 Mountaineers are the most talented and deep team WVU has fielded in the Big 12. Overall the talent & depth might be exceed the 2007 team.
Pitt better be ready. They had best take the game as seriously as WVU and match the intensity of the Mountaineers.
If Pitt underestimates WVU, if it doesn’t match WVU’s energy, then Pitt gets blown out of Heinz.
