I get the upperclassmen thing, but you usually see a big jump from upperclassmen who’ve had a couple years of consistent development. Our guys haven’t had that. And there just haven’t been enough flashes from those guys up front as a whole to assume they’ll look like a whole new unit this season. I’m sure we’ll see somebody take a big step, but I just don’t see them all making a huge leap.
They were not impressive in the spring game going against an OL that had 2-3 guys who will be second string for us this year. None of our guys were particularly impressive in 2016 or 2017. Many have histories of injuries. And depth, at least going into week 1, is a huge question mark
I just think people who are assuming 9-10 months of coaching will result in everyone of those guys maximizing their full potential week one are setting themselves up for disappointment. They still haven’t played one game with our new staff. It’s still a process and they’re not gonna get where we need them to be until they’ve been through a couple weeks of games and game prep with the new staff, IMO.
Here is the one thing that makes me think we will see significant improvement on the DL.
After the spring game, Pruitt seemed pretty down on this team, he knocked their effort and consistency.
This fall, it seems that they are way more pleased with this team, than they were this spring.
These coaches knows what it takes to play in the SEC, everyone one has coached and had success at this level, especially the defensive coaches.
They seem to be quietly confident with this group. There is a reason for that.
Not saying that they will be a top 10 defense, but if they can get into the 30 to 40 range that would be a huge improvement over last year. That's still better than anyone WVU faced last year except maybe Oklahoma.
They don't have to be studs, just do their jobs, eat up blocks collapse a pocket every now and then, and let the LB's clean up.
That's not too much to ask. If a stud does emerge, that's icing.on the cake.