MORGANTOWN — Wes Lyons, all 6-feet, 8-inches of him, was back at practice on Sunday after missing Saturday’s opening session due to the death of his grandmother and it was almost like three or four different players joining the team.
At least that’s how it sounded when coach Bill Stewart began talking about the things Lyons allows him to do with his offense.
Stewart’s offensive staff made what he calls a “brilliant move” by inserted Lyons in the slot this spring when Jock Sanders was suspended. All of a sudden the senior came to life, catching everything thrown his way, usually while he was wide open.
While most slot receivers are short, quick guys, Lyons gives a completely different take to the position.
“He’s a different guy in the slot,” Stewart said. “He’s a 6-8 target but on the outside he’s going against a 5-8 guy with speed who makes it difficult for him to get off the line of scrimmage. But in the slot he isn’t head up on the line and can go in motion. It puts him in an advantageous position.”
Outside, while his height and leaping ability – he has the top vertical jump on the team – is an advantage, he isn’t really fast enough to shake loose from cornerbacks. In the slot, he’s often covered either by a safety or by a linebacker.
“He’s a mismatch,” wide receiver coach Lonnie Galloway said. “He’s not the fastest of guys, but he’s not the slowest.”
If a team wants to cover him in the slot with a cornerback, it has to go to a nickel defense, that means there won’t be eight or nine in the box and it means the Mountaineers can run the ball.
Lyons will play both on the outside, joining Alric Arnett and Bradley Starks as wide receivers with either Jock Sanders in the slot or back in the backfield with Noel Devine or the Mountaineers can line up with a tight end and three wide outs or a fullback and tight end and two wide outs.
They can go from the spread or from the I, and they can also use the shifty Devine with Sanders in the backfield and with newcomer Tavon Austin in the slot, putting three breakaway threats on the field at one time.
It’s a glut of offensive riches, perhaps too much. With so many options, coaches could find themselves suffering from paralysis from analysis, almost like a baseball pitcher with four or five pitches but uncertain which is the proper one for the situation.
“I know what you mean. It’s the old adage that says you can be a jack of all trades and a master of none,” Stewart said when asked if this might not prove to be something of a problem. “The spread was good to us, but when they lock up the X and Z receivers and load the box, you can’t run.
“Motion and movement has helped us a lot there. You have to be cautious that you don’t have too many tools in the tool box. Just take out the ones you need to do the job.”
It’s not the heat … sure
Stewart appreciated the hottest day of the year in Morgantown.
“The heat was a great asset for us today,” the coach said. “We play a lot of games in heat like this. I added two periods simply because of the heat. We were cautious, but we pushed them.”
For the second day in a row he also sprinted his players and had some extra sprints for the defense because it did not turn the football over three times during the day, which now is a goal each day.
Pat White report
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, former WVU quarterback Patrick White continued to struggle with his accuracy during a scrimmage on Friday. While White was 11 of 18 for 109 yards and two touchdowns, he also had some dreadful passes as he works to alter his delivery.
Writer Kevin Clark wrote, “Two of his throws were far out of bounds and almost landed in the stands while another sailed far out of the end zone.
Clark then quoted White as saying, “If I’m going to rate myself, I’m going to be hard.”
And when asked to put his performance on a scale of 1 to 10, White answered: “I don’t think you want to hear it.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
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