PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The West Virginia athletic department says they want to be aggressive in scheduling and make it a priority to have regional rivalries. Right out the door, Mountaineers at Maryland Saturday at 3:30p.
The schools haven’t met since 2015 and WVU leads the all-time series 28-22-2.
“Starting off with a rivalry game against a very talented Maryland team,” said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. “They had a top 20 recruiting class last year, you can see that talent being displayed on all three phases.”
The Terps beat Minnesota on Homecoming and won at Penn State last year. They return seven All-Big Ten honorees including their quarterback (Taulia Tagovailoa, 2nd in Big 10 in passing efficiency) and a pair of receivers. Maryland has also won nine straight non-conference openers.
West Virginia returns a number of players from a defense number one in the Big 12 and fourth nationally in total defense. They were tops in the nation in pass defense, allowing just 159.1 yards per game.
On offense, Mountaineers return thousand-yard rusher Leddie Brown, who was also their third best receiver in 2020. Quarterback Jarret Doege is back after 2,587 yards, a 63.9 completion percentage and a 132.2 efficiency rating. Doege has available to him 10 players who caught at least 10 passes from last year’s team.
“I wanted to come back and work way harder than I have,” Doege said of the season. “I thought I worked hard last year. This year, I just put it into a whole new perspective of how hard I needed to work in order to get better. I wanted to focus on pocket movement and deep ball. I did that. I made a plan of working hard and put that into action.”
“There are dreamers and there are people who have visions,” Brown said. “Dreamers to me they just have this dream of the end result, but it’s just kind of a dream. They just think about it. Then there are people with visions. They have a plan. It’s about action. It’s hard because there are things you have to do to receive the outcome that you want to.”
“He’s a guy with a vision. He’s earned the opportunity to go out and compete and compete at a high level. My expectation and belief is that he’s going to play well. There is nothing that I have seen in the last nine months that would tell me any different.”
“This is our time to prove we are a better football team,” Doege said. “Especially on the road since we didn’t win a game on the road. This is our time to show we are a better football team.”
Legg Up
A number of players involved in the competition at kicker for the Mountaineers in 2021. One of the most unlikely college football players won the audition.
Redshirt Junior Casey Legg is a 4.0 student and Academic All-Big 12. That’s not what makes it unlikely. Legg didn’t play high school football. His school in Charleston, WV didn’t offer it. So he was captain of his soccer and basketball teams. Eventually coming to Morgantown for a shot.
“The thing that I really like is that he’s so grounded in all aspects of his life,” Brown said. “He doesn’t get too high. He doesn’t get too low. You may remember he got pressed into action a few years ago and made a huge kick against Baylor that got taken away. Went back against Kansas State and made a huge kick as well.”
“I think it’s a great story. Never played high school football. Didn’t have high school football. Came here and really kind of waited his turn. Took advantage of his opportunities and now he will go out and kick the ball for us when we start against Maryland.”
Final Thought
With how upended all our lives have been for the last year and a half, Brown has a simple message about this game and this season as well.
“I think we need to find joy in coaching and playing,” Brown said. “There are so many things going on in the world that are negative. Hopefully our fans, our players and staff, can really find some joy in going out and competing.”