2008 OUTLOOK: As usual, West Virginia is a contender for the Big East championship and could contend for the national title if some pieces fall into place. The Mountaineer offense, retooled by new head coach Bill Stewart and his offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen, who came from Wake Forest, will include more motion and movement and ultimately more passing. They will throw more deep down the middle, an area neglected as Rich Rodriguez used his speed to run. The offense is built around QB Pat White and RB Noel Devine and a veteran offensive line.
The secondary had to be rebuilt and the big question will be at cornerback. The linebackers are among America's best and the defensive line, while rebuilt, has talent. The special teams game should be exceptional with K/P Pat McAfee considered one of the nation's top dual kickers and a host of fleet returners.
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: Once again, WVU will center its offense around Heisman Trophy candidate Patrick White, who rushed for 1,395 yards on 197 attempts last year, averaging 6.8 yards a carry while scoring 14 touchdowns. He will be running an offense that keeps many of the best parts of Rich Rodriguez's power spread but that will incorporate more motion and balance between running and passing. How much losing the blocking of fullback Owen Schmitt will hurt probably will determine how good the offense can be. The offense put in by new offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen, while still featuring White and shifty tailback Noel Devine, who averaged 8.6 yards a carry while gaining 627 yards as a true freshman, is expected feature more of a passing game, especially deep and down the middle. The offensive line returns five players who have started, including G Greg Isdaner and T Ryan Stanchek, both expected to push for post-season honors.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: How well the secondary can be rebuilt is the key to watch as WVU lost star safeties Ryan Mundy and Eric Wicks along with cornerbacks Vaughn Rivers, Larry Williams and another safety Ridwan Malik. As spring came to an end the safety positions in the 3-3-5 stack defense seemed to be in good hands with Quinton Andrews, Charles Pugh and Boogie Allen while Langster and Kent Richardson take over at the corners. Despite losing Marc Magro to graduation and John Holmes to legal problems, WVU's strength is at linebacker where the two top tacklers return in MLB Reed Williams and Mortty Ivy. The defensive line lost key players in Johnny Dingle and Keilen Dykes but Scooter Berry and Chris Neild should lessen the effect.
SCOUTING THE SPECIAL TEAMS: Pat McAfee is back to do the punting and placekicking and should be one of the top dual kickers in the country. McAfee hit 13 of 18 field goals and averaged 42.7 yards a punt. More important, only 21 of 46 punts were returned, those for just a 5.3 average. The return game loses Vaughn Rivers but there are scads of potential returners headed by Noel Devine, who averaged 23.2 yards a return last year and had the season's longest return of 48 yards. Slot back Jock Sanders is also a potential returner.
ROSTER REPORT:
--MLB Reed Williams, the team's top tackler last season with 107 tackles, missed the entire spring after serious shoulder surgery. He is expected back in the fall.
--The offensive line was broken up during the spring as G Greg Isdaner missed the entire spring and T Ryan Stanchek missed most of it recovering from surgeries. Both are expected to be back to anchor the line in 2008.
--The biggest position change of the spring found redshirt freshman WR Will Johnson moving to tight end, giving the Mountaineers their first speed and receiving threat at the position in almost a decade since Anthony Becht was around.
--The most intriguing experiment was taking third-team QB Bradley Starks and moving him to wide receiver while keeping him running plays at quarterback. A gifted athlete who turned down basketball offers, the redshirt showed himself to be a deep threat who runs precision routes and has great hands.
