West Virginia sauntered into its first Big 12 media day three years ago with an unmistakable identity.
Led by its scraggly haired, Red Bull-chugging, offensive whiz of a coach Dana Holgorsen, the Mountaineers were about seven months removed from hanging 70 points in the Orange Bowl and returned most key components of an offense thought to be one of the nation’s best.
But a portrait painted with broad brushstrokes belied an uncomfortable truth — the team wasn’t ready for the challenge that awaited. The overall depth and experience wasn’t there, and the growing pains that came with a step up in competition had yet to be endured. That came to light in the past three seasons, with an 18-20 record and only one finish in the top half of the league standings.
In that time, West Virginia was forced to cope with a new reality, and it had to somewhat reinvent itself from an offensive powerhouse that ran rampant over the Big East to a more balanced squad capable of relying on more than just lighting up scoreboards. Media days can breed unwarranted optimism, but with a horde of experienced upperclassmen and a defense expected to be one of the Big 12’s best, coaches and players believe the 2015 Mountaineers could be the most complete team the school has fielded since joining the conference.
“If you want to win a championship, there are a few things that need to exist — a good defense, solid special teams and an offense that can score points,” Holgorsen said Monday. “That’s where I feel like we are at this point. The talent pool has improved. Four years recruiting in the Big 12, we’ve recruited a different type of player, so the bodies are improving. The mentality is there because we understand what the Big 12 is all about now.
“It’s a completely different feel from what it was three years ago being here.”
Those feelings are substantiated by numbers. West Virginia has 40 juniors and seniors among its top-two players at each position on the depth chart. Twenty-two players have started in at least one Big 12 game. And the Big 12’s third-ranked total defense last season remains largely intact and brings back the same defensive coordinator for the first time in Holgorsen’s tenure.
With a relatively new quarterback in Skyler Howard and a green set of receivers, the Mountaineers defense, at least early on, will be the team’s biggest strength.
“Without a doubt, it should be the best [defense] that I’ve had potentially since I started coaching 20‑some years ago,” Holgorsen said.
Picked sixth in the Big 12 preseason media poll, the expectations are outwardly modest. There’s a sentiment among the team that it can be much better. Holgorsen even said he believes West Virginia could be this year’s TCU — an experienced team with a swarming defense that surprisingly ends the season near the top of the conference standings.
If that hope comes to fruition, it will do so behind a team that evolved over the years and forged a new image for itself.
“We’ve got the hype going in, but at the same time, we have to continue [to] keep that chip on our shoulder,” safety Karl Joseph said. “We still have a lot to prove. We’re ready for that this year. We’re ready to help our offense win games and put them in better positions than we have before.”
