BOONE, N.C. — After a defensive stop,
Jordon Earle walked toward the middle of the field to let his teammates on the offensive side hear about it. A large group of offensive players responded with their own comebacks.
Just like old times, football was back in Boone on Monday afternoon.
Spring Practice began on a warm, sunny day in Kidd Brewer Stadium, with the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina in Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium just 164 days away. The Mountaineers play their home opener against Elon on Sept. 18.
The 2021 season ticket renewal and parking request deadline is April 30. Season ticket holders who haven't renewed as of yet need to refer to their activation email from Paciolan to activate their account (you retained your same account number). At that point, you can renew your season tickets online.
Here's a recap of Day 1, including some top plays, thoughts from head coach
Shawn Clark and a position spotlight.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH CLARK
"It was a beautiful day here in Boone, and I'm really happy with all the energy we had. I thought the defense flew around and made a lot of plays. I think our linebackers looked really good and our D-line looked really good and our secondary looked strong. On offense, we did some good things, and we still have to get some things squared away. Overall, I'm very happy."
TOP PLAYS
There were plenty of highlights on both sides of the ball, including some good receiver-cornerback battles in 11-on-11 work.
Thomas Hennigan made one of his trademark 50-50 grabs along the sideline, even losing his helmet in the process, on a deep ball from
Chase Brice for a gain of about 40 yards.
Steven Jones came up with an acrobatic interception on another deep throw later in a different 11-on-11 scenario, while
Tommy Wright had several impressive breakups while also working under the direction of new cornerbacks coach
Rod West.
In seven-on-seven work or one-on-one drills, Jones, Wright and safety
Kaiden Smith (working with new position coach
David Lockwood) all had noteworthy plays in the secondary, while outside linebacker
KeSean Brown and early enrollee
Caden Sullivan (thanks to a
Brendan Harrington deflection) came away with interceptions.
Demetrius Taylor, as he's officially done many times in his career, batted down a throw during a pass rush.
An offensive line that lost two senior starters from the bowl win had a mix of veterans, relatively inexperienced returners and newcomers getting reps, with returning starter
Baer Hunter as a candidate to fill the center spot vacated by the departure of four-year starter
Noah Hannon.
Anderson Castle broke loose for some long runs, while
Ben Williams made some nice plays as a receiving threat out of the backfield.
The four quarterbacks on the roster (two college veterans in Brice and
Tanner Wilson, along with two young QBs in
Navy Shuler and
DC Tabscott) all got work throwing to App State's deep and talented receiving corps, although App State's defense made that difficult.
Christian Wells made a nice one-handed catch during one drill, and
Milan Tucker showed off his speed to make a smooth-looking catch in stride during another drill.
POSITION SPOTLIGHT: SPECIAL TEAMS
Clark had high praise for the special teams units — punter
Xavier Subotsch's cameo as a cheer-inducing punt returner notwithstanding.
Dashaun Davis' speed and acceleration around good blocking in one drill triggered a loud response from his teammates.
"I thought our special teams circuit was outstanding today," Clark said. "We have a lot of team speed right now. I thought that was excellent, and Xavier, he boomed the ball today."
