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MORGANTOWN -- Heading into his second week as head coach at West Virginia University, Neal Brown had a mixture of positives and negatives that he relayed to the media during Tuesday's press conference.
"It was the first day in full pads (Tuesday); I thought our guys responded well," Brown said. "We did not practice very well, I told you that right after the practice. But after watching the film, I thought our effort was good on Saturday. I think part of it is, as coaches, we probably got a little ahead of ourselves on the install and probably put too much from a schematic phase in on Saturday, which caused our guys to play a little slow, and it got a little sloppy."
One area that caught the coach's eye was the team's physicality during its first day in pads.
"This was probably our most physical day we've had so far," Brown said. "I think you have to in the spring. We started off with some good fundamental drills, working some hands inside. The game, so much, is played with leverage, and so much of that leverage is playing with your hands inside, so we did a lot of that. We did some tackle and run-after-catch drills, because I think that's something we have to get better at as offensive skill players is run after catch and being able to set your moves up.
"And we have to be able to tackle in space, especially in this league. We did a couple of run periods, really for the first time, and we were physical. I think there's some good and some bad. I think we have to get used to playing with our hands on both sides of the ball, especially up front, and we have to learn how to play lower. We're playing a little high right now."
The University of Massachusetts graduate even went so far as to talk about those players that stood out -- reluctantly.
"I'm not dodging it, but that's a really hard question until I watch," Brown said. "You all have been out there, you have seen a whole practice. We're moving around a lot. I thought (junior defensive lineman) Darius Stills made several plays in the backfield. I thought (redshirt junior linebacker) Zach Sandwisch did some good things defensively on the front there. (Redshirt junior linebacker) (Dylan) Tonkery has been really steady, consistent. I don't know if I can say a better word about somebody than consistent, and Tonk has been really consistent. (Junior safety) Kenny Robinson made some plays, I thought he did a good job communicating defensively.
"Offensively, it looked to me like (senior running back Martell) Pettaway bounced back. He was a little bit not himself on Saturday, and I thought he bounced back and did some good things. (Redshirt junior tight end) Jovani Haskins made a couple of plays down the field, and I thought all three quarterbacks were significantly better than they were on Saturday. That's just off the top of my head."
Not surprisingly, he had little to say about the quarterback position. And with reason.
"No, not yet," Brown said. "I'm not sure we'll know that until the end of spring when we go back and really evaluate them in full. When you have three guys that are really competing, you have to divide up the reps, and we're not overly deep at wideout as far as numbers are concerned right now, so it's tough on them, because they're not getting as many reps as they normally would. So, we have to figure out a way to be able to save the wide receivers' legs and tight ends' legs, but, at the same time, get the quarterbacks the reps they need."
So much for Week 1. What Week 2 has in store for Brown and his staff will not be known until after Saturday's expected live scrimmage.