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Devine shines in scrimmage [The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.](Charleston Gazette, The (WV) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Apr. 5--MORGANTOWN -- The more West Virginia's offense changes, the more it stays the same. OK, so perhaps that's a bit simplistic. After all, in the post-Pat White era, the quarterback is certainly of a different style, the offensive sets more varied and the options more diverse. Still, when the Mountaineers lined up Saturday for their first full-scale scrimmage of the spring, what worked best for the offense was what has been its strong suit for years now -- a zone-read running game featuring a talented tailback. As West Virginia reached the midpoint of spring drills, Noel Devine provided the offense's biggest plays with a 65-yard touchdown run and a 29-yarder that set up his own 4-yard scoring reception. And on a day when WVU's defense threw a variety of blitzes at the offense to disrupt the passing game, that seemed to be enough to keep everyone happy. "I was very pleased," coach Bill Stewart said, "with the electricity that [Devine] gave us." All in all, the two sides seemed to pretty much play to a draw during the 90-minute scrimmage. In 10 series between the No. 1 offense and defense from out in the field, the defense came up with seven stops -- five of them in three plays or less. On the three possessions that the No. 1 offense scored, it did so in one play (the 65-yard Devine run), four plays from 35 yards out and by virtue of a six-play drive from the 35 that resulted in a 28-yard Keith Coffindaffer field goal. But if the defense held the upper hand there, the offense made up for it in on the goal line. In five series that began with first-and-goal from the nine, the No. 1 offense scored three times, all of them with power football. Freshman fullback Ryan Clarke scored all three times. "I was glad to see him have some success," quarterback Jarrett Brown said of Clarke, who carried 11 times in the 12 plays that made up the three consecutive successful series. Could that be, Brown was asked, because last season it was the 220-pound Brown who was often asked to be the short-yardage power back? "Yes," he said with a smile. For Brown, the afternoon was a mixed bag. For starters, most of the afternoon he found himself facing a variety of blitzes from West Virginia's defense. "We haven't seen that many blitzes all spring," he said. How he and the offense handled the pressure is difficult to assess, however. The defense did manage to get those seven stops in the 10 non-goal line series, but Brown was also whistled down on several touch sacks from which he probably would have escaped but for the quick whistles. He also had several nearly perfect passes dropped. The bottom line, however, was that he completed just four of his 14 passes for 43 yards and was intercepted once by linebacker J.T. Thomas. "Jarrett wasn't as sharp today as he has been," Stewart said. "But there was a lot of pressure." Still, it was nice to have Devine to fall back on. On the fourth snap of the day by the No. 1 offense, the junior tailback took a handoff and swept to the left and turned upfield at the sideline when everyone thought he would go out of bounds. A few steps later he cut inside a tackler and ran straight down the field for his 65-yard score. Later, on the first play of a series beginning 35 yards from the goal line, he ran the same play and cut up earlier for 29 yards, then three plays later caught a lob pass from Brown and scored despite getting hit hard at the goal line. "That's still our bread and butter," Devine said of the zone read. Devine finished the afternoon carrying eight times for 90 yards and had another touchdown, a 15-yarder, called back for holding. But he also fumbled the ball away on the first play of the goal-line drill. -- BRIEFLY: Coley White quarterbacked the No. 2 offense against the second defense and managed to score on an 11-yard third-down scramble in the goal-line drill. White completed his first four passes for a total of 37 yards, but then hit only one of his last four for 2 yards. ... Coffindaffer, a freshman from Bridgeport, kicked the only field goal attempt of the day after Stewart said he "fired every kicker. Our kickers need to be tougher." ... This week's schedule is condensed to give the players the weekend off for Easter. The team will practice Monday and Tuesday at 6 a.m. and then will scrimmage Wednesday afternoon to complete the week. Practice concludes with three workouts next week and then the April 18 Gold-Blue scrimmage. Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or [email protected]. |