Coaches searching for consistency, depth at several positions

The West Virginia coaching staff is currently trying to find depth at several spots on the field.

They’re trying to find guys capable of coming in and backing up the starters if they get tired, injured or just don’t perform well enough during games.

The offensive line is pretty much set in stone with its five starters. According to offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, the line has seven guys who have combined for about 100 starts in their career.

That doesn’t mean Bedenbaugh doesn’t want players to give the starters a breather, especially with the high-tempo offense that head coach Dana Holgorsen runs, consisting of almost 90 plays per game.

"We want the so-called backups right now pushing the guys in front of them," Bedenbaugh said Thursday. "Unfortunately, that’s not happening in a lot of positions."

After the five starting players, redshirt seniors center Joe Madsen, guard Jeff Braun, redshirt sophomore tackle Quinton Spain, redshirt junior tackle Pat Eger and redshirt senior guard Josh Jenkins, there hasn’t been much consistency from the backups so far this spring.

"We’ve got to have guys, because if somebody is not playing how they’re capable of playing, we have to put someone in there," Bedenbaugh said. "And if somebody gets hurt we gotta have somebody that we can put in there. Right now we don’t, but we’ve got nine more practices and hopefully we get there."

The loss of breakout running back Dustin Garrison the week before the Orange Bowl game hurt the Mountaineers depth at running back.

However, running backs’ coach Robert Gillespie likes what he is seeing out of his three other options in the backfield, especially redshirt senior running back Ryan Clarke. He had fumbling problems in the past and was used as a blocker all of last season, but earned another chance to carry the ball this spring.

"I’ll tell you what, the guy that has stepped up and been able to take some pressure off is Ryan Clarke," Gillespie said. "This spring we were able to say ‘this kid has worked hard and done exactly what we asked him to do.’ Now, we’ve been able to give him the ball a little bit, and he’s doing a fantastic job. I think Ryan Clarke is buying into the senior leadership role, and he’s doing a great job."

On the defensive side, the players who have gotten playing time are still blossoming into better leaders.

Sophomore linebacker Jared Barber and junior Doug Rigg both got time on the field last season and are showing their experience, while other players are making the most of the opportunity to show their skills to the coaches in practice as well.

Senior Josh Francis is one of those guys.

"He has been very explosive," said co-defensive coordinator Keith Patterson. "(Putting him in the right position) allows him to use his athleticism. He’s an extremely explosive blitzer off the edge and he’s hard to handle for the offensive linemen."

Patterson feels with other players like redshirt juniors linebacker Taige Redman and Tyler Anderson, the defense has a lot of different players that can impact opposing quarterbacks.

Despite all of the hard work and competition going on, the team is feeling good about the direction this spring is taking them and they’re making the most out of everyday.

"We’re still getting better," said defensive line coach Erik Slaughter. "So I’m going to push them hard, work them hard and love them harder. There’s no rule in football that says we can’t have fun while we’re doing it."