West Virginia’s defense has already shown flashes through its first two games, but defensive coordinator Zac Alley made it clear Tuesday that flashes won’t be enough.
The Mountaineers have pieces of a good unit. The issue is putting it together snap after snap, quarter after quarter, especially if they expect to stay unbeaten against a Top 25 opponent. Alley pointed straight at communication as the biggest problem that has to be cleaned up right now.
“I think the communication. I got on everybody on Sunday that a lot of the things we saw we did in practice to those calls, and then we get in the game, and we don’t do what we did in practice," Alley stated.
"Just trying to keep the consistency of ‘Hey, if we call this, we play this.’ We won’t make it up as we go along.
That’s something that will be a point of emphasis this week. I felt like we didn’t do a good enough job in the last game to execute to a higher level.
Obviously, you have some plays where it went really well, and you were get off the field and knock them out, force turnovers, those things. But I want to play well on every down.
I don’t want them to gain a yard at any point in time.”
For Alley, the concern isn’t just that the defense is confused. It’s that the communication simply isn’t happening enough.
“We’re being really quiet. Nobody’s talking,' Alley said.
"I told them all, I said, ‘Listen, if there’s two guys in the back end and they do all the communication, and if they’re not in, we got no shot if nobody else talks.’ It’s particularly on teams that are going to change formations and move guys in motion.
You can’t just be like, ‘I hope he knows what to do.’ Like, that doesn’t work.
So the challenge this week is we have to play with some anticipation of, like, okay, ‘Hey, if he motions, what are we doing?’ Not just ‘Oh, well, I hope he figures it out, and he’s got him over there.’
Talk to each other and communicate.”
That leaves West Virginia with a fixable issue, but one that has to be addressed fast. Alley’s hope is that the silence is coming from players still learning how to work together, or from guys being so locked in on their own jobs that they aren’t speaking up enough. What he can’t afford is a defense that isn’t talking because it doesn’t know what’s happening around it.
He also wants more from the linebackers, and that starts with communication.
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Will Rich Rodriguez Finally Unleash Mike Hawkins Jr. Against Virginia
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Hawkins has completed 7 of 10 throws beyond the sticks and 9 of 11 on third down for 161 yards and two touchdowns, numbers that point to a quarterback making smart decisions when West Virginia needs them most. If the offense is going to take a step forward, a more active passing game could be part of the answer, and how much of that shows up against Virginia remains the question. [Read more 🡒]