What West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said about Penn State ahead of the season opener
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown spoke to the media Monday ahead of the Mountaineers’ matchup with Penn State Saturday at noon in Morgantown.
Here’s everything Brown said about the Nittany Lions.
On Penn State quarterback Drew Allar’s fit with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki
“If you look at what Andy did at Buffalo, they had a kid that I think he left after we played him in the bowl game there down in Mobile (in 2018). They had a quarterback that’s very similar in size. I have a hard time remembering all the way back then, but I know the kid was similar in size and had a big strong arm like Drew does. So you look back at what he did there. They had some injuries at quarterback at Kansas during his tenure there, so he had to play some guys that weren’t necessarily (Jason Bean) or Jalon Daniels. ... Listen, he’s a really talented play caller. ... I remember having a conversation with my agents going into the Buffalo game when we were playing Buffalo. I’m like, ‘man, I don’t know this guy but man, he does some really good stuff offensively.’ So he’s a guy that I’ve known and been on my radar for a long time now. So he’s going to figure it out. They’re not going to look just like they did at Kansas. They’ve got two quarterbacks they could potentially play, (Beau) Pribula, who we recruited in high school. Really good athlete and throws the ball efficient enough, too. (Kotelnicki) is going to figure it out. They got good pieces.”
On Penn State’s offensive talent
“(Kotelnicki) didn’t take the job because they didn’t have players. That’s a pressure position he’s taken. They’ve had a few different guys, and if you look back at the run that (Penn State head coach) James (Franklin) had through offensive coordinators, he’s had really talented individuals in that role. And there’s some pressure that goes along with that role for sure. But Andy knew, he’s very smart, and so I think he probably made a calculated decision. He looked at that roster and said ‘oh yeah, they’ve got some players.’ Especially at running back, tight end, some young wide outs. He’s got some pieces there and there’s a lot of things he could do. We gotta just take our best guess.”
On Allar
“I think that the quarterback probably gets too much blame. And too much credit when things go good. I think this, more nationally probably than locally, that he’s got pressure on him or he didn’t play well, if you go back and look and you think about this as a first-time starter, the kid played pretty well last year. He played really well against us. He was the difference in the game last year. We did OK versus their run game but he hit some explosive passes against us that really hurt us. I thought he was accurate with the football in our contest. We didn’t do a good job of covering them, but I thought he played well. And if you look at his complete body of work, I think sometimes unfairly, like, a lot of people struggle against Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan did win the national championship. Ohio State does have a pretty good, pretty sporty little team too. So I think sometimes those are a little bit unfair because if you look at his entire body of work as a first year starter, he did some really good things.”
On Penn State’s defensive ends
“I think it starts with the two ends, (Dani) Dennis-Sutton and Abdul Carter. And Abdul Carter started last year at linebacker and regardless of what draft boards you’re looking at, he’s one of the early defensive guys taken. And then Dennis-Sutton has an early round grade on him as well. I think where it gets lost a little bit on their d-line is they’ve got a number of guys they play interior-wise and it’s going to be hot on Saturday. So they’re going to be able to rotate a bunch of different bodies. Their third end (Amin) Vanover, he’s a really talented player as well. I don’t wanna speak for them, but watching them, that seems like a really deep position for them across the defensive line.”
On last year’s game
“Third and fourth downs were critical last year. Every play matters but there are some that are weighted a little heavier. And some third and fourth downs, we didn’t take advantage and they did. And they were better than us last year. We didn’t play as well when it came winning time, but they were better. So we’ll see how the last year has treated us.”
On Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen
“From a structure standpoint, it hasn’t been much different than what (former Penn State defensive coordinator) Manny (Diaz) did. I wasn’t privy to any information, but when I started really studying them back in May, I could see why James (hired him). Tom has obviously had a lot of success as a coordinator and then when you start watching them structurally, there’s some real similarities. And he knows the opponents in the Big Ten — or the old Big Ten, I guess there’s several new ones.”
