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The John Pennington Show – Midseason Check, West Liberty Overtime Loss, and Concord Preview · The John Pennington Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Now comes outside, nearside, 15, breaks away.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: He's down the near sideline.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: It's time for the John Pennington Show live from the
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: pitch at Shawnee. Your weekly look inside the West Virginia
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: State Yellow Jackets. Join us all season long at the
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Pitch to break down Yellow Jacket football like nobody else
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: does with West Virginia State Head Coach John Pennington. Now,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: live from the Pitch at Shawnee with Coach Pennington, here's
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Daniel Woods.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: And this is the John Pennington Show on a Wednesday.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Welcome inside the Pitch Sports Bar and Grill at the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Shawnee Sports Complex. I am Daniel Woods, happy to be
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: with you once again. And we are... Set to be
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: joined by West Virginia State Head Coach John Pennington here
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in just a couple of minutes. But before we do that,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: going to set the stage for you here at the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Pitch Sports Bar and Grill tonight on your Wednesday. It
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: is Wing Wednesday, just like always. That means it is dollar, yes,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: dollar wings, traditional and boneless, all the way up until closed. Plus,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, yes, plus it is dollar-off draft beer
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: all the way up until close tonight as well. You
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: do not want to miss what is coming down here
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: at the pitch. For all the West Virginia State fans,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: as far as the alumni go, as far as the students,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: as far as faculty, staff, everybody at West Virginia State,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: 15% off your bill here at the pitch tonight as well.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: You do not want to miss these Wednesdays here at
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the pitch because we've got the John Pennington show here,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: but we've also got all kinds of great specials from
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the folks here at the pitch tonight. And we are
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: going to talk a little West Virginia State football coming
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: up tonight. Before we're joined... by Coach Pennington. I want
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about what went down on Saturday.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: This West Virginia State team losing 41-38 in overtime against
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: West Liberty. And for West Virginia State, A result that
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: is not the one you're looking for. The fourth consecutive
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: loss for the Yellow Jackets. Now 1-4, but a lot
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of bright spots there for West Virginia State in that game.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: A couple of hundred-yard rushing performances. You got one out
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of Justin Pacella and Devin Cox for West Virginia State.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: You had a huge day on the ground in general.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Caleb Jackson ran the ball well as well for West
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Virginia State. So a big day for the Yellow Jackets
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: in that regard. Up and down passing day, but you
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: were productive when you needed to be. Amari Airy had
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: his biggest game of the year as well for West
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Virginia State. And when it comes down to it. A
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: lot to build on coming out of Saturday's game against
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a team leading the Mountain East Conference. You went into overtime,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: had a lead in the fourth quarter, and I think
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: if you're West Virginia State, you have to look forward
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: from that point and understand that there are improvements that
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: are already there. There are improvements that are coming. And
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: big picture, I think there is a lot going well
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: now as you take these steps forward. We've got Concord
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: coming up on Saturday. And for this West Virginia State team,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: there is a lot to be done the rest of
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the way. We're going to take an early break here
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: on 107.3 The Beat. We'll be back in just a minute.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: This is the John Pennington Show, live from the Pitch
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• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Yellow Jackets, when the whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: keep the times going at the Pitch Sports Bar and
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  Speaker 1: craft food, craft beer, and craft service with pizzas, burgers,
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• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the John Pennington Show. Live from
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: the pitch at Shawnee.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: 107.3 The Beat.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Let's talk football. The John Pennington Show is on. 107.3
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: The Beat.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: This is the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Daniel Woods hanging out with you here at the Pitch
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Sports Bar and Grill at the Shawnee Sports Complex. Coach
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Pennington is on his way, so do not worry. We'll
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: hear from the head coach of the Yellow Jackets here
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: in just a couple of minutes. And I'll tell you what,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: we are going to take another quick break as we're
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: having a little bit of an issue here, and we
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  Speaker 1: will be right back on 107.3 The Beat.
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  Speaker 3: Now back to the John Pennington Show, only on 107.3
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  Speaker 3: The Beat.
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: Let's talk football.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I believe we've got everything straightened out here at the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Pitch Sports Bar and Grill for the John Pennington Show
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: here on 107.3 The Beat. Coach is going to join
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: us here in just a couple of minutes and we'll
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: break down What's going on with West Virginia State coming
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: up this weekend as Concord comes to Dickerson Stadium. West
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Virginia State, 1-4 on the season, but coming off of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: an overtime loss against West Liberty. Talked about it a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: little bit earlier, the opportunity to keep building off of
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: that kind of performance against the team leading the Mountain
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: East Conference standings right now. West Liberty, impressive to start 5-1,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: but West Virginia State pushed them to the limit In
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: that game, 41-38, the final score back on Saturday. And
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: looking at the numbers, we talked about it a little
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: bit earlier, but individually, West Virginia State got some big performances,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: particularly in the running game. Justin Pacella with his biggest
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: game of the year so far, 108. rushing yards for him.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Devin Cox ran for 105 yards and a touchdown. Caleb
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Jackson got a touchdown on the ground as well with
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: a 74-yard rushing day. And then Amari Airy finally had
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that breakout game since returning to West Virginia State, 103 yards,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: receiving two touchdowns. on his three catches this weekend for
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: West Virginia State, and seriously, an offensive performance that you
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: can build on, I think, if you're the Yellow Jackets,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: because right now you are positioned in the back half
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: of this schedule because you're going to cross the midway
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: point of your schedule this week. It is game six
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: this week for West Virginia State, and you get an
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: opportunity to keep things rolling coming up this Saturday against Concord,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: then get back on the right side of that win
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: column if you're the Yellow Jackets, and I think that
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: is the opportunity you need to take advantage of here
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and make something out of now the last six games
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: on your schedule. There are opportunities ahead of you, and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm saying the word opportunities a whole lot,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: but that's because that's what is coming up for West
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Virginia State. You've got the chance to play a Concord
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: team this weekend that is very talented, and we'll talk
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: about that with Coach here in a little bit, but
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I think big picture... You've got Concord, you've got the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: rest of your Mountaineers schedule, and you've got Monroe who
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: comes to you in non-conference play remaining on the schedule.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: And I think you are well put together to build
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: off of this game against West Liberty and really ramp
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: into the back half of your schedule and take advantage
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: of the offensive performance that you saw on Saturday. And
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: there were moments from your defense as well. The West
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Virginia State defense You give up 41 points, but it's
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: against a West Liberty team that is doing a lot
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: of great things offensively, and you're going to be tested
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: again this weekend against Concord. This is a Concord team
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: that's got weapons everywhere, and you are going to get
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: the opportunity against maybe the best offense in your conference
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to try to make something happen. So exciting stuff coming
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: up this weekend, and of course another home game in Institutes.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: is something that you are always looking forward to if
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: you are West Virginia State. You get the chance to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: really have another opportunity in front of your home fans.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: You get out there on the field after a homecoming
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: crowd on Saturday, hopefully get a strong turnout to continue
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: rolling for West Virginia State, and I think that is
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: really where you can build from where you are right now.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: We're going to take one more break. When we come back,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Coach Pennington's going to join the show. We'll talk about
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: what's coming up with the Yellow Jackets against Concord this weekend.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: It's the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat. Yellow Jackets,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: when the whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero, keep
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: the times going at the Pitch Sports Bar and Grill
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: at the Shawnee Sports Complex. Rally your friends for craft food,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: craft beer, and craft service with pizzas, burgers, and sourced favorites.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: The Pitch was built to bring people together through sports, food,
• 12:56
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• 12:59
  Speaker 1: a tough game, or hungry, make the Pitch your post-game destination.
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  Speaker 3: Back to the conversation. The John Pennington Show is on 107.3
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: The Beat. No, there it.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Was. I had something messed up. It's the John Pennington
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Show on 107.3 The Beat here from the Pitch Sports
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Bar and Grill at the Shawnee Sports Complex. I am
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Daniel Woods, now joined by the head coach of the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: West Virginia State Yellow Jackets, John Pennington. And, Coach, I
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: want to get right into it. Obviously, you're looking at
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a situation coming out of this past weekend where you
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: are trying to turn things around from a loss against
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: West Liberty, but a loss that I think you would
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: probably agree there are some things you can build on
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with what you did offensively, I think, in particular. in
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the run game. I want to talk about that with
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: what we saw between Justin Pessoa, Devin Cox, the run
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: game that you got from Caleb Jackson, from the quarterback
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: position as well. You know, big picture, what are you
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: thinking coming out of this game against West Liberty? It's
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: a loss, but it's an overtime loss against the team
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: that's leading the conference at this point.
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it was good to get the run
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: game going. I thought our guys played incredibly hard. You know,
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: it's a tough, you know, it's homecoming, so you want
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: to win that one. So it was a tough feeling
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: after the game, but when I went and watched the film,
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: I just was incredibly proud of the way that our
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: guys played. Like you said, we were running the ball
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: extremely well. A couple times we got caught behind the
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: chains on some protection issues. But other than that, we
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: were moving the ball, especially in the run game, scoring,
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: finishing drives, a lot of the stuff that we had
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: talked about. But I just thought that Justin and Devin
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: did a great job running behind, you know, an unbelievably
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: great job by the O-line. Ben and Lo was our
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: player of the game. He was center, you know, and
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: we were running a lot of inside zones. We were
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: running behind Devin and Brody and Isaiah Ray and getting
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: the ball moving downhill. And so that helped. You know,
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: they have a great offense. So we wanted to keep
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: their offense off the field. and the defense did a
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: good job of, you know, keeping 20 contained over there. So,
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: I mean, I thought we had a great plan. I
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: thought our guys played extremely hard. You know, just, you know,
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: it was kind of like a 12-round boxing match.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: And we lost by decision at the end. So, you know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: got to do a better job there in overtime trying
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: to get a touchdown. But our guys really did a
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: good job. We saw a lot of improvement, and we're
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: looking to build on that.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Second start for Caleb Jackson. The stat line, you look
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: at it, it's 9 of 24, 160 yards and interception.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: But I think looking at that stat line is probably
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: deceiving because you saw a guy that went out there
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: that commanded your offense that at no point Was I
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: expecting to look down at that box score at the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: end of the game and see 9 of 24? Like,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: that was a guy that was in control of the game.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I saw it. I thought it was strange when
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: I looked at it.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was wrong.
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: You know, Caleb also, I think he ran for 70-some yards.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: I think he ran for over 100.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: It was over 100 before sacks, yeah.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, you know, it wasn't necessarily the game
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: plan to just run the ball 50 times. But it
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: was working, and we were staying ahead of the chains.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: I think we had a couple looks downfield, couldn't quite
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: hit them. They did a good job stopping some of
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: the shorter pass games, so they were kind of loading
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: the box a little bit, daring us to throw it deep,
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: and we just couldn't quite connect, whether it was a
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: protection issue or a receiver or quarterback. That was really
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: the storyline of the pass game. But the offense was
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: on money downs. It was 50%. um, you know, which
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: was something we had been struggling with. So like there,
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: there are a lot of, um, a lot of areas
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: that we improved that we would worked on all week,
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: you know, so we were, we were encouraged by that and,
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: you know, really our goal, we just got to keep
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: getting better.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: What's, what's it been like now coming out of Saturday and,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: and having taken the team that is leading the conference
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to overtime, having been ahead in the fourth quarter, is
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: there a greater sense of confidence that you've seen this week?
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: I think that there's a sense that we played a
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: really good game. We didn't really shoot ourselves in the foot.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: We did have the one turnover before half. You know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: defense got some stops in the red zone. We were
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: much better on third and fourth down on offense. We stopped,
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: you know, one of the best running backs in the
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: country or contained him in the run game. So, I mean,
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: there was a lot of things to build on. And
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: I think definitely, you know, an increase in confidence. You know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: we had two really bad games where we shot ourselves
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: in the foot. Then we played a good game against
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: the best team in the conference right now. Just looking
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: to build on that.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: What have the last couple of days looked like for
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: these guys in terms of focus and getting ready for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Concord on Saturday?
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: When we came back Sunday, they were ready to get
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: back to work. We have a really resilient group. They're
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: focused on just getting better every single practice. We want
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: to enjoy those Saturdays. The only way to do that
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: is to get better throughout the week. They're pretty locked in.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: I was really encouraged by how they came out Sunday
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: and Monday ready to get back to work and ready
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: to find a way to keep getting better so we
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: can feel good on a Saturday.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Where do you go from a game like that in
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: terms of There are no moral victories. There are no
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: silver linings. It is a binary sport. You win and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: you lose. Where do you take that in keeping these
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: guys motivated and trying to say, okay, it didn't come
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: out the way we wanted it to on the scoreboard,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: but you can look at this and this and this
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and this and then take that into Concord on Saturday?
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, the only thing we can control is
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: what we do today. And that's been the focus for
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: them is just keep chopping. We keep chopping at the tree.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Eventually it's going to fall down. And that's all we
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: can control. And so we're just focused on just that.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: And the guys have done a great job responding. But
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: that's what you've got to do. You've got to lock
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: into what you can control. And that's getting better on Tuesday,
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: getting better on Wednesday, great focus on Thursday, and kind
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: of finalizing the game plan. And then going out there
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: and executing on a Saturday. I mean, the only way
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: to feel better is to win. And the only way
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: to win is to improve and have a great week
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: of practice. And they are incredibly resilient, you know, a
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: mentally tough group. And it's a great lesson.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's life.
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: You're going to win some, you're going to lose some.
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: As long as you keep getting better, you're eventually going
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: to win more than you lose, and we've been trying
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: to just kind of talk to them about that, and
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: that's just what you have to do in these moments.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: We talked a lot leading into Saturday about homecoming, all
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the things that were going on off the field. I
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: know you're locked in, you're getting this team ready, you're
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: coaching this team, but you guys come out of the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: locker room, you take the field, you see that homecoming crowd.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, what was that like for you guys to
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: be able to go out there and have that boost
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: at home? I mean, it's always special. The support was incredible.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: The crowd, we had the cheering, you know, the student section,
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: you know, just you can feel the energy of homecoming
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: all week. And for me, it's gratitude. You know, when
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: I go out there and I see all those people
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: and I know, you know, alumni reaching out to me,
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: I just think about how grateful I am to be
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: the head coach of West Virginia State and how I
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: want to make them proud and put a great product
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: out on the field. I thought our guys gave it
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: everything they had. Anyone who watched that game knows that
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: it was a very physical game. It was a very
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: hard-fought game. We just couldn't quite pull it out in
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: the end.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Well, we are here at the pitch getting ready for
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Concord coming up this Saturday. We'll talk about West Virginia
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: State and Concord here in a couple of minutes as
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the Yellow Jackets get ready to host the Mountain Lions.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Another home game for West Virginia State coming up on Saturday.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: That is a 1 o'clock kick, which means Hollis Lewis
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and I will have pregame coverage starting at 12.30, kickoff
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: 1 o'clock. And, of course, it is Wednesday here at
• 26:15
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• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Let's talk football. The John Pennington Show is on 107.3
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: The Beat.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Your home for the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets. All
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: season long, Concord coming up on Saturday. One of the
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: best offenses in the Mountaineers Conference. Maybe the best offense
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: in the Mountaineers Conference. We'll talk about that in a
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: little bit. Kickoff, 1 o'clock Saturday from Dickerson Stadium. Pre-game
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: coverage starts at 1230 right here on 107.3 The Beat.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: And just another reminder, it is Wing Wednesday here at
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the pitch, which means Dollar Wings, traditional and boneless, all
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the way until close tonight, plus Dollar Off-Draft Beer. and
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: 15% discount for West Virginia State personnel. That is students,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: that is faculty, that is staff. Come on down, get
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: yourself something good here at the pitch, and listen to
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: us talk a little West Virginia State football. Believe it
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: or not, Coach, after this game against Concord on Saturday,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: we will be past the halfway point of the regular
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: season for your football team.
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's hard to even imagine that that's where we're at.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: It is a little crazy to think about, but I
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: kind of just wanted to do a little mid-season check,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: not necessarily on the results you're seeing on the field
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: or on the scoreboard, but talk a little bit about personnel,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: talk about where you feel things are compared to where
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: they were at the beginning of the season, what has improved,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: what has surprised you, that kind of thing. So obviously
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: people will all season long, regardless of how stable it is,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the quarterback position. You started with
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Brian Johnson and Joe Daly. Didn't necessarily seem, at the
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: time that you made the change, you were terribly displeased
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: with those guys, but you just thought, Caleb Jackson gives
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: us the best chance to win, and he has come
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: out the last two weeks, and I thought, given you
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: two of, if not the two best performances you've gotten
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: from the quarterback position. So how do you feel now
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: about Caleb going into the back half of the schedule?
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, Caleb's played well. The one thing Caleb
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: has to do is just take care of the football
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: a little bit better. I mean, the one interception Saturday
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: was more of a Hail Mary. But he's given us
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: the best chance to win, in my opinion. And I
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: think the other two did well. Maybe if they're not rotating,
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: it might be a different story.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: But Caleb's leadership.
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: Caleb's experience, you know, I feel like gives us the
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: best opportunity to, you know, to move the ball on
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: offense and get points, and I think we've seen that,
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: you know, the last two weeks against, you know, really
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: good Fairmont defense, and then, you know, obviously West Libs,
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: the number one team in the conference, so just, you know,
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: just trying to be more efficient in the pass game
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: with Caleb, and, you know, we were against Fairmont, weren't
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: quite as efficient versus West Liberty, but, you know, got
• 32:48
  Speaker 5: to do a better job in protection, you know, to
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: help Caleb out a little bit, but uh just the
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: way that he competes i mean he was he was
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: gritty on on saturday there was some huge uh scrambles
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: he had he had some really nice throws uh on
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: some touchdowns early i mean so uh he's seeing the
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: field well and and you know he knows what he's
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: doing back there.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Widen the lens out a little bit as far as
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the offense goes we'll start there what is the biggest
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: pleasant surprise you have found on that side of the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: ball through five.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: Games I think maybe the pleasant surprise would be we've
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: got some good young tight ends.
• 33:24
  Speaker 17: Okay.
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: And Marshall Humphrey's done a great job as a senior.
• 33:27
  Speaker 5: We know Marshall's going to know what to do and
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: do it very well. But we've got Benji Atkins, who's
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: played as a true freshman out of Chapmanville, did not
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: have that on my bingo card. Preston Fagans, another true
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: freshman fullback who's doing great on specials.
• 33:44
  Speaker 15: Yeah.
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: He's getting in on some goal line stuff and looks
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: really good in practice.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: We've got a good group.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: Titan Parsons had a catch on Saturday.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: The kid's a specimen. That is the first guy off
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: the bus a lot of the time. Tall guy.
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: He's got great skill set. He's got to put some
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: weight on. He's more of a receiving tight end. You've
• 34:06
  Speaker 5: got Benji who's huge. Almost looks like an offensive tackle,
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: but he can run, catch, and block. You've got Titan,
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: who's more of a receiving tight end, and Preston's more
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: of your lead blocker. Those three true freshmen, they're playing
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: on specials, they're playing on offense. I did not see
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: that one coming.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: As far as your offensive line goes, three returning starters,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: but you're moving Ben and Lowe from right tackle to center.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Dalton Hall's back at left tackle. Brody Sippel's back at
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: right guard. You end up, for the most part, in
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: part because of Makai Morris' play, but also because of
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: an injury to Desmond Self. You end up with a freshman,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Makai Morris, at right tackle, and with Isaiah Ray at
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: left guard, a returner from last year who's getting his
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: first opportunity to start. How do you feel about where
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: that group is coming together at this point?
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they're playing well. I mean, Isaiah has been excellent.
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: We were a little worried going.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Into the season.
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: He's 5'8. He's a powder keg.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. He's a sturdy guy.
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: But just the way that he is, the way that
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: he plays, his attitude, his effort. I mean, he's a
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: guy you can't help.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: But believe in.
• 35:09
  Speaker 5: And every time he's got an opportunity, he's done really
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: well with it. So he's been a pleasant surprise. And
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: then Mekhi Morris. was we thought would be a guard.
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: You know, we had some injuries at tackle and, you know,
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: he's just a great athlete, young, you know, offensive lineman athlete.
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: And and he's got in there and he's gotten a
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: lot of playing time. I mean, there's a lot of
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: things he's got to learn. But, you know, to have
• 35:30
  Speaker 5: never really played tackle and be out there starting and
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: You know, protecting, you know, off the edge, you know,
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: in this conference. I mean, he's done a really good job. But,
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: you know, you see the way we're running the ball.
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: I mean, we've given up a lot of sacks. But
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: it's not, I don't think the O-line, you know, when
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: you look at our drop back protection. you know, it's not,
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: we're not having a lot of problems there. It's, you know,
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: sometimes trying to, you know, get out of the pocket,
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: which we try to do with Caleb some, um, or,
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: you know, or just, you know, maybe it's the running backs,
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: maybe it's, uh, uh, you know, they get an extra
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: guy off the edge and we got to see it, but, uh,
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: but you know, they've done an exceptional job and really,
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: you know, excited. We've, We ran a lot of inside
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: zone last week. We hadn't run a lot of inside zone,
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: and we ran for 300 yards. They can take something
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: and apply it immediately, and that gives us the ability
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: to be very flexible.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Then last group we haven't really talked about, your skill guys,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: running backs, wide receivers. Obviously, you knew you had Devin
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: coming back off of a great year last year. You
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: had Justin, who you were counting on going into last
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: year before he gets hurt. and then your receiver room
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: as deep as you're going to find. Amari was the
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: leading receiver in the conference last year. Malik was first-team
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: all-conference last year. Osama Hurst comes down from West Liberty.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: You've got returners within the program. Samaj Demps comes from FIU.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: What were your expectations for your running backs and your receivers,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: and where do you feel about how that has gone
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: through five games?
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, the running backs have been very consistent.
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: We rotate Justin and Devin quite a bit, and Shaka
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: Griffin gets in there. And, you know, we've been pretty
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: consistent with getting them, you know, Justin and Devin get
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: about 30 to 35 reps a game. And then, you know, Shaka. uh, gets,
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: you know, maybe around five to 10 at running back
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: and some other, and a little bit of like H back. Uh,
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: but they've been extremely consistent. They play extremely hard. I mean, they've,
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: they've done a really good job. Uh, the receivers, you know,
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: Amari is, is an explosive player. You see it every week. Um,
• 37:23
  Speaker 5: you know, it's good. Malik Baker is getting healthy again.
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: You know, that's been a huge help. Um, you know,
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: he's our kind of our go-to guy, uh, can do
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: a little bit of everything. Um, you know, uh, uh,
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: Osama has been great in the red zone. You know, we,
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: And Osama and Samaj are kind of new, so we got,
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: you know, I think in the receiver room, it's more
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: like just little things like alignments on certain, you know,
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: pass plays. But, I mean, you can see how talented
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: they are and they're playmakers. We've got to do a
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: good job of, you know, trying to get them the ball.
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: We haven't had a lot of success with our screens.
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: That's one thing that we wanted to work on this
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: week of just, you know, getting those guys a touch
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: and not just kind of trying to throw a deep
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: to them all the time.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Flip it over to the defense, what you've seen from
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: that group so far. I'll ask kind of the same question.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Pleasant surprise that you are happy with after five games?
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: You know, from a defensive standpoint, third downs. I mean,
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: you look at last year, we really struggled on third down,
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: and I think this year we're leading the conference in
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: third down efficiency and conference play on defense. So, you know,
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: that was a really pleasant surprise, you know, able to
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: get them off the field. As far as players, I
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: think there's some young guys, a lot of those true freshmen,
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: Otis Guyton, Simpson, DJ Harmon has been incredible.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: I wanted to bring him up because him running down
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: the receiver from West Liberty, it was early, I don't
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: even remember what it was. There was some kind of
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: broken play that West Liberty, they've just got a guy
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: running down the sideline, and DJ Harmon, as a linebacker,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: chased him 60 yards down the field and kept him
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: out of the end zone.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I thought that really summed up, you know,
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: how hard our defense played. I mean, they ran to
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: the ball, they were hitting. DJ was hitting all day,
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: and then he tracked down, you know, he hawked down
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: a receiver, or I don't know who it was, but
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: incredible effort play. But, you know, he's been, you know,
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: definitely a great surprise. You know, we knew he'd be
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: playing some, but he's playing at a high level right now.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Let's kind of go position by position again. So... just
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: start front to back. Defensive line had your returners on
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the interior, a lot of new guys on the edges.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: you mentioned some of them Otis Guyton by the way
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: had two sacks on Saturday as a true freshman but
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: that that group up front I know you like to
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: do a lot different a lot of different things with
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: them so where do you feel about that at.
• 39:41
  Speaker 5: This point yeah I think they've been great they've been
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: consistent you know we've been really good in the run
• 39:46
  Speaker 5: game stopping the run You know, I think, you know, Dante,
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: you know, has done a great job in the interior. McGrew, Damari, Tony,
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: you know, there's, there's some guys in there, Dwight Fiala,
• 40:00
  Speaker 5: like you're not going to see him a whole lot
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: in the stat sheet. But I know Dwight was our
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: player of the game a couple of games ago because
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: of how he, you know, he's holding, you know, he's
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: holding his gap and keeping guys off linebackers and, You know,
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: you don't really see those in the stack column, but,
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: you know, we see how productive they are. And sometimes
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: when Otis gets a sack, it's because, you know, McGrew
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: or Dante or Damari, they're keeping the pocket clean so,
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: you know, Otis can get off his block and make
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: the play. So we call those sack assists. So those
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: guys have been kind of unsung heroes for us. I
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: think they've played really well. I think Corlin's done a
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: really good job with them.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Linebackers, Keyshawn Washington coming back, get a Division I transfer
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: in Justin Kalitsnick. We've talked about DJ Harmon, seen some
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: other bodies in there at various times. It's not necessarily,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: with the system, there's usually only two of those guys
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: on the field at a given time, but because of that,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: they've got a lot of different things they have to do.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: So how do you feel about your backers?
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, first of all, Keyshawn's been incredible. I mean,
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: not only as a player, but as a leader. He's
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: really kind of taken the reins as being the guy
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: on the field that's kind of the quarterback for the defense.
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: And he's played exceptionally well in run and pass. I mean,
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: he's a former safety, so he's good in the pass game,
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: and he's really athletic in fitting his gaps. And then DJ,
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: like you said, he just keeps getting better. I mean,
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: you can see the progression happening where he's going to be.
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: And then Justin is a physical inside linebacker, downhill. We
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: use Justin a lot on some blitzes to kind of
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: plug gaps, and we can show different looks and kind
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: of use him as a defensive lineman because he's so
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: aggressive where you get three D-line on the field, you
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: can blitz Justin in the B-gap, and he's basically like
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: a three technique, like a D-lineman in there. So he's
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: been great, and he's been studying so he knows what's
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: going on. And then Malik Brown is a veteran. player
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: for us that you can throw in anytime so that
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: crew has done great I think maybe a couple times
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: in the past game they've got to be a little
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: better but overall you look at what we're doing in
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: the run game and that's because the box is playing really.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Well secondary start with your corners basically totally new group
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: as far as the guys that are playing A couple
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago, your starting quarterback was one of those
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: guys for a little while against West Virginia Wesleyan. But
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Quan Floyd is a junior college guy I knew you
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: were excited about. Julian Whitfield's a true freshman that I've
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: seen a lot of time. And then Lee Levingston is
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: just kind of out there. He's in there for somebody
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: all the time and typically is around the football. So
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: how do you feel about the way that group of
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: corners has come together with so many new faces?
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, they're getting better every week. I think,
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: you know, Quan, he's had some, you know, he hurt
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: his wrist, so he's been in and out. But I
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: think as far as coverage-wise, when he's out there, we
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: feel pretty confident. I think that Whitfield is a young
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: guy that's got a lot of ability. He's going through
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: freshman year where some weeks he's really good, some weeks
• 42:59
  Speaker 5: he's struggling a little bit. And then Lee, and Lee's
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: an older guy, veteran. You can kind of throw him
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: in there when you need to, and he's had a
• 43:10
  Speaker 5: really good game on special teams recently. on Saturday. So,
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's a, like you said, it's a new group. So,
• 43:15
  Speaker 5: you know, we're kind of rotating them in and out,
• 43:17
  Speaker 5: you know, just trying to get a feel for what
• 43:19
  Speaker 5: combination works best, but they're getting better every week and that's,
• 43:22
  Speaker 5: you know, what we need to continue to do there.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: And then your safeties, we've just, we've seen a ton
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: of guys and we've seen a ton of guys make plays.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, you started the year with Greg Deloach, Eric McGuire,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Manny Toussaint, that's two returners and a freshman. But between
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: guys coming in, guys stepping up, we've seen Trevin Smith
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: and Jalen Jeter and Elijah Pratt a few times. And
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: there's guys that I'm forgetting that have gotten time back
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: there at safety and made plays. So what do you
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: think that group can do now the rest of the way?
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: You talked about the halfway point. One of the things
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: we looked at was we're struggling against the pass. I
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: think there's a lot of times where we're in good
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: position and we're playing it right and then there's some
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: other times where there's some confusion. Maybe we get lost
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: on emotion and a guy gets out of position and
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: that's really been killing us in the past game. So
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, Manny is a guy that's going
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: to come up and, and hit people.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: And he's, you know, he's got, he's, he's always got
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: great energy in practice. You know, he's, he's just kind of, he's,
• 44:23
  Speaker 5: he's young.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: So he's learning, you know, all the little things out there.
• 44:26
  Speaker 5: Jeter is a, you know, a veteran that's doing a
• 44:29
  Speaker 5: great job week in, week out. You know, Trevin is a,
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: is a guy that transferred in and, and he, he's
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: been injured. So we're just kind of getting him back
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: in the fold and, Greg's a veteran that's had a
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: really good year.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: You're going to talk about somebody that will hit somebody. Yeah,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: Greg Deloach. He will go hit somebody.
• 44:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we've got to tone him down in practice a
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: lot because he's trying to hit anyone that's near the football.
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: But Greg's got a hamstring, and so he's been kind
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: of battling through it. But Greg's, I think, one of
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: the better safeties in the conference when he's fully healthy.
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: But those guys are, I think, all the back-end guys.
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: Jalen's been here a long time, and Jalen's been consistent.
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: Eric McGuire is another guy that's played a lot. He's
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: got a club on his hand, Amir Muhammad.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: They both have clubs.
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: A little tough to play safety with a club on
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: your hand as far as making tackles and breaking up passes.
• 45:17
  Speaker 5: But we've got a lot of guys that are all
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: getting better every week. And I think if we can
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: take that next step in the pass game with the
• 45:25
  Speaker 5: corners and the DVs, I think we're going to make
• 45:27
  Speaker 5: a major leap on defense because we're stopping the run.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. And then lastly, before we take
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: our last break and talk a little bit of Concord...
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I did not bring up
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: special teams because you are the special teams coordinator. Alex
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: Schrader doing everything this year. Kicking, punting, kicking off. And
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: then you've got Will Seitz who it felt like started
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: long snapping like two weeks ago as we talked about
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: last year with him coming in right before the start
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: of the season. Um, as far as your specialists go
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: and in special teams in general, how do you feel
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: about that?
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: Well, I was disappointed in the, um, you know, the, the,
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: the two games, the Wesleyan and Fairmont game, we really, uh,
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: you know, struggled on, you know, on special teams. Um,
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: you started out great. We were unbelievable against Chawan played
• 46:13
  Speaker 5: really well against Robert Morris, uh, And then had some,
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: you know, unforced errors in those, you know, the Wesleyan
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: and Fairmont game. But, you know, thought they'd bounce back
• 46:20
  Speaker 5: really well against West Liberty. I mean, I think Malik
• 46:23
  Speaker 5: Baker is leading the conference in punt return yards. So
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: our punt block unit is doing a good job. We've
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: blocked a punt this year, and we're leading in punt
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: return yards. So that group has been dynamic. It's really
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: been the kick return that's really struggling.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: You know, we're working.
• 46:39
  Speaker 5: You know, that's been kind of a point of emphasis
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: this week and getting Devin back there to return kicks and,
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: you know, finding a way to get, you know, get
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: the offense, you know, where we got the ball in
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: the 30, 40 yard line on kick return. But Alex
• 46:50
  Speaker 5: has done great. I mean, it's his first time really
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: taking over the reins for all three. And, you know,
• 46:55
  Speaker 5: he had one one bad game, but I thought he
• 46:57
  Speaker 5: bounced back this week. He had a huge field goal
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: in overtime. He punted the ball really well. Kickoffs were
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: really good. I mean, I think, you know, there's a
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: lot of things we've done well, you know, on special teams.
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: I mean, our kickoff team is, I think, one of
• 47:12
  Speaker 5: the top kickoff units. Other than the touchdown we gave up,
• 47:15
  Speaker 5: we've been dominant. And I guess you can't really say
• 47:17
  Speaker 5: that because we gave up a touchdown. But, you know,
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: other than one play, they've been dominant. You know, the
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: punt block unit has been really, really good. Punt team is,
• 47:26
  Speaker 5: I think, first or second in the conference in net punt. Uh,
• 47:29
  Speaker 5: and then really kick return is, has been our main focus.
• 47:31
  Speaker 5: And then, you know, just the penalties, you know, we,
• 47:34
  Speaker 5: we come after a lot of punts. I try to
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: block every punt. We don't really have a lot of
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: returns since I've been here. So we got, you know,
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: teams are going on too. And, and we got to
• 47:43
  Speaker 5: know and realize that that's going to happen, especially the
• 47:46
  Speaker 5: way that we come after punts. So we've been going
• 47:48
  Speaker 5: on to a lot this week, trying to cut those out.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll talk about what's coming up next with Concord
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: coming to Institute on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets and the
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Mountain Lions kick off 1 o'clock. Pre-game coverage starts at
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: 1230 here on 107.3 The Beat. We will preview that
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: matchup when we return. It's the John Pennington Show live
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: from the Pitch Sports Bar and Grill on 107.3 The Beat.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Yellow Jackets, when the whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: keep the times going at the Pitch Sports Bar and
• 48:11
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the John Pennington Show, live from
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: the pitch at Shawnee. 107.3 The Beat is the exclusive
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: home of the John Pennington Show. Now back to the
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: John Pennington Show, only on 107.3 The Beat.
• 52:22
  Speaker 5: Let's talk football.
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: It's the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat. Daniel
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Woods with you, head coach of the Yellow Jackets, John
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: Pennington as well. And, Coach, let's get right into it
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: for our final segment here tonight. Let's talk about Concord
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: coming up on Saturday. You've got a team coming in
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: that is averaging 37 points per game. has guys that
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: have spent time and played at division one schools all
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: over the offense um and and a guy on defense
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: that uh has a heck of a pedigree as well
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: that is making a big impact for that team uh
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: so you you look at what this concord team has
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: what stands out as you start to get.
• 52:59
  Speaker 5: Ready for them talent uh you know they're the most
• 53:02
  Speaker 5: talented team uh that we face definitely in conference um
• 53:06
  Speaker 5: Dom Collins, he's a local kid. We watched him in
• 53:10
  Speaker 5: high school. Now we're seeing him at the college level.
• 53:14
  Speaker 5: He's got to be the focal point defensively. The quarterback's
• 53:16
  Speaker 5: really doing a great job throwing the ball. He spins
• 53:20
  Speaker 5: it around. He's got a handful of different receivers he
• 53:23
  Speaker 5: can go to. You can't just load up on Dom
• 53:26
  Speaker 5: Collins because... Those other guys can beat you, too. And
• 53:29
  Speaker 5: they've been running the ball well. I mean, you can't
• 53:31
  Speaker 5: really load up one side or the other because, you know,
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: against West Lib, you can kind of load the box
• 53:36
  Speaker 5: a little bit in some ways and get away with it.
• 53:39
  Speaker 5: Against this team, you've got to be sound in both.
• 53:42
  Speaker 5: So I think just their overall talent, even, you know, defensively,
• 53:46
  Speaker 5: they're a really talented group. I mean, special teams. Um,
• 53:50
  Speaker 5: you know, they've, they've, they've scored a lot of points. Uh,
• 53:52
  Speaker 5: you know, the defense has given up, you know, some points, but, uh,
• 53:55
  Speaker 5: but you can see how talented they are and they
• 53:57
  Speaker 5: have some new guys. So, you know, they're probably working
• 53:59
  Speaker 5: through some things, but, uh, the overall thing that we
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: see is talent.
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: You've got a quarterback at Concord and Devin Cargman that
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: spent four years at an FBS program in Kent state.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: A couple of those years as the backup, he made
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: a couple of starts in Mac play when you've got
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: a guy that is, is that experience has played that
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: much high level football coming in, uh, How do you
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: put a game plan together for a guy that is
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: probably not going to be fooled by much?
• 54:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you know, I think we
• 54:26
  Speaker 5: did a good job, you know, last week putting a
• 54:29
  Speaker 5: simple game plan together that we felt like stopped, you know,
• 54:32
  Speaker 5: what they were going to try to do. And I
• 54:34
  Speaker 5: think we have a good idea of what they're going
• 54:36
  Speaker 5: to try to do. You know, stopping it is another,
• 54:38
  Speaker 5: you know, another conversation. But, you know, I've done the
• 54:42
  Speaker 5: same thing this week. You know, I feel like we
• 54:43
  Speaker 5: have a good base game plan that, you know, can–
• 54:47
  Speaker 5: um you know can can hopefully contain the pass game
• 54:50
  Speaker 5: that's where we've struggled the most uh and then you
• 54:52
  Speaker 5: know and still you know keep the run game you
• 54:54
  Speaker 5: know from you know you can't have too many guys
• 54:57
  Speaker 5: outside the box or you're gonna be in trouble because
• 54:59
  Speaker 5: they can run the ball so you know we've got
• 55:00
  Speaker 5: to we've got to find a way to get extra
• 55:02
  Speaker 5: hats in the box uh but but still be able
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: to play coverage behind it which is a tough task
• 55:08
  Speaker 5: uh but we got a i think we have a
• 55:09
  Speaker 5: great plan uh coach jackson and i've You know, met
• 55:12
  Speaker 5: on it all week, pulling all the little hairs I
• 55:14
  Speaker 5: have out left. But, yeah, but it's a good, simple plan.
• 55:18
  Speaker 5: And we know the D-line and linebackers, you know, do
• 55:21
  Speaker 5: a great job. So we've got to pick our times
• 55:24
  Speaker 5: when we can get the safeties in the fit, you know,
• 55:27
  Speaker 5: and how quickly we can get them in the fit
• 55:29
  Speaker 5: and work through that. So that's really been... you know,
• 55:32
  Speaker 5: the conversation all week is how do we, you know,
• 55:34
  Speaker 5: how do we still play coverage and get guys in
• 55:36
  Speaker 5: the run fit without, you know, giving anything up?
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: Looking at the defense for Concord, at least to me, it...
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: looks like the strength is up front. Defensive line in particular.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Sean Bray Jackson is there. Transferred from UMass. Was a
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: four-star recruit that went to Florida State out of high school.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Five sacks already this season, but then around him, they've
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: got some guys that were all-Mountaineese type players last year
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: that are back as well. How do you go about
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: preparing for a guy that is an absolute game wrecker
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: while also not, you know, sending all five offensive linemen
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: in one direction?
• 56:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we just have to do a good
• 56:14
  Speaker 5: job of kind of protecting, you know, making sure that
• 56:17
  Speaker 5: our protections are sound, you know, and that we've got
• 56:20
  Speaker 5: everything covered. I mean, you know, Dalton is, you know,
• 56:23
  Speaker 5: one of the best left tackles in the country, especially,
• 56:26
  Speaker 5: you know, will run or pass. He does a great job. So,
• 56:28
  Speaker 5: You don't worry too much about Dalton. Makai is a
• 56:31
  Speaker 5: younger guy, so you feel like we want to make
• 56:34
  Speaker 5: sure that we're not just leaving him on an island
• 56:37
  Speaker 5: with that guy all game. There's going to be times, obviously,
• 56:40
  Speaker 5: he's going to have to block him one-on-one. But we
• 56:42
  Speaker 5: want to make sure that we're helping out Makai. when
• 56:45
  Speaker 5: he's got, you know, when he feels like in one-on-one situations. But,
• 56:48
  Speaker 5: you know, we've got to experience the line. You know,
• 56:50
  Speaker 5: I think as long as we have sound protection, I mean,
• 56:52
  Speaker 5: we can't, you know, we're not like we're going to
• 56:54
  Speaker 5: be able to get the backs out all the time.
• 56:56
  Speaker 5: Sometimes we've got to keep those guys in. So you
• 56:58
  Speaker 5: just want to, you know, you've got to be a
• 56:59
  Speaker 5: little bit more sound and try to keep those one-on-one
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: matchups from happening. throughout the entirety of the game. It's
• 57:06
  Speaker 5: going to happen some, but if we can do a
• 57:09
  Speaker 5: good job of limiting how many times it happens, then
• 57:11
  Speaker 5: we feel like we'll be in a better position in
• 57:13
  Speaker 5: the pass game.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: And then between the years for these guys going into Saturday,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: how do you develop what you saw this past Saturday
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: against West Liberty and then transition that into let's go
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: out on the field, our home field, and turn this
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: around in the way that we know we can?
• 57:33
  Speaker 5: I think there's a lot of excitement and confidence in
• 57:37
  Speaker 5: the locker room that we played really well on Saturday
• 57:42
  Speaker 5: and there's still some things to clean up. If we
• 57:44
  Speaker 5: can continue to play the way that we played Saturday
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: and clean up some of the things that hurt us,
• 57:49
  Speaker 5: we're just going to keep getting better. That's really the
• 57:52
  Speaker 5: only way we can win. I think the guys know
• 57:54
  Speaker 5: if we take care of what we're supposed to take
• 57:57
  Speaker 5: care of, then we're going to have a good day
• 57:59
  Speaker 5: on Saturday, but we know that we're up against a
• 58:01
  Speaker 5: really good team. And I think that everyone in that
• 58:03
  Speaker 5: locker room has been the underdog, you know, at some
• 58:06
  Speaker 5: point in their life, if not the majority of it,
• 58:08
  Speaker 5: myself included. So we're not unfamiliar with this role and
• 58:12
  Speaker 5: it's a role that I've thrived in. And I think
• 58:14
  Speaker 5: a lot of our guys thrive in and they're ready
• 58:16
  Speaker 5: to go out there and show that, you know, what
• 58:18
  Speaker 5: kind of football we can play on a Saturday. And,
• 58:20
  Speaker 5: and put it all together. But there's a lot of
• 58:22
  Speaker 5: confidence in that locker room right now.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Well, we're excited for it, and we will be back
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: here on 107.3 The Beat this Saturday, 1 o'clock kickoff
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: for West Virginia State and Concord, pregame coverage 1230 with
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: myself and Hollis Lewis. We'll be back next Wednesday at
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: this same time, in this same place, the Pitch Sports
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Bar and Grill at the Shawnee Sports Complex next Wednesday,
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: 7 o'clock, to talk about it again. We'll go back
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: over that Concord game, get ready for what's next as well.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: We'll hope you'll join us for that, and we hope
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: you'll join us this Saturday. But for Head Coach John Pennington,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: for Woody Woods at the controls back on Virginia Street
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: in downtown Charleston, I am Daniel Woods saying so long
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: from the Pitch Sports Bar and Grill. This has been
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat.
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the John Pennington Show, live from
• 59:04
  Speaker 3: the pitch at Shawnee. 107.3 The Beat is the exclusive
• 59:09
  Speaker 3: home of the John Pennington Show and West Virginia State
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: Yellow Jacket football. Join us every Wednesday night at the
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: pitch from 7 to 8 p.m. as we go inside
• 59:19
  Speaker 3: the game with head coach John Pennington. The Yellow Jackets
• 59:23
  Speaker 3: play here. 107.3 The Beat.