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The John Pennington Show – Conference Opener, Rebuilding the Defense, and Previewing West Virginia Wesleyan · The John Pennington Show

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: It's time for the John Pennington Show live from the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: pitch at Shawnee. Your weekly look inside the West Virginia
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: State Yellow Jackets. Join us all season long at the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: pitch to break down Yellow Jacket football like nobody else
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: does with West Virginia State Head Coach John Pennington. Now,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: live from the pitch at Shawnee with Coach Pennington, here's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Daniel Woods.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Wings all the way up until close.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: That is boneless and traditional for you folks out there,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: as well as dollar off-draft beer all the way.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Up until close. So you do not want to miss
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: what's going on out here.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: What's going on for the next hour is the John
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Pennington Show, talking West Virginia State University football as the
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Yellow Jackets are back after a week off. and ready
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: to take on West Virginia Wesleyan to start conference play.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: We've got a special guest with us tonight as well,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: defensive coordinator Rashad Jackson, after a phenomenally reviewed guest appearance
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: last year, is back with us for another show this season,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: and we're happy to have him alongside. West Virginia State
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: defense in particular a couple times during the show, but
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: first of all, the man whose name is on the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: show is John Pennington, and he joins me once again.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Coach, how was the off week? It was great.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: I thought we had a great off week. We got
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: a lot of things done. We improved in a lot
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: of areas. We got a lot of young guys, some reps,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: and just got some time to get healthy and take
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: a look at what we do well and what we
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: need to work on, so it was really productive. It's
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: a long season, so we wanted to get some of
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: those young guys some reps and Uh, you know, for
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: me and the staff, we got to get away a
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: little bit, uh, you know, had the weekend, uh, to
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: rest and, and, uh, you know, get with our families and,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: you know, got to, I guess over there watching a
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: lot of soccer, Shawnee on my bi-week.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: So got to be just a fan and a dad
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: and it was, it was a great weekend, but. I'm
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: itching to coach a football game.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, I have felt about a
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: day ahead.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Most of this week, and I'm sure you maybe feel
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the same way because I was just waiting for this
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Wednesday to come back and do this show and then
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: waiting for this Saturday to come back and have the
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: game on the air again on this weekend, which West
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Virginia Wesleyan comes to town. We'll break down that matchup
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: here in a few minutes as well. But for West
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Virginia State, for you guys, after... This past week off,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: what's the message been to these guys now as you
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: start conference play, as you transition out of a game
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: against Robert Morris that we haven't gotten to talk about
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: because there was no show last week, but your first
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: loss of the.
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: Season, 29-9?
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think two non-conference games, you got
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: some time to really analyze, you know, what are the
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: things that we're doing and what is working, what is
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: not working, who's playing well and, you know, who do
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: we need to get ready and that sort of thing.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: But I think the biggest thing right now is just,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: you know, it's us improving. It's state versus state. I mean,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: it's conference play. it's playing for keeps, there's no more
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: my bads, there's no more, you know, no.
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: Do-overs, anything like that, it's, everything.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Is playing for keeps, so just focusing on us, you know,
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: doing our job, and getting better at the things.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: We need to improve at, and it's how, you know, it's.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: About us, and how much better we can be, and
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: how much better we can play, but I thought, you know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: after two games, I really love the identity of this team,
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: we've played extremely hard, regardless of the scoreboard, there's a
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: There's a play where Coach Jackson's defense were down 29-9,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: six minutes left in the game. Defense is flying around,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: hitting people, pushing the pile backwards. The team was believed
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: until the last.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Minute that we were going to find a way to
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: come back. So I love that. We're the least penalized team.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: In the conference right now, which has never happened for
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: me in 10 years.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: So we're playing hard, we're playing smart, and we're playing together.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: You know, our team is really close. We haven't had any,
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: a whole lot of finger pointing on the sideline. It's
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: just guys, you know, getting back to the drawing board.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: What do we need to do to fix things?
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: So we're running the ball well, we're stopping the run,
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: and we're playing good special teams. So, you know, that's
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: a formula for winning football.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: And, We wanted to use.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: This week to fine-tune the execution and how we can
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: do things better on offense and defense. We think if
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: we can continue to play hard and execute better, that
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: we can really win a lot of football games.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: All right, Coach Rashad Jackson, I'm going to bring you
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: in for the first time. You've got a group in
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: particular that we've talked about a lot on this show
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: and on the broadcast of the game. You've got a
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: lot of new faces on defense, a lot of young
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: guys getting their first crack. at college football so how
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: valuable has this week been for you where you've got
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: these guys where you've got two games worth of film
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: that you can can go in and say this is
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: what we're going to fix this is what you need
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: to do better and this is where we're going Yeah.
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: Man, it was awesome to get those guys out there
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: to get a lot of reps going for those guys,
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: you know, to see who is who, develop depth throughout
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: the defense from the front line all the way to
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: the secondary. Like you said, we got a lot of
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: young guys, but those guys are very talented, so we
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: want to see can these guys get the scheme down
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: fully to where we can play them in different multiple packages.
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: So that was a big thing this bye week. So
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: I think we'll accomplish that. It's just seeing those guys
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: develop and grow throughout the week. That off week was
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: just amazing. We felt good as we went back into
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: staff meetings. We watched them, broke it down. A lot
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: of mistakes that we did make, they're not making anymore.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: You know, a lot of stunts that we ran early
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: up in camp, those guys will miss the line, out
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: of gap sometimes. Now you see those kids correcting themselves,
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: taking coaching, developing. And that's what we wanted to get to.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: Can we get to that point by the time we're
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: giving the conference play? So we feel very good about
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: where we're at right now. Now we want to continue
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: to develop and grow in those areas to where we
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: can be dominant on defense from start to finish, eliminate
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: the explosive plays. is a big thing coming out of
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: the bye week that I think we're going to hone
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: in on, and that's going to take us all the
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: way to where we're really trying to go.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I like the sound of that. So let's take it
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: back two weeks.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit about the last time out
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: for your team with the game at Robert Morris. It's
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: the first time you've played a Division I opponent in
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: a couple of years. 29-9, mentioned the loss. That was
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: a one-score game at halftime, 15-9. Last 30 minutes doesn't.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Go your way.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: But I remember that trip back. Obviously, you want to
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: win every game. You want to go 11-0. But there
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: was not a sense of, oh, everybody's down because we
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: just lost this game. Or we went out there and
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: played terribly, so everybody's moping around. That was a game
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that it felt like you could take some positives away from.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's a game you can turn the
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: page from quickly.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: After the game, there was definitely some frustration in the
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: locker room. I think from all 86 coaches and players
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: that were there, we were frustrated that we thought we
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: left some plays out there. Like you said, it was
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: 15-9 at halftime. Offense was moving the ball up and
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: down the field. Defense was getting stops. Special teams was
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: playing well.
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: In the second half, we got out of rhythm on offense.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: The defense hung in there and held on as long
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: as they could.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: But You know just it was a little bit too
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: late once the offense.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Started get going again But we were able to turn
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the page quickly and get you know, we knew you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: it's conference play You know, we knew that the two
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: out of conference games obviously not as important as as
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: these next nine You know eight conference games coming up.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: So we turned the page quickly and you know, we
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: immediately started getting into You know a SWAT analysis like
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: what are our strengths?
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: What are our weaknesses? who are we?
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: And how do we build on the things that we
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: did well? And how do we fix the things that were,
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: you know, not executing well. So it was, it was a,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: you know, it was a busy week, as far as
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: we had a lot that we wanted to get done.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: And we didn't want to burn the guys out, you know,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: wanted to give.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: Them some time to rest.
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: And I thought our staff did a really good job of,
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: of kind of, you know, playing, it's a dichotomy, right?
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: You got to work in, but you got to keep
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: them fresh and not overwork them. So we had shorter, more,
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: you know, more efficient practices. And, A lot of competition
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: and a lot of young guys. That was the biggest thing,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: letting those young guys get competitive reps. We had some
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: fun competitive things that we did and tried to keep
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: it fun.
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: But this team loves football. They love playing.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: You don't really have any trouble getting them ready to
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: practice or getting them ready to play. They just seem
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: to love the game and love being out there doing
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: their thing.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I like the sound of that.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: As far as the defense in that game goes, I
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: was talking about this with Hollis Lewis, who does the
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: games with.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Me, after that game, coach.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: It stood out to me, kind of thinking to myself,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you've got all these freshmen out here playing their second
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: college football game ever. What are those guys going to
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: look like making these kind of plays in their eighth
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: and ninth games of college football against Mountain East Conference teams.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: And maybe not a Division I team? I mean, you've got.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Otis Guyton and Willie DeSantis and Julian Whitfield playing big snaps.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Manny Toussaint, these guys playing big snaps against the Division
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: I opponents. So what did those guys show you in
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: that opportunity?
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: Well, those guys kind of showed me early that, hey,
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: they have what it takes to really compete. We always
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: look for guys that will compete. We put them in
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: competitive situations where they have to stand up on their
• 9:30
  Speaker 6: own and compete, and we see if those guys can
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: measure up to some of those guys that we have
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: on offense with all those all-conference guys, older guys, and
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: they held their own. So we knew, like, hey, okay,
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: these guys can play. Now, how do we use them properly?
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: How do we put them in the best situations? to
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: where they could be successful with their youth. So we
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: gave them a lot of reps early. We had open competition.
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: You know, the best man win, the best man play.
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: Those kids showed up. Even other kids that developed this
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: by week, you know, showed us a lot. We got
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: a lot of guys coming in that was banged up.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: You know, they'll be back with us. We got a
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: freshman that we'll kind of release on Saturday that we'll
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: have coming in, a true freshman. So we just developed
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: a lot of young guys that are first-year, second-year kids
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: that's been in the program last year, like Jamari, Tony,
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: all these guys are first, second-year guys that can really play.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: Even the linebacker, D.J. Harmon, you know, he's a true freshman.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: He had a lot of big snaps the first week
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: he blocked the punt. So we have a whole lot
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: of young guys that are really talented. And for the
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: most part, man, they're just great kids on and off
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: the field. You know, these are the kind of kids
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: that we want to recruit, that are high academic kids,
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: all of those kids that came in over 3.0 GPA,
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: you know, come from great homes. You know, we do
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: a background check on these guys, you know, and if
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: the coach will fall on the side for them, then
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: I know that means a lot. So, you know, we
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: take those kind of kids that we know that could
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: come in and play right now. And that played big
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: time ball in high school in front of thousands of fans.
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: You know, the biggest ball you can play in a
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: very competitive environment where is win and go home. So
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: they're used to playing, and that's what we're looking for
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: to develop across the board.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: I want to get into a little bit later how
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: this defense comes together and putting this group together. But
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: transitioning now to conference play, what does this week of
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: practice now look like for your guys taking that step,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: getting out there, and knowing the next nine games are
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the nine games that really count towards your goal?
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it's been about executing.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: You know, we've spent a lot of time last week
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: working on the details of, you know, our base schemes.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: And we want to see those, you know, we want
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: to see those guys be able to execute that this
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: week when it really matters in a conference game.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: And it's a home game in front of a great crowd.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: And, you know, they're coming into, you know, into Lake
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and Field and trying to, you know, trying to upset
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: our season. So we're looking forward to just really playing
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: a football game. I think our team is really hungry
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: to play. They're sick of hitting each other. You know,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: we did a lot of competition, but I think Now
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: they're ready to compete against somebody else and get back
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: out on that football field.
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: So it's really been about us and what we need
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: to do to, you know, what we can control.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: You know, we talked a lot about what's in our control,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: what's out of our control.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: You know, we don't.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Control the rest. We don't control the weather. We really
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: don't control what the other team does. So let's control
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: what we can control. And if we do that well
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: enough at some point, you know, it's going to pop
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: for us, you know, just like it did against Shawan.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And we were patient.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: We just kept playing hard and We knew eventually that
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: the offense would start scoring, defense would be getting turnovers,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: and I think that if we play the way we're
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: supposed to play, then that'll be the case in a
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: lot of our games.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: We're excited to get back on the field, back on
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: the air this Saturday for West Virginia State against West
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Virginia Wesleyan. 1 o'clock kickoff here in Institute, which means
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Hollis Lewis and I are on the air.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: At 12.30 this Saturday.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Going to get into the nitty-gritty on defensive coordinator Rashad
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Jackson's defense. Going to take a look at this young group,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: what they've done through two weeks, and how it all
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: came together. Plus, we'll preview that matchup against West Virginia
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Wesley and talk about what else is going on around
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: the program. There's plenty more coming live from the pitch
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: at Shawnee. It's the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat.
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  Speaker 3: Yellow Jackets, when the whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero,
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• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Let's talk football.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: The John Pennington Show is on. 107.3 The Beat.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: The John Pennington Show is live from the pitch at Shawnee,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: just like we are every Wednesday during the West Virginia
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: State football season, talking Yellow Jacket football and getting you
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: ready for this Saturday's game against West Virginia Wesleyan. I'm
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Daniel Woods, head coach John Pennington, defensive coordinator Rashad Jackson
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: with us this week. We're going to get into that
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: West Virginia State defense here in a moment, but I
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: do have to remind you, The entire time that we
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: are here and all the way up until close, it
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: is Wing Wednesday here at the pitch. That means dollar wings,
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: boneless and traditional, no matter what your choice is, and
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: dollar off-draft beer all the way up until close tonight.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Great opportunity to get on out here. Even if you
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: don't want to hear us yap about football, I recommend
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: that you come hear us yap about football. But even
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: if you don't want to, there's great deals here at
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: the pitch, great food, great drinks, and you do not
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: want to miss out. We do have West Virginia Wesleyan
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: coming up this Saturday. We will preview that here in
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: just a little bit. But I want to talk about
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: this defense for West Virginia State, this group, how it's
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: come together. So I will tee this up to either
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: of you because I know both of you are pretty
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: intimately involved in the recruiting trail and putting this team
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: together so when you're making a list of priorities for
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: what you wanted this defense to look like this year
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: and you're saying we have to go out and get
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: these guys what did that look like once the season
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: ended last.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Year I mean, one of the things that I think
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: we did a great job of, and Rashad has been
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: instrumental with that, was we wanted to be extremely athletic.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: We thought we could find some, I don't know if
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: you call them diamonds in the rough, or maybe guys
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: that were FCS caliber players that maybe didn't have the measurables,
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: but had the athleticism, had the explosion and we wanted
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: to find hybrid guys guys that maybe didn't fit into
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: specific positions and then we could use them in different
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: packages and i think rashad's done an excellent job you
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: know we we kind of gave him a buffet of
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: athletes and we kind of let you know he's done
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: an excellent job of kind of putting that together into
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: different packages and how to utilize that that athleticism but
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: that that i think that was the you know kind
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: of the core belief was let's get more athletic let's
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: find some hybrid guys that can play outside linebacker d
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: end or you know will linebacker safety or corner safety
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: and you know kind of leave it up to the
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: coaches to figure out where they fit best but i
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: think rashad's done an excellent job you know making that work.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: And what's that process like for you saying, this is
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: what I want to do scheme-wise, these are the guys
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: that I need and these are the guys that I have,
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: and then tailoring it to that?
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah, man. First off, I'd say it started off, you know,
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: me and Coach Penn got together and I told him
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: what I wanted to do on defense as far as,
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: you know, Being a 3-3-5 defense, you know, hey, we
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: want to have athletes, hybrid guys. Okay, how do we
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: go and recruit these guys? What does that look like?
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: and um just what we really want to do we
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: want to move around we know we can't recruit the
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: kids that go to alabama right university of georgia we
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: can't get a 6'3 320 pound nose guard so we
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: might have to get a smaller kid that can move
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: move around a little bit play with some toughness we
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: was looking for mentality as well who's really tough um
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: who have the mindset of a junkyard dog we was
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: looking for that on film who was explosive who was
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: kind of mean nasty kind of gritty type kids we
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: look for that across the board and then like coach
• 21:12
  Speaker 6: said who is a big safety that might could play
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: backer you know who is a linebacker that might get
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: after the quarterback so as we look for those kids
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: we kind of identified a couple couple of those guys
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: we went after them you know thank god that we
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: got them so now we have to be able to
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: utilize the kids in the proper way just because you
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: have them now you have to know how to use
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: them certain packages you know so we're looking to play
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: those kids 20 plays a game maybe You know, we
• 21:37
  Speaker 6: want to still stick with our veteran kids across the board,
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: you know, in our base defense, then kind of bring
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: in some guys that can move around certain packages, get
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: out to the quarterback, maybe play some man coverage, play
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: some zones, all those kids that can use athleticism in
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: different ways. And we look up at the end of
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: the game and want to be able to play, you know,
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: say 22 kids on defense, put them in the right situation,
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: right scheme. You know, we could be in the four down,
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: three down, five, it don't matter. But being able to
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: utilize those kids properly was major. And I just thank
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: Coach Penn so much for being over there, holding me accountable,
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: being a coach to me, you know, making me better
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: each and every day, asking me questions. Hey, man, what
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: are we doing today? What is your goal? What is
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: your agenda? What is our focus for the day? So
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: that was something that made me a better coach, held
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: me accountable to where I could hold the kids accountable.
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: So that was major, and I think that was big
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: in the process.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: We had Joe Daly in here two weeks ago, and
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: I know he's one of your South Florida guys that
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: you've brought in from Palm Beach and the surrounding areas there.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: You've got a lot of those guys on defense, too,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: a lot of South Florida guys that you have come in,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: and those guys have stepped on the field right away
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: and been dudes.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: For you already. So you look at that.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Is that a situation where you kind of sat back
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: and said, this is what I want, and I know
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: that I can get it here? Is that kind of
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: the idea behind it? dipping into that area that you
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: already recruit so well?
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah. You know, that didn't start just today. You know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: that's a long history. It goes back to my college coach,
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: Doc Holliday. I get a lot of that from him.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: Even when coach was up at West Virginia University at WVU,
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: all those kids you've seen, Geno Smith, Stamman, Bailey, Noel Devine,
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: you know, Doc Holliday went and got all those guys.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: And then you look at it as about relationships as well.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: For example, those guys, their head coaches played for West Virginia.
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: They played for a doc. He recruited their head coach
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: out of high school. So it was easy for him
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: to go back into those schools and get those kids.
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: And like you said, when you build a relationship with
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: those type of coaches and kids, you know, it breeds
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: great results. So we want to continue to get those
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: kids who are used to playing ball. They're outside all day,
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: every day, just running around. You know, they're never in
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: the snow. So it's seven-on-seven ball, it's spring ball, you know,
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: down in Florida. So we play spring ball, and you
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: have a spring game, an actual game against another high school.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: It's big, big money. All the coaches go down. So
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: that's a big time to recruit in the spring. It's
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: been a month of May, really get down there, hit
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: all the schools, you know, rub elbows with the right guys,
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: right coaches, right kids, meet them. So that was big
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: in the process. And I think if we could get
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: those kids– You can win this conference.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: I like the sound of that. I like that.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: You know, in today's college football, things are a little
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: different with the portal and everything that goes on. Like,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: you know, there's guys that you wouldn't have been able
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: to get in the past that you can get now that,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: you know, maybe FCS schools overlook.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, you look at a guy like Otis Guyton.
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: What's Otis' weight?
• 24:47
  Speaker 9: 190?
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: 190.
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: He's 200 on the roster. Yeah, he about won that.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: I was going to say, I have my prep stuff
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: in front of me. I say his name in the lineup.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: It's 200, but I'll let you guys be the experts.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: His athleticism jumped off the film, and Coach Jackson kind of.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: Knew a little bit of his background, his nickname.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: And I think on top of that, if you're a
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: high school coach or you're a parent, You want to
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: send your child somewhere where you know they're going to
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: be taken care of. And Rashad does a great job
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: building those relationships. We have a great program. It's a
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: great school. It's easy for those parents to see, okay,
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: my son's going to be taken care of. He's going
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: to be coached hard, and he's got a support system
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: that we really know these guys are going to be
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: good leaders for our son.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: So I think that's a big part of it. They've
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: got to trust you to be able to take care
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: of their most prized possession.
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: It's the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat. We
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: are here every Wednesday night during the West Virginia State
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: football season from 7 to 8 for Wing Wednesday as well.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Dollar Wings, traditional and boneless dollar off-draft beer all the
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: way to close until tonight's.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And every Wednesday night.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: I know in getting ready for this season, you talked
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: about a combination of things leading to you spending a
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: lot more time in the defensive meeting room than the
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: offensive meeting room. So for both of you, what's that
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: been like developing this group kind of collectively and having
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: that extra hand, not because there's any lack of trust
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: or anything, it's just this is maybe the side of
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: the ball that needs a little bit more attention going
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: into the season.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: Well, I love it.
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: I thought I might be bored not calling plays or
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: not being as involved with the offense, but I watch
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: more film than I've ever watched because I want to
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: see where I can help on the defense and where
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: I can help on the offense. I kind of pick
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: and choose, you know, maybe where I, my time needs
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: to be spent best, but I, I'm kind of more like,
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: like a consultant, you know, like kind of, yeah, I,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: I see things from a 20,000 foot view, you know,
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: where Rashad and, and Corlin and Ben and, uh, and Reynolds, they're,
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: they're in the weeds and I can sometimes see things
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: that maybe they, they're not able to see cause they're
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: in it.
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: And the same thing goes with the offense.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: So, you know, it's really me just kind of looking
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: for things that, that might, they might not be able
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: to see just an extra set of eyeballs.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: And, Plus, I have that offensive mind, so I.
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: Can be like, oh, well, this is what they're trying
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: to do, this is what they're trying to attack, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: maybe kind of let them see it from the other
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: side a little bit.
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: So just give them really more.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Perspective is what I'm trying to do and just find
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: little ways to add value to both sides of the ball.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: This guy's not breathing down your neck every day, right?
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: No, no, no, not at all, man. But, you know,
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: I sit back and I look back when me and
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: Coach Pitt had a nice conversation. He asked me what
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: are some of my strengths and what are some of
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: my weaknesses. What could he do to help me? You know,
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: that was important to me. That question really stuck out
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: to me. So I just let him know, hold me accountable.
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: Give me a goal every day. Stay on top of me.
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: I can take criticism. I got thick skin. So I
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: just told him, hey, hold me accountable. Stay on top
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: of me. So as he do that every day, that
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: makes me a better coach. So I could be a
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: better coach to the staff as well, the defensive staff.
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: So that really helped us out. You know, and he
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: get to learn defense. You know, all that kind of stuff.
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: So he really like it and he love it. He's
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: intrigued about it, which, you know, I love to see
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: him come in the room, kind of, hey, ask questions.
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: You know, it might be something that I missed. Like
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: he said, hey, on offense, we trying to– target this
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: guy uh we trying to get an extra hat here
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: so we just you know we ping ping pong off
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: one another um and he just makes me a much
• 28:36
  Speaker 6: better coach i like it.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: I think the biggest motivation is they know if if
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: if the defense or offense doesn't perform well that means i'm.
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: Going to be in their meeting room all the time so.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: So i think they're motivated if we play well he'll
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: go to the other right he'll go.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: To the other room discipline is a great motivator yeah
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: yeah So you mentioned the name. You mentioned your defensive
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: coaching staff, a guy that we've talked about on the
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: show before but is new to the program. And I
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: have to ask you about Brian Reynolds stepping in because
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: that is a guy that just, if you weren't expecting
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: somebody to draw your attention as soon as you walk
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: into practice, that's the guy that's going to draw your attention.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: So tell me about Coach Reynolds and what he brings
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: to the table.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: Oh, man, he brings the discipline part. Like Coach said,
• 29:23
  Speaker 6: we're the least disciplined, I mean, penalized team in the conference.
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: So that just doesn't happen just falling out of the sky.
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: So he just did an awesome job, man, coming in
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: this spring. Me and him rode up from Florida together. So,
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: you know, I went and met with him down at
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: Stetson where he was at. We drove from D-Land all
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: the way up to, you know, Charleston, West Virginia. But
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: he did a great job in the weight room, man.
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: He established his discipline. You know, you got to start
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: off hard to be soft later. That's what he did.
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: He took the right approach. He showed tough love. You know,
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: held everybody accountable. I mean, he come in the meeting
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: room and he got a list for you every day.
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: I mean, he hard knows. I mean, a kid can
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: have an excuse. He don't care. You know, they can
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: send a text. I already sent a text late. It
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: don't matter. He's holding them accountable. And at the end
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: of the day, that's what's going to make us better.
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: Also on the defense, man, I mean, we went to
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: the ball. Every day this guy– He run to the ball.
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: He hold up his hand. They have to break it
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: down on him. So they have to sprint and run
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: to the ball every day. All of that stuff is
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: building discipline, effort. Those are things that we control. And
• 30:36
  Speaker 6: if you play fast on defense and you discipline across
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: the board, you always have a chance to win the game.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: If you're the least penalized team in the game, you
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: have a chance. You know, so, I mean, man, his
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: presence is just, when he walk in the room, you know,
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: he's a guy you're going to know. He's a different guy,
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: disciplined guy. I just love the guy, man.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: I remember my first exposure to Coach Reynolds was coming
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: out for one of the scrimmage periods during practice, and
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: he was on the same sideline as me. And a
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: couple of guys were getting a little too close to
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: the edge of the sideline, and he just turns around
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: and goes, if one of you steps on this field,
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: I will up-down every single person on this sideline.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I was like, all right, I get where we're coming from. Yeah,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: he does.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: His favorite quote is, if you're juiceless, you're useless. So
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: he brings that kind of energy. And he's done an
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: outstanding job.
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: I mean, you've got Keyshawn Washington, who's still young.
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: He's been around college football, but he's never really played.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: And Brian played the position, so he sees it through
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: a linebacker's eyes. And he's got that toughness to him.
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: And you can really see Keyshawn.
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: You know, taking on some of Brian's personality. I mean, he,
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: Keyshawn is now like a captain. He's got the green dot.
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's, he's, he went from a scout team
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: safety at walk on to now being, you know, captain.
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: Of the defense, running the defense.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: And if the defense doesn't do something right, we're like Keyshawn,
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: that's on you. And, you know, you see a lot of.
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: Brian's leadership qualities and Rashad's leadership qualities coming out in Keyshawn.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: And I think that's just one example, but you see
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: Brian's fingerprints all over our program. Like you said, the, the,
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: The effort, the running to the ball, the discipline, the accountability,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: the standard.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: And not just on defense, but he was in the
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: weight room with them all offseason.
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: So you see it with our offensive guys. You see
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: it on special teams. And you look at our kickoff unit,
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: I think it's number one in the conference.
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: And, I mean, that unit is a weapon. And he
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: does a great job with that.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: So we're really pleased with him.
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: And, you know, just he just had a just had
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: a baby boy. So first time father.
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: So me and Rashad trying to give him some some
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: advice on on those kind of things.
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: And it's just fun, man. It's fun, you know, being around.
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: These coaches and, you know, trying to help them develop
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: and kind of, you know, avoid some of the mistakes
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: I made as a young dad or young coach and
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: try to help them, you know, avoid those kind of things.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: That's great stuff. That is absolutely great stuff. We've got
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: a lot more.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: Coming up on the John Pennington Show tonight here from
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: the Pitch at Shawnee.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Plenty of time to come see us.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: It's Wing Wednesday, Dollar Wings, traditional and boneless dollar off-draft
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: beer all the way up.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Until close tonight. We're here until 8 o'clock. Conference play
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: starts this week. Not necessarily going to get into the
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: opponent quite yet.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: We'll talk about West Virginia Wesleyan to close the show
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: like we always do. When we come back, I want
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: to talk with these guys about the familiarity that comes
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: with the Mountain East Conference. What is different going into
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: conference play? That's coming up next. This is the John
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat. Yellow Jackets, when the
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero, keep the times
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: going at the Pitch Sports Bar and Grill at the
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  Speaker 3: Shawnee Sports Complex. Rally your friends for craft food, craft beer,
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  Speaker 3: The Pitch, minutes from the action with a table waiting
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  Speaker 17: The best fall fashion is now on sale at Macy's.
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• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Now back to the john pennington show only on 107.3
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: the beat let's talk football.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: It's the John Pennington Show on 107.3 The Beat. We
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: are live from the pitch at Shawnee. The pitch, sports bar,
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: and grill. The home for the John Pennington Show all
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: season long. Every Wednesday night from 7 until 8. For
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: the next nine weeks, the bye week is in the
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: rearview mirror. There are no off weeks for the Yellow Jackets.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: There are no off weeks for this show, and we
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: will be here every Wednesday night for Wing Wednesday, Dollar Wings,
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: Dollar Off Draft Beer, all the way up until close
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: every Wednesday night here at the pitch. Got the head coach,
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: John Pennington, with me, and got the defensive coordinator, Rashad Jackson,
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: joining us this week. It's a special week because it's
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: the first week of conference play. West Virginia Wesleyan coming
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: up on Saturday. I'll want to talk about those guys
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: in particular here in a little bit. But let's talk
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: about the Mountaineers Conference as a whole and just conference
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: play in general.
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: How.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: much do things change when you have this level of
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: familiarity that you have seen these teams, some of these
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: guys you're seeing for the fourth or fifth time when
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: it comes to certain players?
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, there's, you know, there's almost a mini
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: rivalry in every game that you play from years past
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: and things that you've gone through against some of those teams,
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: but it's just, when you get down to conference play, like,
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: every game matters. It's a, you know, every week, It's.
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: A tournament game. Like I said, there's no more my bads.
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: It all counts. You're playing for keeps. There's a different
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: level of tension on the field.
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: Both teams know that you've got to win your conference games.
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: You've got to win, especially us, being at home. You've
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: got to take care of business at home.
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: So I just think it just cranks the dial up
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: a notch because conference games, are, they're fun and, and it's, it's,
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: you know, it's football, so it's violent, but it's, it's
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: not quite the same because, you know, even if you don't,
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: if you lose a conference or non-conference game, you know,
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: none of your, none of your, you know, goals are
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: out of the, out the window.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: But if you struggle in conference, then you know some
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: of your goals can go out of the way. So
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: I think it just cranks the dial up a notch,
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: and I think you'll see that in pregame. Both teams
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: will be really amped up, ready to play, and ready
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: for that first conference matchup.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: When it comes to game planning on defense, how valuable
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: is it? I know there's coaching changes and guys transferring
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: all over the place, but when it comes to game
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: planning on defense, how valuable is it to be able
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: to say– All right, this is what this guy did
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: against us last year. This is what they ran on
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: third and eight at the plus 35 last year. How
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: valuable is that to have that on tape and be
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: able to go back and look at it?
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: It's very valuable. And you're talking about game planning with Keller.
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: You know what I mean? We had him at Glenville.
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: So you're kind of familiar with some of the things
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: he liked to do. Of course, you know, new year,
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: bring new twists and turns to the offense. But for
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: the most part, playing against the running back, that kid,
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: he was at Glenville last year. Both of those receivers
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: was at Glenville last year. So we played against those kids,
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: kind of knowing what their body types are, speed, size.
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: And then just scheme wise, what do they really want
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: to do up front? What type of runs? So that's
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: very important and valuable to have that from last year
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: and all the other years that we played them here
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: at State to go back and look at them and
• 40:55
  Speaker 6: kind of review some things and pick up some tendencies.
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: So that's really nice to have that at our arsenal
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: to be able to come up with a nice game plan,
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: have a visual of what they try to do, a
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: wide net. Then we kind of crumble it down as
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: the game goes to see, okay, this is what they
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: did in 23-24. they're really doing this from what they
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: did in 24. You kind of bring it all down
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: and put it in one piece and have a nice
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: game plan and feel of what they're really trying to do.
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: And then that's the mindset of the coach. You know,
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: if he gets past the 50, what kind of coach
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: is he? If he's behind the 50, the plus, the
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: negative area. If they get in the red area, what
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: are their top five plays? So just getting a feel
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: of the mindset of the play caller.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: From a head coach's perspective, I like asking questions like
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: these for myself, honestly, because I'm a coach's kid.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: I like getting.
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: Into the detail of planning road trips and game days
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: and mapping out the schedule and the itinerary and all
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: of that. You're one of, if not the elder statesman
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: in the Mountaineers Conference at this point, at least in
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: terms of being the head coach in one place.
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: So how....
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: Good is it for the program that you can go
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: into conference play and say, all right, we're going to
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Glenville State. We're kicking off at one on a Saturday
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: in October. This is what the itinerary looks like. Or
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: this is where I know we can stop for the
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: pregame meal and that kind of thing. To have that
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: familiarity in a league like the Mountaineers that is so tight.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: How valuable is that?
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: I think it's extremely valuable. There's only so much RAM
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: space you have in your brain. We talk about that
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: with our players all the time.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: We can't spend too much time on this because they
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: only have so much space that they can handle and
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: execute at a high level. I think the same goes
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: with the coaching staff. We know we're going to eat
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: at Shoney's in Flatwoods.
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: A couple times a year. We know what time we're
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: going to leave.
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: We know how many hours we got to eat before
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: the game and how long it takes to get there.
• 43:07
  Speaker 5: We know when the recruiting has got to happen.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: And so it just make things, you can do more
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: copy and pasting than having to, you know, spend a
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: lot of brain power trying to figure out all these,
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: you know, extra details. So it definitely saves us some
• 43:20
  Speaker 4: time and gives us the ability to focus on the
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: things that we need to do to win a football game.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: I joke with people about this because sometimes I talk
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: to people either in media or just friends, family, whatever,
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: that don't necessarily understand the ins and outs, particularly of
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: Division II athletics. What I tell people is if you
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: need to find a large open parking lot on the
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: way to any school in the Mountaineers Conference... Find one
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: of the football coaches and they will be able to
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: help you with that.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we were talking about that on the way to
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: the Robert Morris game. We're like, where are we going
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: to walk through? So Coach Cavallaro said there was a
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: good parking.
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: Lot by the stadium. And you've got to love a
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: good parking lot.
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: You've got some room and you can come up with
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: a field.
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: But I think those are fun moments. Those are a
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: lot of the things that you remember as a player
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: and as a coach.
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: Some of those uh those those random walkthroughs and random
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: parking lots but we had a nice uh nice parking
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: lot for that rmu.
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: Walk we did wild things yeah the washington wild things
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: i'll tell you what one of their front office guys
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: like just kind of wandered out with like eyes wide
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: as i've ever seen and me and hollis were the
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: the two two guys standing the closest to the building
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: and he just comes up to us and asks like
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: what we're there for and and we explained and i
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: was like The head coach is the guy there in
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: the black polo if you need to talk to somebody.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: And he was just like, no, it's okay. We just
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: saw you guys here and wanted to see what was
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: going on.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: So it is always something interesting that I like to
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: point out to people. That's one of the things that
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: I love about Division II athletics is it's just like
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: it is the ultimate doing it for the love of
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: the game experience because it is not flashy, it is
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: not glamorous, but doggone it, the people that are involved
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: in it absolutely love it.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: And, you know, like we went and ate at that
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: Italian restaurant and then Pootie, uh, Pootie Carson comes over
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: and meets us.
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: Uh, and he holds a.
• 45:20
  Speaker 4: Session out in the parking lot of, you know, O-line D-line,
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: you know, he's, uh, he's, uh, that's Aaron Donald's trainer.
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: He's a former, uh, you know, West Virginia state alumni
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: played football here and he's a huge fan.
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: So he met us cause it's close to his home.
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: And, uh, you know, a lot of guys were taking
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: pictures with them and, and getting autographs and that sort
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: of thing. So, I mean, I think that's something that
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: the guys will remember for a long time.
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: But I love that, too. It reminds me of, like, Bull.
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: Durham and the movies that I loved growing up.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: You see any of your defensive linemen pulling out Krav
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: Maga during the bye week after that experience?
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: Listen, they were very excited.
• 45:54
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 45:55
  Speaker 5: You get a guy that knows Aaron Donald.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: That'll get some attention. That'll get some attention.
• 46:00
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: But I think, too, you know, you talk about like Keller,
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: like Keller's a mentor of mine. You know, it has
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: been for years. And he's got I look up to
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: in the profession. There is a lot of familiarity there.
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: And he's the one calling the plays.
• 46:13
  Speaker 5: You know, fortunately, I guess for us, I'm not calling
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: any plays.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: So there's no.
• 46:16
  Speaker 5: There's no tendencies as far.
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: As that goes, but he's been coaching a long time
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: for a reason because he's really good at what he does.
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: So we do know a lot of the plays he
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: likes to run and sets he likes to run, but
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: he always does a great job of putting things together
• 46:33
  Speaker 4: week to week where they keep you on your toes.
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: So I think having the iPads and being able to
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: talk to the linebackers I think that's going to be
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: a huge help because we're going to have to figure
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: out how is he going to utilize these tools that
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: he has to attack us. And Mark Gaiman, I coached
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: him at West Virginia Wesleyan when I was a GA.
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: He's been a D coordinator at Wheeling for, I don't know,
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: six or eight years. So we've gone against him a
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: lot as well. So there's a lot of familiarity between
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: the staffs, and it'll be a fun game on Saturday.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, looking forward to it.
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: And we'll preview that game after our last break of
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: the show.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: We will be back.
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: In just a couple of minutes, live here from the
• 47:09
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  Speaker 3: Yellow Jackets, when the whistle sounds or the buzzer hits zero,
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: keep the times going at the Pitch Sports Bar and
• 50:59
  Speaker 3: Grill at the Shawnee Sports Complex. Rally your friends for
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: craft food, craft beer, and craft service with pizzas, burgers,
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: and sourced favorites. The Pitch was built to bring people
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: together through sports, food, and community. So whether you're celebrating
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: a win, regrouping after a tough game, or hungry, make
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: the Pitch your post-game destination. The Pitch, minutes from the
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: action with a table waiting for you. Back to the conversation.
• 51:25
  Speaker 3: The John Pennington Show is on.
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: 107.3. Back for the final time on this Wednesday night.
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: It's the John Pennington Show, getting you ready for West
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: Virginia State football against West Virginia Wesleyan this Saturday. Kickoff,
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: 1 o'clock. Pre-game coverage starts at 12.30 right here on 107.3.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: The beat with myself, Daniel Woods, and Hollis Lewis, West
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: Virginia State, looking for the first conference win of the season.
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: This Saturday against the Bobcats. And let's talk football.
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: About those Bobcats with head coach John Pennington and our
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: guest this week, defensive coordinator Rashad Jackson. So we talked
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: about it a little bit before the break, but for
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: those of you out there that may not have been
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: following the coaching carousel in the Mountaineers Conference this year,
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: Mike Keller goes from Glenville State to West Virginia Wesley,
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: and he takes over a program that had the.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: Longest losing streak in college football.
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: All it took was one game to break the longest
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: losing streak in college football for Mike Keller. They beat
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: Post in week one. They have not had the same
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: luck the last couple of times out. But as you said,
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: this is a guy in charge that you are plenty
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: familiar with and has won a lot of college football games.
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, when I coached at Concord before I
• 52:31
  Speaker 4: came to West Virginia State and Coach Keller had.
• 52:34
  Speaker 5: Come to Concord. Concord was, I think, 0-11, and his
• 52:38
  Speaker 5: first year they went 8-3.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: So he's very.
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: Familiar with turning a program around and kind of building
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: from the ground up, so he knows what he's doing.
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: You can tell that their team is well coached. You
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: can see they've got better personnel. They had some guys
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: transfer from Glenville. The defense has some guys that transferred
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: from Wheeling with their coordinator.
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: I was going to say, it's kind of like playing
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: three Mountaineese teams from 2025 all at once.
• 53:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's pretty much what it's like. They have some guys.
• 53:06
  Speaker 5: They went out there. They won their first game handily.
• 53:08
  Speaker 5: They lost to two tough PSAC schools. I think that
• 53:12
  Speaker 5: they're definitely going to be in the mix in the Mountaineese.
• 53:14
  Speaker 4: It's a good first matchup for us to see where
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: we stack up in the conference, but I think they
• 53:20
  Speaker 4: do a great job on defense. They force a lot
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: of turnovers. They're getting stops on third down. They're one
• 53:26
  Speaker 4: of the better teams on third down. And then on offense,
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: they've got an explosive receiver. They haven't run the ball
• 53:33
  Speaker 4: well so far, but Keller, he's.
• 53:36
  Speaker 5: Going to run the ball.
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: He's going to run the ball, and so he's going
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: to make you have to stop the run and set
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: everything else up.
• 53:43
  Speaker 5: And he's always done a great job.
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: Of that, of kind of setting up plays throughout the
• 53:48
  Speaker 4: course of the game.
• 53:49
  Speaker 5: So we've definitely got our hands full.
• 53:51
  Speaker 4: And, you know, looking forward to just getting back out
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: there and playing ball again. It's been more focused on
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: internally what we need to do, but, you know, watching film,
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: you can see that it's not, you know, it's.
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: Not last year's West Virginia Wesleyan. This is a whole new,
• 54:05
  Speaker 5: you know, West Virginia Wesleyan team. And Wesleyan has a
• 54:07
  Speaker 5: great tradition.
• 54:08
  Speaker 4: You know, I coached there They've won three conference championships.
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: Over the decades.
• 54:15
  Speaker 5: They've got great tradition. They've got great sports and great
• 54:17
  Speaker 5: athletics there. It's a good school.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: I think we can't really look at last year's record
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: and think anything about what it's going to be on
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: Saturday because it's going to be a whole new team.
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: As far as defensive game planning goes, getting ready to
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: scheme something up against a Mike Keller coached team, not
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: only is he an experienced head coach, but he's calling plays.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: He's one of the most experienced play callers maybe in
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: Division II football. So what's it like locking horns with
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: a guy that has so many tricks in his bag
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: that he can throw out and try to knock you
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: off balance with?
• 54:51
  Speaker 6: Oh, man, it definitely keeps you up at night, you know,
• 54:54
  Speaker 6: keep you watching a lot of film. And like Coach said,
• 54:58
  Speaker 6: he's like a, you know, a prize fighter, kind of
• 55:01
  Speaker 6: set you up, hit you with the jab and then
• 55:03
  Speaker 6: try to hit you with the uppercut or the hook.
• 55:05
  Speaker 6: So he's a guy that you really have to be
• 55:07
  Speaker 6: locked in and focused with. He set up, you know,
• 55:10
  Speaker 6: like I say, set up the run for the boot,
• 55:12
  Speaker 6: the waggle. He'll be in 11 personnel, 10 personnel, 12.
• 55:16
  Speaker 6: You never know what he's coming out in. He's a
• 55:18
  Speaker 6: 50-50 guy, meaning he 50-50 run pass. So you can't say, hey,
• 55:23
  Speaker 6: he's just a pass. You never know. They could get
• 55:26
  Speaker 6: a third and medium running ball, third and medium pass
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: the ball. So he's a guy you really have to
• 55:30
  Speaker 6: be on your toes, understanding when it's a four-down situation.
• 55:35
  Speaker 6: He loves to go for it on fourth down, so
• 55:37
  Speaker 6: we have to be prepared for that. Just being up
• 55:42
  Speaker 6: for this guy, man, I mean, is a huge challenge.
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: It's exciting at the same time. Being a D.C. at
• 55:49
  Speaker 6: my age, being a head coach at his age is
• 55:51
  Speaker 6: a real challenge. You know, you wake up for these
• 55:53
  Speaker 6: kind of games, wake up for the mental test match.
• 55:57
  Speaker 6: You know, who's going to win that match? You know,
• 56:00
  Speaker 6: go back and forth. You know, and who's going to
• 56:02
  Speaker 6: beat yourself? You measure yourself. Say, okay, man, this guy
• 56:06
  Speaker 6: vetting the game. And look what I did. So... I
• 56:10
  Speaker 6: look what we did on defense to say, hey, okay,
• 56:14
  Speaker 6: this is possible. This is achievable.
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: And then as far as offensive game planning goes, you
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: talked about it. You might know Mike Gaiman as well
• 56:23
  Speaker 3: as anybody in this conference, having been a great player
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: at West Virginia Wesleyan, then back in the league working
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: at Wheeling over the last few years. So what stands
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: out about what his defenses are going to put on
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: the field?
• 56:36
  Speaker 5: I mean, they're going to keep you guessing.
• 56:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, they forced seven turnovers in three games, you know,
• 56:41
  Speaker 4: and they do a good job on third down of
• 56:43
  Speaker 4: getting off the field. They bring some different looks, you know,
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: especially on third down, but they're not going to line
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: up in the same spot all the time where, you know,
• 56:50
  Speaker 4: you're going to have to, you know, you got to
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: have great eyes.
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: You got to have great communication. And, you know, they
• 56:55
  Speaker 5: do a good job of, you know, creating opportunities.
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: Negative plays or creating turnovers and being kind of exotic
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: on third down. So we've struggled on third down offensively.
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: So that's a big point of emphasis. We're going up
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: against one of the better third down teams. can we
• 57:12
  Speaker 4: convert those third downs and continue to move the football?
• 57:16
  Speaker 4: They've struggled a little bit to stop the run, so
• 57:19
  Speaker 4: we'd love to be able to run the football and
• 57:21
  Speaker 4: then be able to hit some explosives in the pass game.
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: But they're really creating a lot of turnovers and creating
• 57:27
  Speaker 4: havoc for you know, for offensive coordinators. They got a
• 57:30
  Speaker 4: really good linebacker, number seven, that was defensive player of
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: the year, freshman defensive player of the year last year
• 57:35
  Speaker 4: at Wheeling.
• 57:36
  Speaker 5: And he's got some hits on the quarterback that have
• 57:38
  Speaker 5: created some turnovers.
• 57:39
  Speaker 4: So we've got to be on our toes. We've got
• 57:41
  Speaker 4: to be ready to take care of the football. And
• 57:42
  Speaker 4: we've been great at taking care of the football. So
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: I think that's an interesting matchup as well. It's, you know,
• 57:47
  Speaker 4: do we win on third down and can we hold
• 57:49
  Speaker 4: on to the football? And, you know, those are the
• 57:52
  Speaker 4: two key matchups on the offensive side is, you know,
• 57:55
  Speaker 4: can we stop them from taking it away and hold
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: on to it? And can we Can we convert third
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: downs and continue to keep the ball moving?
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: Set West Virginia Wesleyan aside, what do you want to
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: see from your guys on Saturday to walk away with
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: your first conference win?
• 58:08
  Speaker 4: I want to see them play the identity that we've
• 58:10
  Speaker 4: really forged here with this team. Playing relentless, full speed
• 58:15
  Speaker 4: until the echo of the whistle, flying around, playing hard,
• 58:18
  Speaker 4: playing smart, playing together.
• 58:20
  Speaker 5: You know, no matter what.
• 58:22
  Speaker 4: The scoreboard says, we should play a certain way, play
• 58:25
  Speaker 4: to that standard. That was the message against Chawan. We've
• 58:27
  Speaker 4: done that for two games. We cannot get away from that.
• 58:30
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter if it's conference play, if it's a rival,
• 58:33
  Speaker 5: if it's home, it's away. We've got to play to
• 58:35
  Speaker 5: our identity. And then if the execution is there, then,
• 58:38
  Speaker 5: you know, I think we'll have a great day on Saturday.
• 58:40
  Speaker 4: But if it isn't there, then we've got to win
• 58:42
  Speaker 4: the game with our grit, our toughness, our family, our leadership.
• 58:46
  Speaker 5: So I want to make sure that we take care,
• 58:47
  Speaker 5: you know, keep the main thing the main thing on Saturday.
• 58:50
  Speaker 3: We are looking forward to this Saturday. And, again, that
• 58:52
  Speaker 3: is a 1 o'clock kickoff on Saturday. Pre-game coverage here
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: on 107.3 The Beat starts at 1230.
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: Come out.
• 58:59
  Speaker 3: Come see the Yellow Jackets play just across the way
• 59:02
  Speaker 3: here in Institute or tune in on 107.3 The Beat.
• 59:06
  Speaker 3: Bring your portable radio if you're either a lot older
• 59:00
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back. once again, but big thanks to
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: West Virginia State Head Coach John Pennington, Defensive Coordinator Rashad Jackson,
• 59:25
  Speaker 3: and Woody Woods back at the controls on 111 Virginia Street,
• 59:29
  Speaker 3: east in downtown Charleston. That'll do it for us here
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: at The Pitch tonight. This has been the John Pennington
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: Show on 107.3 The Beat.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the John Pennington Show, live from
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: The Pitch at Shawnee. 107.3 The Beat is the exclusive
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: home of the John Pennington Show and West Virginia State
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: Yellow Jacket Football.