CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -Jarrett Brown watched the tapes of West Virginia’s loss at Auburn five times in a two-day span, looking for tips on how to overcome an awful performance.
The sessions, it turns out, gave him a boost of confidence.
Brown is determined to make things right after throwing four interceptions, losing a fumble and bruising his non-throwing shoulder when he was tackled in the fourth quarter of the 41-30 loss on Sept. 19.
A bye week helped Brown’s shoulder improve, and by early this week, coach Bill Stewart said Brown was his old self and will play Thursday night when the Mountaineers (2-1) host Colorado (1-2).
“Jarrett has that big smile back,” Stewart said. “He was throwing lasers.”
Brown set career highs for passing yards, touchdown passes and total offense earlier this month in a home win over East Carolina. Then came the debacle at Auburn, Brown’s first career road start in which he said he did an “awful job taking care of the ball.”
t because I was thinking about those plays over and over and over,” Brown said. “I see that loss as a blessing because it humbled me so much and made me a much better player. I learned how to take a loss.
“I don’t want to put the whole thing behind me. I need something for motivation. Like I always say, experience is the best teacher you could have.”
Brown so far has brought a different look to a spread offense that ran 63 percent of the time last season when Pat White set the NCAA for most career yards rushing by a quarterback. Back in 2006 WVU ran the ball 72 percent of the time in White’s sophomore season.
Now, Stewart is stressing a downfield movement rather than plays that initially head laterally along the line of scrimmage. Too often in the past the offense got bottled down trying to spring someone to the outside, resulting at times in only minimal gains.
With Noel Devine leading the way, the Mountaineers are running the ball at only a 53 percent clip so far this season. Brown is sixth nationally in total offense at 335 yards per game and he’s taken Stewart’s aggressive approach to heart.
On a team where wide receivers’ job descriptions in the past mostly involved blocking, Brown is getting them the ball.
tting together another great season after leading the Mountaineers in receiving a year ago.
Sanders, who spent six months off the team following an alcohol-related arrest before being reinstated in August, is a short-pass threat at slot receiver and ranks third in the Football Bowl Subdivision with nearly 10 catches per game. Sanders has yet to speak to the media this season, but Stewart believes he has become a team leader with his work ethic.
“We are trying to spread the defense and Jock has an innate ability to get open and make catches, and he doesn’t drop the ball very often,” Stewart said. “He has great explosion when he catches the ball.”
Brad Starks and Alric Arnett are solid downfield targets and average more than 18 yards per catch apiece. Starks, a converted quarterback, also gives WVU an element of surprise. He threw a 31-yard pass against Auburn.
“I think it gives defenses a lot more to think about than just coming in and worrying about a couple players,” Starks said.
Colorado has allowed 19 plays of 20 yards or more, including seven of more than 40 yards this season, meaning Brown and Co. will look to pile up the yards – if he can stay out of trouble first.
“We’ve got a new plan for a different team,” Brown said. “We’re going to focus on taking care of the ball and executing our plays. We’re going to play a lot harder.”
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