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The Shotgun/Throwdown: Thursday (8/11/11) Edition

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU's nationally recognized best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions. We're being brought to you today by Pandora's Bock.

Both basketball teams had successful beginnings to their overseas tours. Huggs said the competition wasn't great and the new guys still don't know what they're doing, but he seemed fairly pleased. Back on the football front, the young running backs are impressing WVU's first year head coach, but the receivers are not. The highlight of the day for the team and coach was former NFL defensive back Troy Vincent stopping by practice and talking to the Mountaineers.

What You May Have Missed:

Head Coach Dana Holgorsen - Mountaineer TV
Coach Dana Holgorsen briefs reporters following Wednesday's practice.

Football: Coach Holgorsen Press Conference - MSNsportsNET.Com
Transcript

Top 50 countdown: No. 22 West Virginia Mountaineers - Sporting News

Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon top 2011 preseason Top 25 - Andy Staples - SI.com
#20

WVU Bags Opener - MSNsportsNET.Com
Recap of the men's team's first game overseas, includes video highlights

Head Coach Bob Huggins - Mountaineer TV
Coach Bob Huggins' post-game thoughts following his team's victory on Wednesday.

Blog: Women's Basketball - 08/10/11 - MSNsportsNET.Com
The women are also on an overseas trip and won their first game as well. Recap article and a video blog.

News of Note:

Day Five Practice Recap - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Article and gallery

Camp Holgorsen: Receivers Still Inconsistent - BGN
West Virginia head football coach Dana Holgorsen has been happy with the competition he’s seen at running back. But, he seemed disappointed after the team’s fifth practice with the progression of the receivers. He called them inconsistent, which was also the case in the spring.

Kirlav on Doc, d-line; covering two Shaqs - Charleston Gazette
Vingle's Notebook

WVU football: Holgorsen doesn’t ban Mountaineers from using social media - Charleston Daily Mail
Casazza's Notebook

Quick Hits: WVU Training Camp Day 5 - WVillustrated.com
Coyle's Notebook

Geno: still learning - Charleston Gazette
Smith shrugs off tweak from Coach and enjoys competition with Millard

Quotes from Coach: Receivers Lack Consistency - WVillustrated.com
“The one that does is Ryan Nehlen,” says Holgorsen. “Ryan Nehlen gives it everything he’s got. It’s the same thing every day.”

Austin wants to prove he’s worthy of preseason hype - Inter-Mountain
From Coach Holgorsen's reports, all of the receivers need to step it up

WVU freshman running backs showing their versatility - Charleston Gazette
"The two freshmen running backs, Garrison and [Andrew] Buie, did some good things. Vernard Roberts did some good things. And, based on competition, Trey Johnson did some good things,'' Holgorsen said in assessing his young backs. "The bigger guys are doing good things, too. But the four freshmen are really doing some good things. There's a competitiveness there that is making some guys better.''

WVU football: Reserves haven’t challenged starters on offensive line - Charleston Daily Mail
"We've got five guys up front and then five guys who have no interest whatsoever in beating out the guys in front of them," Holgorsen said.

WVU line hopes to improve on last season - Times West Virginian
“We’ve got to have more competition from our backup guys so those guys on the front line can’t relax,” Bedenbaugh said. “We need them behind and pushing and motivating so those guys get better. See, I’m not looking to be average. We need to be great up front.”

The Safety Dance - MSNsportsNET.Com
A look at the unique athletes needed to run Jeff Casteel's 3-3-5 defense

HERTZEL COLUMN: Cook learned to play safety from scratch - Times West Virginian
The Mountaineer safety was actually a defensive end in high school and prolific sack artist

WVU’s Miller changing to new position - Parkersburg News and Sentinel
After starting the last two seasons at defensive end senior Julian Miller was asked to do something few two year starters would be asked to do...move to defensive tackle.

Video: Football Interviews 8/10 - BGN
Coach Bedenbaugh, Najee Goode, Bruce, Barclay, Julian, The Tandy, Ryan Clarke, Darwin Cook and Geno

VIDEO: WVU Football Players Interviews - WVillustrated.com
The Tandy, Geno, Cook, Ryan Clarke, Bruce, Julian and Goode

WVU Football Photos 2011 Preseason Camp Day 4- WVillustrated.com

Recruiting:

Basketball recruit Andre Drummond narrows it to five - ESPN
Andre Drummond, the ESPNU 100 No. 2 overall player in the class of 2012, has been quiet about his recruitment until Wednesday, when the 6-foot-10 center announced Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisville, Georgetown or West Virginia would be his Division I landing spot.

Around the League (and Beyond):

2011 Big East/SEC Challenge TV Schedule - Big East Coast Bias
West Virginia at Mississippi State, 9 p.m., ESPNU

Bedford: "Get on board, or get out of the way" - Card Chronicle
UL's defensive coordinator

The Mike Thomas Era Is At An End: What's His Legacy? - Down The Drive
Cinci's AD is bolting for Illinois

Fulmer Cupdate: Look At You Syracuse - Every Day Should Be Saturday

Fight! Pasqualoni suspends player (temporarily), uses word "ruckus" non-ironically - The UConn Blog

Rutgers football fall camp moves onward - On the Banks

Harris: Panthers embrace Graham's vision - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"As long as we don't turn the ball over, we're going to score 35-plus points," Todd Graham said matter-of-factly. "That's been pretty much how it works." - yeah, when you had Malzahn running it for you

Bulls' Giddins taking his game up a notch - Tampa Tribune
It was back in January when University of South Florida defensive ends coach Vernon Hargreaves first began noticing some differences in Ryne Giddins.

The Story of Voodoo Five - Voodoo Five
I finally found out why the USF blog is called Voodoo Five...interesting story actually

College Football Mailbag - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

Boise State fires A.D. Gene Bleymaier after violations - SI.com

Report: Texas governor says Texas A&M considering move to SEC - ESPN
Texas governor Rick Perry says his alma mater, Texas A&M, and the SEC are discussing the Aggies possible future membership in the league, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

What's On Tap:

Football: Single Game Tickets on Sale - MSNsportsNET.Com
Tickets can be purchased on-line at WVUGAME.com, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or in person at the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum.

Football: Fan Day Set for August 21 - MSNsportsNET.Com
The Fan Day activities will begin at 1 p.m. in the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility. Gates will open at 12:45 p.m. Coach Dana Holgorsen, assistant coaches and WVU players will be signing autographs and visiting with fans until 3 p.m.

Video of Interest:

Video of (Dis)Interest:

Miss Throwdown:

Today's Miss Throwdown is Swiss model Xenia Tchoumitcheva. The picture links to today's gallery.


Pandora's Bock image via www.bruguru.com