Storylines Surrounding The Mountaineers As West Virginia Reports To Preseason Camp Today

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Football:

Monday brings West Virginia players back to campus for the first team meeting of preseason camp. And on Tuesday, precisely seven months since winning the Cactus Bowl, comes the first practice. Here are a handful of camp storylines for a team picked seventh in the Big 12 and playing the underrated card.

The other day, Dana Holgorsen was musing about what it would take this year to be a winning football team, and he made what would seem to be a rather startling statement. "There are so many good quarterbacks and so much good skill and so many great offensive minds in this league that 35 points a game isn't going to get it done all the time," Holgorsen said. As West Virginia's football team reports to work today and begins on Tuesday, that quote continues to echo through the mind.

West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen has something just a couple other Big 12 football coaches have when grid camps from Morgantown to Lubbock, Texas, open next week - an experienced center lining up in front of an experienced quarterback.

The Mountaineers have virtually no experience at cornerback after losing their top three players from last season, two to graduation and one to the NFL draft a year earlier than expected. They have 10 cornerbacks on scholarship and zero favorites to snatch a starting spot.

Basketball:

For the second year in a row, fans packed Morgantown High School's gymnasium for a highly competitive, dunk filled installment of WVU basketball's alumni game.

When St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) wide receiver Michael Harley committed to West Virginia earlier this summer, it was a big deal. His interview announcing his commitment was the most liked, shared and viewed story of any Mountaineer commitment for 2017. It wasn't just Mountaineer Nation that took notice, either.

Around The Big 12:

Bill Connelly's Big 12 Power Rankings look a lot like most other predictions. It's Oklahoma, TCU, and everyone else until we all figure out what in the world to make of Baylor this season, at least. The second tier is full of wild cards, actually.

The Sooners and Cougars pose a lot of interesting problems for each other, with Playoff (and maybe even conference realignment) stakes on the line. SB Nation's Ian Boyd gives us five reasons why Houston vs Oklahoma is one of 2016's biggest college football games.

Baylor is embroiled in a sexual assault scandal. Head coach Art Briles got himself fired. It has rendered the season impossible to predict under new head coach Jim Grobe ... and reminded us that football isn't the main concern.

Around The NCAA:

Steve Spurrier is back in college football, at least to some extent. The former Florida and South Carolina (and also Duke, technically) head coach has signed on with the Florida athletics department as an "ambassador and consultant."

The Solid Verbal kicks off their 2016 season preview series, and ask how good will West Virginia's experienced offense need to be to help alleviate some of the concern about a pretty green Mountaineer defense?

Today's Miss Throwdown is a UFC Octagon Girl and a 2017 SI Swimsuit Edition hopeful. CLICK HERE for Vanessa Hanson's Instagram.