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West Virginia's Defensive Depth Chart Not Set In Stone According To Tony Gibson

Although the official depth chart is set for West Virginia's showdown with the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson says it's not necessarily what the Mountaineers will follow.

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News Of Note

Football:

Tony Gibson says depth chart not in stone | Charleston Gazette-Mail
With one hand, West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson dismisses the depth chart that serves as the guide for Saturday’s season opener against Missouri. Gibson, for example, only had room for two starting cornerbacks. He chose seniors Antonio Crawford and Rasul Douglas, but he said Maurice Fleming, a graduate transfer from Iowa, is considered a starter and senior Nana Kyeremeh is their backup. But with his other hand, Gibson flashes a thumbs-up for what he did put on paper. The same defense that has nine new starters will also start nine seniors.

WVU offensive line to be tested by Missouri | The Exponent Telegram
The tipoff on this season probably should have been that WVU coach Dana Holgorsen felt the best way to address what figured to be the most perplexing problem was to bring in the veteran offensive line coach Joe Wickline as offensive coordinator. Considering that Holgorsen is, in reality, the final authority for the offense, what this did in reality was to give him two solid, veteran coaches to work with the offensive linemen in Ron Crook and Wickline.

Tight ends a bit of a mystery on WVU offense | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Holgorsen’s offensive reputation has changed, but he’s vowed to return to his roots and pass more to achieve better balance. He doesn’t want to be everything and do everything, but he’d like to have the ability to be all and do all. When he’s been at his best, he’s had some combination of a veteran quarterback, a hardened offensive line, versatile running backs and productive receivers. It would appear he has all of that right now. But Holgorsen’s never been synonymous with tight ends, and that’s an oversight.

Carrier wants to see receivers make the most of potential | The Exponent Telegram
West Virginia receivers coach Tyron Carrier said his group has all the raw physical tools one wants in facing Power Five conference foes. There’s good hand-eye coordination and ball skills, speed, quickness, strength and the ability to both stretch the field and make plays underneath via mesh routes, quick outs, slants, etc. The biggest issue is that at times during practice, the group would stagnate as a whole, and need a couple solid plays to get rolling. It’s an idea which was addressed by Ka’Raun White after a subpar scrimmage during fall camp, and it’s apparently one that still stresses the wideouts at times.

Up front with grace: Darrien Howard point man for West Virginia defense | WV MetroNews
Darrien Howard’s status as West Virginia’s nose tackle would appear more solid than the chunk of coal on display outside Milan Puskar Stadium. Former starter Kyle Rose graduated, sophomore Jaleel Fields is beginning months of rehab from knee surgery and redshirt freshman Alec Shriner remains in development. This is Howard’s spot. He’s comfortably ahead of the competition, but Howard cannot let himself be comfortable.

Mountaineer Insider Podcast, delivered by Dominos | WVU Athletics
Dan Zangrilli and Dale Wolfley try to come up with answers to some of the questions Mountaineer fans have as we inch closer toward Saturday’s season opener against Missouri at Milan Puskar Stadium. Dan also talks to West Virginia women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo Brown, whose fourth-ranked Mountaineers take on a pair of Big Ten teams this weekend in Morgantown, Purdue on Thursday night and Ohio State on Saturday.

IMG Preseason Digital Football Guide | WVU Athletics
Mountaineer Sports Marketing by IMG has unveiled the new 2016 WVU Football digital preview guide presented by WVU Online. This guide gives all the information you need on the upcoming season and includes exclusive interviews with Coach Dana Holgorsen and his staff.

West Virginia Athletics:

No. 4 Mountaineers Prepped for Purdue | WVU Athletics
The No. 4-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team returns to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium for a match against Purdue on tonight, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. It’s Dollar Ticket night, and all tickets are available for $1 each. WVU students are admitted free with a valid WVU Student ID.

Around The League

Around The Big XII:

Big 12 Kickoff Week game picks: Can Horns pull upset? | ESPN
College football is finally back. Kickoff Week in the Big 12 gives you three Power 5 conference matchups and the reigning Big 12 champs facing last season's Group of 5 darling.

The 10-team Big 12 is down to '6 to 8' expansion candidates. Here are all 12 or 13. | SBNation
The hubbub surrounding Big 12 expansion has died down now that the season is only days away. Last we left the conference, they not only decided they were going to entertain expanding, but they build up an impressively long list of expansion candidates. The list even included teams that had no idea they were being considered, but that’s in the past now that the conference has whittled its list of candidate schools down to "six or eight" schools.

Around The NCAA:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMBLING: Notre Dame over Texas and Week 1's 15 other best bets | SBNation
Let’s go over the best bets for the opening week of college football.

How confident are you in your Week 1 college football picks? Here are ours | SBNation
SB Nation’s college football staff picks the biggest games of the weekend.

How to watch college football's Week 1: TV times, online streaming and the best games | SBNation
It’s going to be a long, glorious weekend of football. Make sure you have your viewing strategy ready.

The cord-cutter's guide to (legally) watching college football | SBNation
Wanna save a few bucks and still catch almost every game? It's pretty simple, and you can use a lot of this stuff for other sports, shows, and movies, too.

Your school’s helmet in your rival’s colors: AAAAAAAHHHH! | SBNation
Can't look away, despite the horrors.

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Miss Throwdown

Today's Miss Throwdown is a Texan model that will appear in the 2017 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. CLICK HERE for Laney Degrasse's Instagram.