The Shotgun/Throwdown (8/6/18): A more mature West Virginia team “light years ahead” of those in the past

Welcome, By-Godders, to The Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU’s best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

Football

Holgorsen says mature WVU 'light years ahead' of past teams | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen has repeatedly said he and his staff are ready to tee off the 2018 season. So perhaps it was appropriate he addressed the media for the first time during summer camp in a golf cart.

Mature Mountaineer Squad Equipped To Face High Expectations | West Virginia Athletics
And it now begins. West Virginia University coach Dana Holgorsen, sitting in his custom-made blue and white golf cart, spent about 15 minutes visiting with a couple dozen or so media members prior to Sunday's practice at the Steve Antoline Family Football Practice Field.

Preseason camp finds West Virginia energized and ‘all ready to get to work’ | WV MetroNews
Sitting cross-legged in his blue-and-gold golf cart, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen conducted his first preseason camp media session Sunday. Four weeks before the opener against Tennessee, he proclaimed: “Summer’s over. I just finished my last round of golf.”

Preseason primer: Mountaineers blend optimism with questions | WV MetroNews
Allan Taylor lays out a few key storylines as West Virginia kicks off camp Sunday

WVU football begins fall practice season under weight of expectation | The Times WV
It looked pretty much like any other opening day of football, except maybe the goatee fleeced with gray that Dana Holgorsen was sporting in the golf cart he rode toward the practice field after a 15-minute session with the media.

Mitch Vingle: Predicting a special season for WVU | Charleston Gazette-Mail
You can feel it in the air. Throughout neighborhoods in West Virginia, you can hear the whistles of it. Football, that is. And today, per tradition, you’ll get a healthy taste of it. You will be spoon-fed the leather, game by game, prediction by prediction, of WVU’s upcoming season.

Sizing up the Mountaineers versus the rest of the Big 12 in the game’s key areas | The Times WV
West Virginia has begun its preseason football camp, which leads one to begin thinking of what it really takes to win a conference championship? After all, winning that first-ever Big 12 conference championship is what this camp and this season are all about.

2018 Football Preview | West Virginia Athletics
A veteran offense returns with heavy expectations; a retooled defense is ready to prove it is more than capable of making its own statement, and a special teams unit is poised to handle its responsibilities as the Mountaineers enter the 2018 season.

Soundoff: Will Grier | West Virginia Athletics
West Virginia quarterback Will Grier recently covered it all … from parenting advice to WVU's lofty preseason expectations to his offseason prep work in advance of fall training camp, which is now underway.

Basketball

Huggins, China help Harler find his way to staying at WVU | WV MetroNews
Chase Harler does not fancy himself a selfish person. But, for a few weeks last March, the West Virginia guard couldn’t get his own needs and his future out of his mind.

Around the Big 12

Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray is off to MLB after this season | ESPN
Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley hinted Friday that quarterback Kyler Murray, a two-sport star who was a first-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in June, might play football for the Sooners beyond this season. Saturday, Murray's agent, Scott Boras, said definitively that this season will be Murray's last in Oklahoma.

Around the NCAA

Morgantown offensive Nick Malone lineman commits to Pitt | WV MetroNews
The Mohigans' 6-foot-6 senior joins a Panthers' class that Rivals ranks in the top 30.

Jalen Hurts expresses disappointment at how Alabama treated him in the offseason | SBNation
"It’s too late. The narrative has already been created."

OSU says Urban Meyer investigation expected to be completed within 14 days | ESPN
The investigation of Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer's handling of a domestic violence complaint against a former assistant is expected to be completed within 14 days, the school announced in a statement Sunday night.

The more we know about the Zach Smith scandal at Ohio State, the less we know | SBNation
There is little clarity coming out of Columbus, and what does come just makes things even more confusing.

College football player on his mullet: ‘Not a haircut. A lifestyle.’ | SBNation
Memphis' Jackson Dillon makes a handful of important points.

SHUTDOWN FULLCAST ATLANTA LIVE SHOW TICKETS | Every Day Should Be Saturday
THEY REALLY LET US DO THIS?

TODAY’S FBS TEAM PREVIEW BY BILL C

As always, SB Nation’s Bill Connelly is working his way through every Division I FBS football team, from Georgia State to Alabama. Check out the teams Bill has already previewed by clicking HERE.

Jimbo Fisher’s first A&M schedule is hilariously loaded, but this train could get rolling soon | SBNation
Fisher faces plenty of heavyweights in his first year.

Randy Moss wore the names of 12 black men and women killed by police on his Hall of Fame tie | SBNation
"I just wanted these family members to know they’re not alone."

Terrell Owens works out for CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders | ESPN
A day after hosting an unconventional Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens worked out for the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders in nearby South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

Ray Lewis’ Hall of Fame bust looks like ... | SBNation
This looks nothing like him.

UFC 227 results: Henry Cejudo stuns Demetrious Johnson, wins UFC flyweight title | MMA Fighting
The conventional wisdom going into UFC 227 was that this time around, Henry Cejudo was going to give Demetrious Johnson a better matchup than their first battle.

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