Report: West Virginia's Neal Brown to resume play calling for 2023 season

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown enters the 2023 season on one of the warmest seats in college football. And ahead of this make-or-break season, Brown has reclaimed offensive play calling duties.

It’s mostly due to a staff shake up, as offensive coordinator Graham Harrell departed for Purdue. But Brown further explained his choice to take up play calling again to Action Networks‘ Brett McMurphy.

Last season, Harrell was the primary play caller, but Brown isn’t entered a role he’s unfamiliar with. He called plays during his first three seasons at West Virginia.

West Virginia ranked 57th in total offense in 2022, averaging just shy of 400 yards per game. To boot, West Virginia finished 98th in total defense, giving up more than 400 yards per game.

Brown has put his thumb back on the scale for the offense, but he’s going to need some wholesale improvements from the Mountaineers in 2023.

An anonymous Big 12 coach thinks Brown has a mountain to climb in 2023

There are a lot of reasons why West Virginia has struggled recently. However, as one anonymous Big 12 coach told Athlon, a huge part of the problem is that the team’s roster isn’t good enough. In fact, the coach said they’re the worst roster in the league and compared them to a MAC team.

“This might be the worst roster in the league,” the coach said. “They have some talent, but they’re not physical at all. They’re really small, especially compared to the old WVU teams.”

“The defense is legitimately bad. They look like a MAC team compared to the rest of the league, and he [Neal Brown] didn’t fire his coaches. He’s a really loyal guy, but it’s also a sign he knows it’s a personnel issue.”

Those are bold comments from the anonymous coach, especially with four teams moving up into the conference. However, it goes to show what other coaches in the conference think about what’s going on in Morgantown.

Also interesting is that the coach thinks the issue isn’t that Neal Brown is too loyal to his assistants. It’s that he knows there is a roster issue.

The Mountaineers added 17 players in the transfer portal. However, West Virginia also had 17 players leave for new schools while another five Mountaineers are still looking for a new team in the portal. That’s good for the 51st transfer portal class in the country, according to the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings.