The Pro Football Focus (PFF) report card is in after WVU football was walloped by Utah in Week 5. Let's take a look at some things the grades tell us about the Mountaineers as they near the mid-season mark.
Some Fresh Faces Earned More Snaps
Nick Taylor had taken 35 defensive snaps in the first four games of the season, and 20 of them came last week against Kansas. This week, Taylor saw 52 snaps against Utah, and was the highest graded defensive player with an overall grade of 80.4 – he also led the team with a coverage grade of 80.8 and had the third-best run defense grade with 74.2. In the stat book, Taylor finished the game with eight tackles and one interception.
Diore Hubbard had played in just one game against Kansas and had earned only four offensive snaps this season. Against Utah, he started at running back and saw 42 offensive snaps. He finished the game as the third-highest offensive player with more than ten snaps, recording a grade of 70.4, and he carried the ball 10 times for 61 yards and one touchdown.
Jarod Bowie saw 17 offensive snaps this season – all but one coming against Robert Morris in Week 1 – but got 16 offensive snaps against Utah. He was the team's highest-graded offensive player who saw more than 10 offensive plays with a grade of 71.2, and ended his day with one reception for four yards and one carry for 68 yards.
It's Time For An Offensive Line Change
WVU's offensive line has been the focus of much criticism – multiple starters have missed assignments that are clear on tape, and the starting five have posted average PFF grades combined this season of 61.96 (Robert Morris), 62.08 (Ohio), 51.18 (Pitt), and 52.56 (Kansas).
On Saturday, normal starting center Landen Livingston was unable to play, so backup Carson Lee started at center. But as the offensive line play was still inadequate and other injuries piled up, three additional backups (Malik Agbo, Josh Aisosa, and Donovan Haslam) all saw 14 or more offensive snaps. The starting five's average this week rose, reaching 55.88 – not sufficient, but an improvement from the past two weeks.
But when looking at the five highest-graded linemen in total among the nine aforementioned starters and backups, that average went up to 58.62 – and the two highest-graded individuals were Agbo and Lee, neither of whom had seen much significant action this season. After the game, Rodriguez said the team was still working on finding the right five guys.
Khalil Wilkins Is Almost There, But Not Quite
Khalil Wilkins saw significant action in against Utah and looked like the best and most well-rounded signal caller of the five who have taken snaps for WVU so far this season. He graded out much higher than Jaylen Henderson, and sparked an offense that struggled early. But he still only walked away from the game with a PFF offensive grade of 57.8 in 26 offensive snaps.
A lot of this is probably due to a couple of throws that showed Wilkins can be a playmaker if he tunes things up a bit, but were ultimately mistimed or misplaced and off the mark. If he completes those throws, this grade is likely much higher. We'll have more on this later this week, and it will be interesting to see what Rodriguez does with the redshirt freshman.