Country Roads Confidential: A WVU Mountaineers podcast

WVU has added two more commitments to the recruiting class, and the quality may be growing the quantity of the players. Chris has updates about the players and their futures, and Mike asks if the Mountaineer can close the deal with everyone. And then, it’s on to plans to structure the preseason and the challenges teams still face.

Neal Brown did his homework for Wednesday’s event, and today’s episode covers his responses and what purpose they serve. In addition, time is spent on Florida State football and early reviews for teams returning to campus.

The Mountaineers will let their coaches, staffers and players return to campus in phases this month. How will that work? Who needs to be here soon? Who benefits the most? How would we arrange it? Plus news about the roster, staff and protests as well.

It’s time to talk about sports again and not simply the return of sports or the pause in sports. Tom Bragg, formerly of the Charleston Newspapers and HD Media and now out on his own, dishes about the Mutant League, sports without crowd, Neal Brown’s expectations and what he knows he’ll be writing about and what he hopes he’ll be writing about when WVU is back on the field again.

Plans for Neal Brown’s Q&A started more than a month ago, WVU football has yet to announce a plan for returning to campus, there are some surprises about returning to campus and Shea Campbell may be starting a trend in Division II.

The NCAA is letting three sports back resume on a voluntary basis. It’s good news for WVU, and weeks ahead of schedule. What will this look like and how stands to benefit?

Sudden developments on and off the field point to West Virginia getting back to campus before too much longer and having a two new players on defense. Chris and Mike discuss the events and many other current and expected developments.

Chase Harler and a friend have started a skill development business, and Harler’s basing a lot of it on his experiences as a high school and college player. The former guard talks about his business and his vision but takes some time to discuss his time at WVU, what awaits the Mountaineers and more.

And overlooked and underappreciated aspect of this time is how student-athletes deal with being displaced and having none of the routines they cling to on campus. It’s a major change, and it’s no wonder coaches are so concerned about their mental health. Mike talks with WVU’s Dr. Scott Barnicle about what student-athletes are enduring and how mental well-being has been more embraced in sports.

One set of ratings shows how the recruiting business says the Mountaineers fared on signing day. A second set explains how those classes performed for the team. We created the second and compared it to the first, and this episode covers that exercise and what can be learned from the data.