Morgantown, West Virginia – One of the most-used excuses used to explain Neal Brown’s difficulties since taking over at West Virginia is that Dana Holgorsen left the cupboard bare when he departed for Houston.
The reality is, however, that although West Virginia lost many talented players – including starting quarterback Will Grier, wide receiver Gary Jennings, linebacker David Long, Jr., wide receiver David Sills, among others – there were many talented players left on the roster when Neal Brown took over for Holgorsen.
While many have argued that Brown was left with nothing during his first season, he actually inherited quite a talented roster, including Alonzo Addae, Taijh Alston, Hakeem Bailey, Jared Bartlett, Chase Behrndt, Charlie Benton, Leddie Brown, George Campbell, Josh Chandler-Semedo, VanDarius Cowan, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Nicktroy Fortune, James Gmiter, Jovani Haskins, Sam James, Jordan Jefferson, Ali Jennings, Trey Lowe, Sean Mahone, Kerry Martin, Tony Mathis, Colton McKivitz, Kennedy McKoy, Dreshun Miller, Martell Pettaway, Jeffery Pooler, Sean Ryan, Josh Sills, T.J. Simmons, Tykee Smith, Dante Stills, Darius Stills, Keith Washington and Winston Wright.
While many of the aforementioned players were young at the time, it can be argued that that roster was more talented than the current roster that Neal Brown has put together after four years in Morgantown.
Blaming Dana Holgorsen for Neal Brown’s failures is both wrong and unfair. Brown had plenty of talent to work with when he took over the Mountaineers and he’s had more than enough time since to add players to the roster he inherited to be successful.
Did Dana Holgorsen REALLY leave the cupboard bare for Neal Brown at #WVU? Sure doesn’t look like it. pic.twitter.com/q6HEH6WNXW
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) September 4, 2022
