Dana Holgorsen: It comes down to 3 things

Dana Holgorsen is implementing the diamond backfield set this spring at West Virginia.

It’s a set Holgorsen (39) first used at Oklahoma State, featuring three running backs in the backfield.

Holgorsen told Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail, “It's a little different. We can go inside and talk the rest of the day for, like, seven hours for me to explain the blocking stuff and schemes and all that, but what we do with one back or two backs, we can put a third one in there and do the same thing."

West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel admits, "It poses problems.  You have a chance to insert a tight end or a lead back to outnumber you at the point of attack. But there's a balance. It's a lot like our (3-3-5) defense. We have the three linebackers and you don't know where the overload is coming from. It's the same thing in the run game."

"When you've got three backs in the backfield and the two wideouts go out, you've got to go out and cover the wideouts and take your chances stopping the three backs, or you have to drop a safety in and go one-on-one with your corners," said Casteel.

Holgorsen admittedly doesn’t care about the size of the backs.  He explained, “It comes down to the three things.  It comes down to being able to be productive when you run, being able to be productive when you block and being able to be productive when you have the ball in your hands.”

“Regardless if the guy weighs 160 or 260, if it’s productive it’s productive. We’ve had guys that are 185 pounds that were our best pas protectors, so they got more reps.”

Here’s Holgorsen talking with the media after Saturday’s practice: