The West Virginia State football team's wide receivers are getting plenty of instruction on the finer points of their craft this preseason. The Yellow Jackets hope that attention to detail will make an already-prolific passing game - one that led the Mountain East Conference in passing yards per game in 2015 - even more potent as State prepares for its season debut versus Fairmont State Saturday at Lakin Field.
The receiving corps already was loaded with athletes who could leap up and snag quarterback Matt Kinnick's passes. WVSU averaged 282.3 passing yards per game last season, while Kinnick led the conference with 280.4 passing yards per game and receiver Quinton Gray was fifth in the MEC in receiving yards per game (87.8) and seventh in receptions per game (5.6).
Yet State coach Jon Anderson saw room for improvement, and he's seen those strides made in the first month of practice.
"I think the best compliment I can give them is that they've gone from good athletes to good wide receivers," State coach Jon Anderson said. "They carry some good athletic skills, but they've really been able to refine and get better.
That refinement has come under the tutelage of new receivers coach Matt Kloss. Formerly an assistant at St. Cloud State in Minnesota, Kloss has brought a coaching style the players label "unique."
"He definitely goes about things a different way, but we've seen the most productivity out of it," Gray said. "It's the really small things that nobody thinks about or kind of pass over. He puts those into our technique and that's made a huge difference."
It can be a detail as minute as where and how hard a receiver plants his foot when running a route. Receiver Akil Washington said Kloss has drilled the receivers extensively on just that planting of their feet. It's all about positive gains and avoiding any situation where a player heads backwards and loses yards.
"That's something we've definitely worked on a lot," Washington said. "A lot. About 10 or 20 [stomps] at a time. Sometimes when you plant, you'll step outside of your base. You'll not gain any yardage. If you plant within your base, you'll gain yardage out of it."
That breakdown to the basic elements of the position has made a difference, Anderson said. He has been able to tell as he has watched the receivers work preparing for Fairmont State.
"He's really gotten technical with them," Anderson said. "He's taught them how to really run a route, how to get open. I think that's the biggest difference in our guys this season. They're more technical. As a group they're making progress in becoming complete wide receivers."
In the process, the receivers are becoming closer as a position room. They understand and play off of each other's strengths, which has made the lead-up to the 2016 season that much more enjoyable. State hopes a tight-knit receiving corps will help the team break through for its first winning season since 2008.
"This year, we've been like a huge family," Gray said. "It starts in meetings, and that transitions to the field. If we can have fun on the field, you can see it in how we play. We're more loose. It's been better all around.
"We feel we have our right pieces," he added, "and we really feel this is an offense that can be dangerous."
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.