MORGANTOWN - "It sucks," Dana Holgorsen said Tuesday, the West Virginia coach grumbling about the abnormal amount of networking and researching needed to prepare for an opponent like Missouri.
The Mountaineers begin the 2016 season with Saturday's noon game against the Tigers, and that is when WVU and the audience at Mountaineer Field and watching on Fox Sports 1 will see how Missouri behaves for new head coach Barry Odom and his new offensive and defensive coordinators.
Miles of offseason road led to this point, but WVU could only go so far with its preparations because the Tigers have put nothing, apart from a spring game, on display.
"Once you start getting a little bit of a body of work from the previous game, the previous couple of games, the previous three games, then you start to figure it out a little bit more," Holgorsen said.
That's good news for upcoming Missouri opponents Eastern Michigan, Georgia and Delaware State, who will take what they see in the opening month and use it to their advantage. WVU will make their jobs a little easier.
"But I have news for Missouri," Holgorsen said. "What we're doing on all three sides of the ball should probably be a little bit of a guessing game for them, too, based on the fact that we've had eight months to be able to make adjustments and look at our personnel as far as what we have, what we do well and what we feel like we need to do in order to be successful."
Holgorsen's offensive reputation has changed, but he's vowed to return to his roots and pass more to achieve better balance. He doesn't want to be everything and do everything, but he'd like to have the ability to be all and do all.
When he's been at his best, he's had some combination of a veteran quarterback, a hardened offensive line, versatile running backs and productive receivers. It would appear he has all of that right now. But Holgorsen's never been synonymous with tight ends, and that's an oversight.
Put it this way: Cody Clay caught two passes for 8 yards - and two touchdowns! - as a senior in 2015. He's a bigger loss than Wendell Smallwood, who led the Big 12 in rushing and in yards per carry.
WVU had Rushel Shell returning to the backfield and recruited Justin Crawford, the offensive player of the year in junior college last season, and freshman Kennedy McKoy, who needed about a week of spring football to prove his worth.
Clay's replacement?
"They're young guys right now," Holgorsen said. "You have guys who really haven't played yet."
Without Clay, can the offense do or be what Holgorsen desires - or what Missouri expects? The answer will come from how the Mountaineers use who they have.
Redshirt freshman Stone Wolfley is the starter, and at 6-foot-4 and 252 pounds, he looks the part. But Saturday is his college debut, and Missouri's defensive line is fierce.
Sophomore Trevon Wesco, a former basketball star at Musselman High, missed last season at Lackawanna (Pa.) College with a knee injury and then most of this preseason with a separate knee injury. The 6-4, 261-pound Wesco was cleared to practice last week, and his absence slowed his development and the offense's evolution.
"He's just not ready yet," Holgorsen said.
That injury encouraged WVU to give 6-2, 245-pound sophomore Michael Ferns practice time at tight end. He'd done most of his work at fullback, where his practice time increased when junior Eli Wellman missed a few days with a sprained ankle. But Ferns was recruited to Michigan as a linebacker and only switched to offense when he transferred here last year.
In a dire situation, the 6-1, 240-pound Wellman could play tight end, but that's mostly foreign to him.
"We've got some guys who haven't played a lot and haven't played at all," said offensive coordinator Joe Wickline, who works with the tight ends. "You're concerned because of that. You're concerned because you'd like to have two more months of practice before we start."
There are ways to play without a tight end, and WVU can move the ball with four receivers and a running back or with three receivers and two running backs. But the offense wouldn't be as capable.
The Mountaineers use a tight end in a variety of formations, and they run, pass and let their quarterback carry the ball in those sets. Wolfley might have to do a lot Saturday, but there will be times he needs rest. There will be times he needs an accomplice, too. WVU also uses two tight ends, typically in goal-line and short-yardage situations that aren't as frequent but sure are important.
Amid all those concerns, there is one certainty: Wickline won't shy away from the tight ends.
"I don't know any other way to do it," Wickline said. "We've got other packages we can go to, and we understand where we're at with all of our packages and personnel, but there are guys who are going to play a part. How much of a part they play depends on their production, their performance and the results."
Contact Mike Casazza at 304-319-1142 or mikec@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikecasazza and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/wvu/.