Rich Rodriguez press conference summary 11-11
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media in his weekly press conference and we provide a summary of what was said.
–Getting ready to make the trip out to the dessert and they had an open week and are a very talented team. There was no panic, and haven’t played well all the time. They played with a sense of maturity and when they made a mistake they didn’t look at the scoreboard. They have two really good opponents left but anytime you play well it gives some confidence.
–Arizona State has seven or eight starters back and are well coached. It’s a good environment. They are not out of position and they force you to execute to beat them.
–Arizona State was really playing good football and were playing great last year. They got on a roll and had a lot of confidence. They had some back luck this year. They are adapting well and they beat Texas Tech.
–Rodriguez said that it doesn’t happen during practice where he comes up with ideas but necessity is the mother of invention. All of their running backs were hurt and with Curtis Jones he had played there before so they need to get him more reps. Going forward they have talked about a lot of guys they recruit played both ways in high school. They’re going to see more and more teams do that.
–Arizona State is going to play with 11 and run the quarterback. Jeff Sims is an experienced guy and has played in a lot of games.
–They play a lot of 11 personnel and 12 personnel and will continue to do that. They’re some of their best athletes on the team.
–There’s a true hatred between Arizona State and Arizona. There was no love lost at all. There might be a few things yelled at him out there but it won’t be the first time. He always felt they had a great environment and a great area for recruiting.
–Rodriguez said that some of his willingness to play players both ways was by necessity but if it does they need to be prepared for it. He points to repping five quarterbacks and how they have had to play them. They want to build better depth overall moving forward.
—Christian Hamilton and John Lewis weren’t here to go through spring ball. Hamilton was banged up a little bit and is back now. They need to play more wideouts. Lewis was on most of the special teams but he was still learning the defense so he has talent.
–Rodriguez said that Arizona State has a location that’s easy to get to and they’re able to get a lot of guys to come visit them and the high school football is good. They have done a good job of getting players from there and some transfers that have made an immediate impact. He believes head coach Kenny Dillingham gotten the right guys mentally and physically and will build on that moving forward.
–Rodriguez is planning for Jordyn Tyson to play. He is one of the best players in the country. He has a tremendous amount of respect for him as a player.
–All the linebackers have took turns getting hurt but they’re all tough guys and are very self aware. They have done a really good job of a short one year period of providing leadership on defense.
–Rodriguez said that the seniors you only have them for seven or eight months but part of the responsibility and job is for every player to enjoy their experience here. He truly believes it’s his job as coaches and as a program for the senior class to have the best experience of their lives and if you ask them 20-years from now they’ll tell you the same. He wants them to be happy they played here.
–Arizona State linebackers are really athletic and can run. It’s a very athletic defense and the linebackers stand out for sure. One of the best in the league and they’re big on the interior line and they’ll do some stunts and some gains but they don’t have to do a lot. They’ve been able to get pressure with just sending four.
–The crowd was terrific and they made an impact. The fans have been terrific in every game and have been there and supported them at home. The players appreciate it. It makes an impact for them in recruiting because there are prospects at every game and it makes an impact in their decision.
–Rodriguez wishes he would have had more time to spend with the Sugar Bowl team reunion. He didn’t get a chance to see them before the game due to pre-game and recruiting but he did get to see them after the game. Those guys had a great time and what the athletic department did to honor them was neat. Everybody that was part of that team then appreciated it. He did get a chance to see one of the interviews after the game from Steve Slaton. He is always so humble.
–There hasn’t been any difference in preparation even when they weren’t winning he didn’t see cracks in the wall or issues. Maybe there was a lack of confidence but there was never a time that he didn’t like coaching the guys so he’s glad to have some success because they put in the work. They will get to the point where he doesn’t nearly have to preach it as much and the players will be more of that conduit.
–When you’re playing poorly or things aren’t going well you can sense panic. Every day got evaluated, what are they doing and how are you doing it but it’s always constantly evaluated. That’s a constant whether you’re winning or losing. There are a lot of corrections that still will be made but they will do that again next year.
–Sometimes when you come out when a team has an open date you have to be prepared for something different and some of the things they haven’t shown.
–Rodriguez said that the intent of getting more high school guys is to have them for three or four years but he also thinks if there are 50 players coming back they understand the culture which is more than they had last year which is none of them. You have half the team instead of the whole team that gets it.
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