Rich Rodriguez press conference summary: 8-13
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media Wednesday and here is a summary of what was said during his press conference.
–Shorter practice today but they got some lightning so they had to go inside. Still got some good work in trying to get ready for the Saturday scrimmage.
–All of the quarterbacks have progressed and it’s been quite a task to get all of the quarterbacks reps. It’s still a pretty good battle. The scrimmages mean a little bit more as far as the battle goes. They still have Saturday’s scrimmage and a half scrimmage left. Nicco Marchiol and Jaylen Henderson have experience and you can see that same with Max Brown. Scotty Fox and Khalil Wilkins are making progress as well. They will really talk about where they’re at at those positions after the scrimmage. When they have two weeks to go they will sit down and talk about it.
–Rodriguez isn’t a data guy as much when it comes to deciding who will play. Rhett Rodriguez might be keeping stats but they’ll look at all of it. Rodriguez thinks they’ve all progressed pretty well and is that a good thing. Saturday and next week they’ll put a little more pressure on them. The defense is throwing everything at them right now.
–Rodriguez thinks they’d all get better at quarterback. But sometimes you can tell when a guy has experience and you can tell that the young guys have really grasped it. They’ve all been coached pretty good and they have been live several times and will be live this Saturday and they’re doing it to try to see if somebody separates. If they don’t separate in a good thing that’s a good way.
–Rodriguez said when they get 25 first downs in a game they usually win. It’s harder to get first downs on second and ten and third and 10 so you have to be calculated when you take shots. They don’t talk about shot plays as much as some people but it’s about first downs and moving the ball.
–Rodriguez doesn’t blame anybody wanting to know who is the guy or the guys it’s human nature but he doesn’t think in those terms. He says how are we doing and how are we moving the ball and stopping the run and how effective are they in the passing game not how is he. It’s always part of the we in football.
–Rodriguez said they better have the first 11 on each side by the time kickoff for the first game is coming. The coaches better really know the week before. If they only have 11 they can win with on each side they’re going to have a long year. Rodriguez doesn’t care if it comes down to opening kickoff. The way they practice is unconventional where everybody scripts matchups, but they roll dudes in and out. His goal is everybody is engaged in practice and ready to go. He doesn’t worry about getting certain players on the field in different situations all of them have to run the stuff.
–Rodriguez said that he’s had 28 years as a head coach and with all of the changes going on has transformed the game a little bit but the one thing that is constant is that the players all want to play. They will work hard in practice but the goal for them is to play and play really well and the other stuff comes extra. Rodriguez thinks most of the guys that play any sport do it because they love playing.
–There’s a lot of things that have to happen to create a shot play on the ground. All of the quarterbacks can make all of the throws but being accurate is one of the most important traits for a quarterback.
–Rodriguez said they’re getting guys healthier at running back. They had the most running backs today since camp started with five. That’s the one position they typically play more people. Throughout the course of the year you better have two or three. If you’re picking somebody up now you’re hoping they’ve been training all summer. The difference is all of these guys have been with the strength staff all summer and they’ve done a great job. There’s probably a couple guys out there but right now it’s rare.
–Jaylan Knighton has an academic issue with one class and they don’t expect to have him. We really liked him and thought he was a good player but that one issue came up and that was a surprise to everybody so he won’t be playing this year.
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