Rich Rodriguez press conference summary 8-6
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media at his press conference Wednesday and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
–Players were in shorts today and you don’t get as much done but they got some good evaluation and got some good work in. Tomorrow they’ll be in pads, then Friday shorts and Saturday will be a full scrimmage with an officiating crew.
–Rodriguez said they have three wide receivers that came from Jacksonville State. Jarod Bowie is in the slot, Cam Vaughn and Jordan McCants can play both. Vaughn hasn’t came close to reaching his ceiling. He had a pretty good day today and all three of those guys the expectations are higher because they know the system and how it’s supposed to go.
–Jaden Bray can run, Justin Smith-Brown can run, Christian Hamilton can run. Logan Ramper is a big physical guy and Preston Fox is a player that Rodriguez is glad came back. At the slots, Rodney Gallagher, Oran Singleton and Jarod Bowie all play.
–Rodriguez likes to play 80 guys in every game but they have to be good enough to win with. Philosophy wise they try to be demanding in practice and rolls guys in and out quite a bit. Young guys aren’t going to be ready and he doesn’t know if they have 40 guys on each side but they want to have a lot of guys ready.
–They roll the quarterbacks out just like every position. They are going to go live with the quarterbacks starting tomorrow. It’s a good group and each of them have gotten better every day. The more you’re in it and the more reps you take the more comfortable you’re going to get.
–When the quarterbacks go live he just wants to see them running the offense well. Maybe they can break a tackle and their ability shows up even more.
–Rodriguez is the loudest guy and Rhett Rodriguez is really sharp but he’s the opposite personality and it’s perfect because he’s the one talking to them on the head piece. Pat White is quiet and it’s been a good mix so far. Rodriguez admitted he has a tendency to jump in there at times. Just about every day he is meeting with the quarterbacks at some point in time. They have different personalities so it makes it easier to approach coaching them. Pat White has a little bit of experience and knows the system but they’re doing a lot of different things now. He’s still in the process of learning all of that but he has a good demeanor about him which Rodriguez needed because he needs a calmer person when he’s yelling at them. Rhett knows the offense in and out.
–Rodriguez said that he doesn’t believe that superstar players have any problems being a head coach. It’s on the individual. There is a lot of sacrifice from a time commitment perspective. Rodriguez talked to Pat White about it and he said if you want to be a coach go all in and you’re starting over. This is a chance to jump in and restart their career.
–Noel Devine has a great personality and is excited to be out there. He coached a little bit down in Florida and was teaching speed but he is a natural football coach. In recruiting, Rodriguez can see it by talking to guys they’ve recruited and he’s going to have a great career in coaching.
–When they do two-spotting Rodriguez is trying to look at both groups. A lot of coaches are in the middle, so they don’t run one play until the other group runs a play. They get double the reps and they’re able to coach a little bit on the field but the majority on film. They film everything and when you get into the film you can get into detail with it. You don’t get the whole field, you have 35-yards each way and you’d like to have an extra 40-yards so you can get some more deep balls but it’s allowed them to get a lot more guys a lot more reps.
–Rodriguez said now-a-days he wouldn’t hesitate to play a guy both ways but you try to get the best athlete you can. You ask them what position they want to play if they’re a dual player and then they’ll give them their honest opinion on where they can have the most success at. A lot of the best high school players can play both way and that’s a good thing. Right now, there aren’t that many that they’re looking at that on the roster because they have competition.
–They told Cam Vaughn from the jump that they thought they could help them a lot earlier at wide receiver. His ceiling is still out there. Armoni Weaver has done a lot at slot and he thinks his future is there.
–Rodriguez played for Don Nehlen when he was here and then worked for coach and then took over for him when he retired. They kept in touch a little bit a few times when he was back up this way. It’s great to see him because he is a legend here and did a lot for the program.
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