It's somewhat a given why Reid Carrico might assume some level of leadership for West Virginia, but he's being creative to do so.
This season will be Carrico's fifth in college football. Add in his position, along with him being one of the few returners from last year's squad, and Carrico is an obvious choice to be a leader for the Mountaineers.
"I would say that I assumed some more responsibility because, I mean, this is year five for me, you know. All these new freshmen and stuff, like the new freshmen and new transfers here to West Virginia and that sort of thing, they've all, they all know that I've been playing college football for a while," Carrico said.
Last season, Carrico totaled 54 total tackles, including 16 in one game against Baylor. Carrico has played in 31 total games, making him an experienced commodity on the Mountaineer defense.
That experience is able to show Carrico what guys might be falling behind, and that's where he has stepped his game up off the field to be a better leader.
"I would say that there's certain things that you can kind of pick up. You can tell when a guy is kind of getting lost, you know, by all the information that's coming in because usually when people start or stop, I mean, when they stop, like asking questions and, like, you know, talking about things, like in the meetings and that sort of thing, that's usually when it's kind of getting to be a little bit much, and, you know, as an older guy, any time that you can help, like, make things more simple or, like, approachable to younger players, like, that's always good because it took me a while to get over that hump," Carrico said.
Carrico has had to adjust to a new leadership style this offseason when Rich Rodriguez took over as head coach. There are the obvious on-field adjustments for him under Rodriguez and new defensive coordinator Zac Alley, something Carrico has already seen take place.
"Playing for Coach Alley, like, it's been fun. A lot of learning, big learning curve there, you know, as far as adjusting to his scheme and that sort of thing, but overall, so far, it's been a really good experience," Carrico said.
Whether Carrico is learning from Alley or Rodriguez, one of the ways he's become a better leader is by using the guys who are more experienced under Rodriguez to his advantage.
"Having the guys from Jacksonville and, you know, having them around for the installs and, like, when new things go into the defense, that's been great just because learning the terminology, like, what's this mean, and all you got to do is shoot them a text, 'hey, this means this.' So from that standpoint, it's been awesome having those guys, and they're all good dudes.
"I'd do anything for any of them, and then, you know, see it on the other foot, like practice, you know, workouts, team workouts, that sort of thing, like, as an older guy, like, I always want to be ahead of the curve. Like, I want to know what to do so that I don't mess up, you know, and get in trouble or whatever, but, yeah, having them and, you know, describing, like, what Coach Rod's looking for in all of his workouts, all of his team-oriented stuff, like, that's been great," Carrico said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
