West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media following the first day of spring football. WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
--The base elements of the offense are the same they still play with 11. The pass game has changed some more with some different concepts. Every year they study what they do and what others do and see if it fits in without being complicated. It's not what you call it's what you can execute. Rodriguez wants to find out what they can execute and make sure they do a good job evaluating those guys.
--Personnel-wise the biggest change is with tight ends. They are 11-personnel with one tight end in the game 70-percent of the time.
--Rodriguez said that the team chaplain was there today and he's probably praying for him after today. The intent was good and they worked pretty hard. They had some pre-snap penalties on offense and he's used to going three or four practices without one. He liked the effort from where he was seeing it.
--Rodriguez said he yells too much at coaches too, maybe he just likes yelling. This is the first practice with this whole staff and there are some things they will work out coaching-wise and how practice will run. He hates idle time. The most valuable time of their day is with their players and they have to make sure they're really ready for them.
--Rodriguez said he's got Rhett Rodriguez who is the opposite of him personality-wise. He is not the same type of personality but you have to coach to your personality. Rhett has done a good job with them. The quarterback room is eager and of all the positions they've had he feels really good about.
--They wanted to stay at tempo and use the right end at different ways in the run game. It was where you could get those 250-pound guys that can play in space. They will split them out and you're seeing a lo more of those guys than you used to. It's given them a different dimension offensively but allows them to play with the same tempo they want.
--Rodriguez isn't sure if you'll be able to tell the toughness in spring practice and that will spill over.
--Rodriguez said they have a different methodology with installation. Zac Alley had like 10 different blitzes in today. They're trying to find out what they do well and they probably have too much in today already.
--West Virginia does one-on-ones and a portion of every practice is geared toward evaluation. They are doing one-on-ones and two-on-twos for evaluation purposes and they'll do more of that once the pads come on.
--There are still some spots they have to answer through the spring or next portal period. If they cut the roster to 105 they have to cut 20-25 guys because there are a lot of guys that worked hard enough to earn a spot. It will make it competitive until that time comes but he hopes that's not the case.
--Rodriguez said that Travis Trickett is floating around to several positions including running back and Noel Devine is helping as well. He would like to hire a coach within the next week. It's wide open but he'll have a good coach.
--Travis Trickett is a really sharp guy and he is being plugged into different spots. The good part about it is all the offensive coaches have been in the system outside Blaine Stewart but he is a sharp guy so there is not as much learning from the scheme. Same on defense, most of those guys have worked with coach Zac Alley.
--Probably nine or ten guys on the bike in yellow jerseys. Some of them aren't going to be able to go all spring so how does he evaluate them?
--Rodriguez thinks he's more knowledgeable coach now than when he was then in schemes, recruiting and development. It's so much easier to get information whether it's film or ideas. With social media there are a lot of positive things. He loves talking ball and talking coaches and trying to learn every year. All the experiences he has had have helped him as a coach.
--Back then everybody was on the same playing field with 85 full scholarships and the same coaching staffs. You were closer and you could fight for an indoor building or a new locker room. There are different challenges now but whatever the rules are you have to move with them the best you can.There's a bigger gap between what some commit to football and others. West Virginia is committed to being a Division One Power Four program. The group of fives they battle for everything they get. It's nice to be one of the haves.
--Rodriguez said the have to teach the guys the techniques. There's a lot of young players out there and then they have to evaluate. They'll watch the whole team period with the whole staff and they have to do a good job evaluating the players. They want to have two or three guys that they can win with at each spot.
--Guard/tackle stuff for West Virginia there isn't as much difference the system is different. You could hide a guy that's less athletic at guard than tackle that's the only difference. The inside/outside receiver deal is they want all their wideouts to learn their four wide out positions which will take throughout the summer.
--Nickel depends on the scheme if you're going to play a lot of man coverage. The nickel is a DB/outside linebacker hybrid so they want them to be physical. They want to play man and they're doing man coverage every day just to see if they can do it.
--Coaches come and go. If players aspire to be pro guys they change positions a lot. There's a lot of movement so much so that Rodriguez has to accept that. Jahiem White is a veteran guy and they're excited to see him in the offense. He is banged up with a knee right now.
--Around 15 seconds into practice Rodriguez was yelling at people at practice about something. He is the same whether it's game or practice, he's not aware of what else is going on. It hasn't been intentional but that's how it is. The guys that are non-competitive they aren't going to make it. He wants guys that will crawl over top of people to win. If you're not a competitive guy you're going to stand out in the wrong way.
--Once you get the mentality you have it. When they've had success it's because they had really good players that had that hard edge mentality and once you get it you have it forever. Pat McAfee had it as a specialist and he's had it his whole career. He's going to outwork people.
--Rodriguez said he isn't molding to the players culture-wise. Schematically, yes. You have to gear things around what they players can do. You have to find what your players do well but the culture and the mentality are what it is. You have to make sure people live it and adhere to it every single day.
--You're going to have to have players that learn how to play all four positions and running backs that can play in the slot or backfield. You need to have guys that can move around on the offensive line and on the defensive line if they move to 105. It's a different challenge and they'll manage it.
----------
• 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
