Practice four took West Virginia outside for the first time this spring and like most of the sessions to date there was a mix of both good and bad according to head coach Rich Rodriguez.
“Kind of typical of spring ball. New systems and all that,” he said.
The players are still learning how to practice the way that the new coaching staff wants them to and while Rodriguez gets frustrated when he has to correct some things repeatedly because it’s hard to move onto the next thing it’s part of the process during the first spring.
But the veteran head coach did like that his team is conscientious and working pretty hard.
On the learning front, there is a lot of different terminology for players and different methods whether they transferred into the program or are a returning option. And while the fundamentals are the same, if those players haven’t played a whole lot those are somewhat new as well.
“That’s what spring ball is for. We’re teaching a lot but they’re doing a good job of trying to learn as quickly as they can,” Rodriguez said.
West Virginia tends to run at a different pace offensively when it comes to installing things as the Mountaineers teach things as fast as possible instead of slowing things down. That makes for some trial and error during the early stages of the spring with so much newness across the board.
And while Rodriguez hadn’t reviewed the film yet, he did see some things that stood out and some ugliness too that will need to be corrected at various positions.
“We’re still learning how to run. We don’t have a lot of backs with experience. Jahiem (White) is out right now, and he has experience so not worried about him, but the rest of the backs have to learn to run with a little more authority,” he said. “I think (Diore) Hubbard is doing a good job with that, but the other guys have the capability. We don’t particularly go to the where if you’re going to get hit just go out of bounds and save yourself a hit. Unless it’s a two-minute drill, that’s not how we do it.”
West Virginia has continued to show improvement and steps on the offensive line day by day, and that process should continue throughout the rest of the spring and then into summer workouts and fall camp. The Mountaineers believe that they have a good group of guys with solid athleticism.
“I do think we got some pretty good players up front. And I think they’re all eager to get a chance to play a lot because they haven’t. None of them have, so that’s a good thing,” he said.
On the defensive side of the ball, Rodriguez felt that the unit didn’t practice well in the fourth session compared to the expectations but much like on offense it’s a new system with a lot to learn. He again though was pleased with the eagerness of the unit with how much inexperience in the scheme there is abound.
In the defensive backfield, Rodriguez didn’t think the unit tackled particularly well in the 15-minutes of live period that West Virginia completed but he didn’t know if what the unit gave up was a result of busted coverage or the defense being new to them without watching the film.
Still, overall Rodriguez believes that he and his coaching staff have become more efficient in how they practice over the years and be purposeful with the time that they have with their players.
“It's painful to watch coaches kind of explain things, and we got to do that, but I'd rather just move at a faster tempo. So, our practices over the years have gotten better paced to them, I think,” he said.
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