Monday Notebook
November 03, 2003 12:39 PM | General
November 3, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -The biggest issue in Mountaineer Nation right now is the health of quarterback Rasheed Marshall.
The junior signal caller left the Central Florida game in the third quarter with a concussion and did not return. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez says he's seen gradual improvement in Marshall both yesterday and today.
"I saw him this morning and he was actually lifting weights," said Rodriguez. "He still had a little bit of a headache but he felt a lot better. We're going to see how he feels this afternoon and it's still going to be day to day.
"I asked him questions about certain plays and defenses and he was on the mark there so he has all of his senses so to speak," the coach added.
Rodriguez says the final decision on whether or not Marshall will be cleared to play will come from the WVU training staff.
"It's up to them and we'll just have to see how he feels after today's practice," said Rodriguez. "You just take it each day at a time and see how he feels. His headache may be gone and then he goes through practice and it reoccurs. If that is an issue then you have to hold him out."
Marshall missed a portion of the Wisconsin game after suffering a wicked blow to his chest and he was also lifted late in the Maryland game. In both instances, junior Charles Hales came in relief.
Otherwise, Marshall has played almost every snap this season and the majority of last season as well. Aside from suffering a broken bone in his throwing wrist in the 2001 opener at Boston College, for the most part Marshall's health hasn’t been an issue, particularly concussions.
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| QB Rasheed Marshall missed most of the second half of the Central Florida game with a concussion. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
"He's had a couple of injuries and he was knocked out of the Wisconsin game but it wasn't a concussion. This was his first one that I know of," said Rodriguez.
The coach says if Marshall can't practice this week then backup Charles Hales will get the starting nod Saturday at Boston College.
"If he doesn't practice all week then obviously he won't start even if he clears up later in the week. He needs to practice a couple of days," said the coach.
Marshall has passed for 1,064 yards and nine touchdowns in West Virginia's run-first, pass-second offense this year. The Pittsburgh native has also gained 184 yards on the ground to rank second on the team behind Quincy Wilson and Kay-Jay Harris.
Hales, an Ellisville, Miss., native, came in for Marshall in the third quarter of Saturday's game against Central Florida and fired a critical 79-yard touchdown pass to Chris Henry that opened up a 33-11 lead for the Mountaineers. Hales completed both pass attempts for 88 yards and he also led WVU on a scoring drive in the opener against Wisconsin when Marshall was hurt.
Briefly ...
"We got up on them early and from there BC pretty much dominated us," the coach added. "We're a long ways removed from that ball game."
Wilson is coming off his fourth 100-yard performance of the season last Saturday against UCF and shows 945 yards and eight touchdowns on 198 carries. Wilson is averaging 4.8 yards per rush.
"They're different type of backs," said Rodriguez. "Derrick is an excellent back who is a shiftier guy than Quincy. (Knight) is very good in space. They do a lot of similar things that we do in terms of the run game but where as Quincy is more of a straight-line, north-south guy, Derrick can make a lot of people miss in the open field and he's very productive with what they do."
"If they move out now it's hard to schedule a football game with this short of notice," said Rodriguez. "That's a big issue not just for us but for BC as well. That may be the overriding factor, but I can't answer that for sure."
“Even though our young guys have not played a lot of road games this year, you hope by this time they’ve grown up and matured enough to be able to handle hostile environments. The thing that is most intimidating is the people you line up across -- not the people sitting in the stands,” Rodriguez added.
“There is a hope for us because we can control our own destiny so to speak and we could be sitting on top tied with somebody,” said Rodriguez. “At the beginning of the season (winning the league championship) is your number one goal and with eight games into the season we still have an opportunity to do that. That’s what you want as a coach … to be near the end of your season and still have an opportunity to achieve a lot of your goals.”
