Playing Hats Off
March 31, 2004 11:28 AM | General
March 31, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coach Rick Trickett has raised the bar a little bit higher for an offensive line that returns intact and more seasoned this spring.
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| Jeremy Hines is one of five returning starters along the offensive line this spring. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
But just because his group is experienced and successfully executes its assignments more frequently doesn’t necessarily mean Trickett is growing softer. Regular practice viewers have become accustomed to watching Trickett fire his hat to the ground in disgust when one of his pupils misses an assignment or whiffs on one of his blocks.
Last spring while breaking in almost an entirely new offensive line, Trickett’s West Virginia ball cap spent more time on the field than it did on his head. He could have saved himself some time by simply dropping it on the ground at the start of practice and picking it up when practice was over. That’s how young and inexperienced the group he was working with was. Not even Woody Hayes could have gone through as many hats as Trickett did last year.
But this spring the hat has remained secured on Trickett’s cranium a little bit longer. Perhaps it’s because he’s got a group of blockers that are beginning to meet his high expectations. At least that is one of the theories being offered by sophomore center Jeremy Hines.
“He still throws it but I guess he has set his level for getting mad higher,” said Hines. “Hopefully we’re all pretty much getting our fundamentals down and I guess what gets him mad is different now.”
Jeremy Hines is pretty typical for the type of offensive lineman Rick Trickett is working with at WVU.
Hines wasn’t one of the most heavily recruited players coming out of Cleveland’s St. Edwards High School back in the winter of 2002. His 6-foot-1-inch, 260-pound frame didn’t quite fit Ohio State’s and Michigan’s specifications.
But Trickett liked Hines’ athletic ability and believed his feet were good enough to play center in Coach Rich Rodriguez’ souped-up offense. Trickett knew he didn’t need to have a bunch of 6-foot-6, 350-pounders to block in the spread. He just had to have kids that were able to move their feet a little bit and get where they were supposed to be in a bad mood.
Besides, old Trickett has been known to turn Chevys into Ferraris a time or two when he coached at Auburn and LSU. And Jeremy Hines may turn out to be Doctor Trickett’s latest creation.
Hines literally came out of nowhere last fall to become WVU’s regular snapper. The Mountaineers began the season with senior Ben Timmons at center but a persistent Hines kept showing flashes in practice. An inspired performance when the game was already decided at Maryland forced Trickett to take a closer look at him and back-to-back solid efforts against Miami and Rutgers helped Hines become entrenched as the team’s starting center.
“I felt like I was progressing as the year went on,” he said. “As far as being surprised I don’t think I was surprised. I just tried to come to work everyday and play as hard as I could and good things would happen by the time the year was done.”
Jeremy's hard work and willingness to learn are starting to pay off.
Recently, he was one of just two sophomores named to the Rimington Trophy Award preseason watch list. The Rimington Trophy is awarded to the nation’s top center.
“I’m thankful that people are noticing what I’m doing but I’ve got a long way to go before I even think about stuff like that. There is so much stuff I have to work on and improve,” he said.
Such as?
“I want to become more consistent with what I’m doing,” he admitted. “Sometimes I do stuff right and then I don’t do it right. I want to be a very consistent player and start to perfect things.”
That attitude has Hines and fellow sophomore Dan Mozes catching the eye of Rodriguez, who made it a point to single out their play after Monday night’s practice.
“Both of them are playing better now then they were at the end of last year which is pleasing,” said Rodriguez. “When you play early in your career sometimes guys plateau or level off and we don’t want to allow that to happen. Coach Trickett will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Ah, back to Trickett.
Hines says because the group is a year older and more experienced, Trickett has started moving past the basics and has gotten into the finer points of blocking.
“You’ve got to perfect A and B before you get to C and D,” he said. “But as we’re maturing we get critiqued on the more intricate parts of our positions.”
This winter the coaching staff also decided to give the team a little Football 101 Rich Rodriguez style. Coach Rod had classes for the players to learn more about the entire offense: what the quarterback, running backs and wide receivers are doing on each play. It gave each player a look at the big picture and their role in it.
“That has definitely helped,” said Hines.
Hines also believes having such a close-nit and experienced offensive group will pay big dividends next fall.
“With us being so much of a unit I’m starting to get a feel for what everyone else is doing,” he said. “I think that helps us individually.”
However, Hines says having experience and talent are only two parts of the equation.
“We’ve got to continue to work harder than everyone else,” he said. “At this position success just doesn’t come by having talent. You’ve got to work hard and play as a unit.”
If Jeremy Hines and his teammates can continue to put those words into action, then Coach Rick Trickett is going to save a lot of hats.
And as for Rimington, Hines says he never heard of him or the award before the subject was brought up after Monday’s practice.
“He must have been pretty good, though,” he said.
Yep, Dave Rimington was pretty good.
Notebook: Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez was pleased with his team’s intensity after Monday’s practice, “I think the fact that we’ve got a lot of young players wanting to prove that they belong on the two-deep and wanting to prove that we can win with them elevates the intensity. Our goal is always to have competition at each position and when you have that practice is usually harder …” After watching the tape from Saturday’s half-hour scrimmage Rodriguez says the offense had a little better day than the defense, “The intensity was good but on defense we had too many missed assignments and you expect that out of some of the young guys but not out of some of the veterans …” West Virginia worked on punting during Monday’s practice and Rodriguez and Special Teams coach Bill Stewart are still sifting through candidates to determine who is going to replace Todd James, “During the early part of spring our punting was not very good,” said Rodriguez. “It has gotten better and the one thing I like about our punters is that I think they’re pretty good athletes. We do some different things in our punting game. Sometimes we sprint out and punt and sometimes we pocket-punt and they have to be able to do both. I think both of our punters Phil Brady and Eric Daugherty have shown the ability to do that …” West Virginia was off Tuesday and is schedule to resume spring workouts Wednesday afternoon, weather permitting … the Mountaineer Sports Network was recently cited for excellence in broadcasting at the West Virginia Broadcasters Association Awards Dinner presented Sunday, March 28, at the Radisson Hotel in Morgantown … Mountaineer Magazine and Mountaineer Jammin’ were honored for excellence in television while MSN’s radio network was recognized for its excellence in the radio category.
