Fall Camp Update
August 13, 2004 11:23 AM | General
August 13, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As of Friday morning, West Virginia University coach Rich Rodriguez still has his voice. That either means the team is performing flawlessly through the first four days of fall camp or Rodriguez is already softening in his early 40s.
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| WVU coach Rich Rodriguez watches a drill during Thursday afternoon's practice
(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Rodriguez says it’s neither: “We haven’t been into two-a-days yet,” he said. “If I’ve still got my voice at the end of next week then nothing has gone wrong.”
Don't count on it.
In press briefings after each practice, Rodriguez has addressed a litany of concerns ranging from a lack of depth at wide receiver to injuries at tailback and sloppy execution.
Yet he’s generally pleased with the team’s attitude and focus, “I just expect a lot more and I’m hoping I’ll get it,” he said.
The coach elaborated on a few of his concerns Thursday evening.
“Our receiver numbers are really down,” he said. “We’ve got a couple injured and a couple more are out. It is making it difficult to do some things. But it does give other guys like Charles Hales and some of those guys an opportunity to get some reps.”
The receiver corps took a hit before camp started when Martinsburg freshman Brandon Barrett and Louisiana standouts Tyler Benoit and Darius Reynaud had to sit out due to academics. Mississippi freshman Brandon Tate, who practiced with the team Monday afternoon, may now encounter the same fate.
“He’s got a qualifying test score and the GPA but part of the score got flagged so it’s a Clearing House issue,” said Rodriguez. “We’ve appealed it but it may be a while before we find out.”
Combine that with a hamstring injury that has limited senior Eddie Jackson for the last two practices and Rodriguez has been forced to utilize backup quarterback Charles Hales more exclusively at wide receiver and pluck sophomore Joe Hunter from the defensive backfield. Giving Hales more of an opportunity at wide receiver, in turn, is giving redshirt freshmen Adam Bednarik and Dwayne Thompson more quality reps at quarterback.
“Our plan was to get them reps anyway,” said Rodriguez of his young QBs. “Obviously when Charles is at receiver that’s more reps they can take at quarterback. They’re progressing pretty well. It’s a good situation for them because they don’t have to be the guy right now. It would make us nervous if they were thrown into that. At the same time I see something from them everyday that encourages us.”
The coach has been able to carve time out in practice to get each of them some work in case the unthinkable happens and starter Rasheed Marshall goes down.
“You don’t want them to play when they’re not ready and you don’t want to play them because of an injury or something like that but I do think if we can get them some quality reps and some quality time it would be great this year,” he said. “Either Adam, Dwayne or even Pat White at some point is going to be the guy. Now is the time for us early in camp to get them some quality reps because once you get closer to the season you can’t hardly rep four or five quarterbacks.”
Rodriguez has also spent the past few days addressing his concerns about the running back situation with only three experienced runners in camp practicing right now. Of those three, Kay-Jay Harris and Bryan Wright have been hobbled with minor ailments. Jason Colson and Harris took most of the reps Thursday and Rodriguez is also working in true freshmen Pernell Williams and Alphonso Gross as well. The coach says the running back situation is only one of the factors that have forced him to slow down the offensive installation process this week.
“We’ve slowed it down not so much because of them but because I get uncomfortable doing too much too soon,” he said. “You have a tendency when you have an experienced team to think, ‘Oh they’ve got this down’ and then you have a lack of execution. I’m more interested in execution than I am schemes right now.”
West Virginia puts on full pads for the first time today and will begin two-a-day practices Saturday. Weather forecasters are once again calling for rain and cool temperatures Friday afternoon.
“This not the kind of weather I’d like to have obviously,” said Rodriguez. “I want to have it in the high 80s and 90s with high humidity and push them a little bit. This is too much of a break. But you can’t worry about things you can’t control.”
Random Camp Notes:
“We’ve been working on that a little bit,” laughed Rodriguez. “We’re trying to get a little pride back in them and we just thought that we’d try it. We did it a couple of days ago and I’m amazed that they even remembered the words. A lot of them were just mumbling though. I can cite it but I can’t sing it very well.”
“The tests came back in a positive light,” said the coach. “I think it was a medicine issue: he had to change his medicine. It should be cleared up and corrected I would expect him back by Friday or Saturday.”
“We’ve talked about it. I’ve met with them and told them that I want them to do it without being prodded and that’s what is happening,” said Rodriguez.
“To be honest with you if the weather was a little nicer we would have been up there (Thursday),” he said. “We’ll probably alternate it during two-a-days: one on the field and one on the grass. If it’s wet we’ll stay down here.”
