Camp Notebook

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
August 20, 2004

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – To this point, Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez has not been pleased with West Virginia’s passing game. Not only is he unhappy because the lack of a passing game is bogging down his offense, but he says it is also inhibiting his defense as well.


	Rich Rodriguez feeds a football into the Jugs machine during Thursday's practice WVU Sports Communications

“We’re just not a good throwing football team right now and that is something that concerns us because we’ve got to throw against our defense to get them prepared for East Carolina because we know East Carolina is going to throw a bunch when they come in here on the 4th,” he said.

In Wednesday’s scrimmage, starting quarterback Rasheed Marshall was a proficient 8 of 12 passing, but managed only 95 yards with an interception. Combined, WVU’s five quarterbacks completed 24 of 35 passes for a very solid 68.6 completion percentage. But those 24 completions accounted for only 180 yards and no touchdowns. The 180 yards averages out to just 7.5 yards per completion and 5.1 yards per attempt.

And that isn’t going to stretch defenses to keep them from ganging up on the run.

“We all have been working hard every day but there are things that we have to get down,” said Marshall. “It is really little things because when we go back in and watch film it is the small things that are correctable. We have to fine tune it.”

Part of the reason West Virginia’s passing game has been erratic is due to the rash of injuries at wide receiver. Neither Eddie Jackson nor Miquelle Henderson has practiced this week and Dee Alston went down during Wednesday’s scrimmage with a shoulder ailment.

The Mountaineers recruited a large class of wide receivers but only Dorrell Jalloh and Tito Gonzalez are eligible to play right now. Brandon Tate’s status is still being determined by the NCAA Clearing House and Gonzalez has been sidelined with an injury.

Consequently, Rodriguez has had to work in quarterbacks Charles Hales and Dwayne Thompson with the receivers to help with depth.

Marshall admits the injuries have made it tough to get any continuity this fall.

“We’re kind of hurting right now … Miquelle, Eddie … and now Dee is hurt. It is hurting us and it’s hurting me because those are the guys I was throwing with throughout the summer,” said Marshall.

For that matter, Marshall has had to deal with injuries and a lack of depth in the receiver corps for the past two years now. He says throwing in practice and throwing in the summer are two entirely different things.

“There is so much more when you get into camp than when you’re throwing in the summer,” he said. “In the summer you’re just running routes. During two-a-days they’ve got the pads on, they’ve got to block, they get hurt and that’s the downfall to it: you just can’t keep everybody fresh. Unfortunately there have been enough guys injured to kind of slow us down.”

The four receivers getting the majority of reps right now are Chris Henry, Brandon Myles, John Pennington and Nate Forse. Charles Hales and Rayshawn Bolden are also working in with the first group as well.

“Hopefully they all get better and they’re ready for ECU,” he added. “We’ve got two weeks. They’re going to have to do a lot of treatment and maybe the Guy up top can make things happen for us a little bit because I need those guys … I need them bad.”

Random Camp Notes:

Friday’s morning practice featured the return of third-string tailback Bryan Wright. Like his wide receiver corps, Coach Rich Rodriguez has been concerned all fall about the tailback position. “We need to have three that can play and stay healthy and do all the right things and right now we’re still searching for that.”

The coach labeled the punting job “pretty close” between Phil Brady and Eric Daugherty. “Phil Brady the last couple of days has emerged a little bit. He’s working with the ones but right now it’s still a toss up. It won’t probably be finally determined until game week.”


	Quarterback Rasheed Marshall hopes to have a full compliment of receivers back in time for the East Carolina game (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks)

Rasheed Marshall was hobbled with cramps during Friday’s morning practice. Marshall says that was the first time that he can remember that ever happening to him. “I’m shocked there hasn’t been more of that,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez mentioned Thursday evening that senior Tim Brown has recovered well from his off-season Achilles tendon injury, “I’ve got to be careful who I praise because it comes back to bite us but he has reemerged as one of the leaders up front on the o-line and that’s what we need from him this year.”

Upon further review, Coach Rod was pleased with the performance of his defense after watching the film of Wednesday’s scrimmage. “I was real impressed with them. I think the reason the offense looked so bad at times was because the defense looked good at times,” he said. “I was really pleased, especially with some of the new guys who we hope can play some this year.”

Rodriguez said he would like to have his two-deep roster established by early next week. “We’ll start doing some East Carolina stuff versus the scout team next week, at least by Tuesday at the latest. After the scrimmage we’ll have a tentative two-deep and still have competition for spots, but we’ll have a pretty good idea who will be on the travel squad next week.”

Senior Eddie Jackson is moving closer to getting back out onto the field. He was wearing a green jersey (no contact) Thursday afternoon. “We are hoping to get a little bit out of him Saturday during the scrimmage. He’s eager to learn. Eddie just needs a lot of reps because he hasn’t played for us.”

Rodriguez also said Dee Alston was limited during Thursday’s afternoon workout: “He’s got a lot of work to make up. He was fading out of the mix to start with and this is going to set him back some more,” said the coach.

Coach Rod said Miquelle Henderson isn’t expected back for Saturday’s scrimmage. “From what I understand it won’t be mid next week before we get him back,” he said. “It’s more of a hamstring but while he was out with that they also drained some fluid off his knee so that wouldn’t reoccur as well. It’s a combination.”

The coach mentioned that sophomore Boo McLee may be the team’s fastest linebacker and has been pleased with his progress up to this point in camp. “He played a lot toward the end of last year and he understands the defense a lot better now. Last year, Coach Casteel said it best when he said that Boo sometimes plays our defense, sometimes he plays Uniontown’s defense and sometimes he’s playing a defense we don’t know. Hopefully now it’s all our defense.”

McLee was excused from Thursday’s practice to tend to a personal issue. He was back for Friday morning’s workout.

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