Football Notebook
March 30, 2005 11:59 AM | General
March 30, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Whether by accident or by plan, West Virginia is becoming a left-handed quarterback team -- at least until Adam Bednarik returns to the field. All three quarterbacks available for spring drills are each left-handed – sophomore Dwayne Thompson, redshirt freshman Pat White and sophomore walk-on Markell Harrison of Scotch Plains, N.J.
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| Dwayne Thompson said getting on the field as a wide receiver last year will help him play quarterback this spring.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Only Bednarik, sitting out this spring after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery, is righthanded. Coach Rich Rodriguez says having a bunch of left-handed quarterbacks isn’t that big of a deal.
“The ball comes out a little different from a left-hander,” he said. “If it’s in the vicinity of the wide outs, tight ends or the backs they should catch it anyway. The biggest adjustment is you usually want to sprint out and run your play action to the dominant side hand and so from a play calling standpoint that will be a little bit of an adjustment. That shouldn’t take too long depending upon who the starter is.”
Yet Thompson admitted it was tough sometimes being asked to throw across his body last year when he was backing up Rasheed Marshall and Charles Hales.
“Last year with Rasheed and Charles both being right-handed a lot of the plays were right side biased,” he said. “We may play action and run to the right. For the lefty that was kind of hard to move your hips and throw an accurate pass. I had to do that last year and Coach knew that was tough on me but I had to deal with it.”
Receivers have also told Thompson that they have had to make an adjustment catching his deep passes.
“My (deep) ball tends to float back to the left side because the rotation is different,” he said. “A lot of receivers are used to a right-handed rotation so you’ll see a lot of receivers run by the ball and adjust to it late.”
Because of his outstanding athletic ability, Thompson spent last year splitting time between wide receiver and quarterback. He believes having that on-field experience is invaluable.
“I remember my first time going out I was real nervous so I’ve got that part behind me,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got some experience under my belt and that will help me at quarterback.
“I know all of the routes that we run. I’ve been out there and I know what they’re going through. I know what the DBs do and I know their little tricks,” he said.
Thompson is actually the only quarterback on the team to have thrown a pass in a game. His double-reverse pass to quarterback Rasheed Marshall at the end of last year’s Pitt game could have been the game-winner for the Mountaineers.
“When Coach called that play I didn’t know what to think,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s mind right now is focused on getting West Virginia’s complicated offensive system down pat.
“I need to know what I’ve got to do on my side of the ball and once I master that then I’ve got to learn what the defense is doing on their side of the ball,” he said.
For his part, Rodriguez says he’s nowhere near making a determination on who will win the job. “There probably won’t be a whole lot of separation until we get into two-a-days,” he said.
“I hope two emerge. I hope all of them get better and we can have confidence to put them in the game. I don’t think you know for sure until you play a game how an inexperienced guy is going to react. But I think they can get the job done,” Rodriguez said.
More Spring Notes:
“He starts throwing around a little bit in May and by June he should be 100 percent,” Rodriguez said. “They’ll start lifting usually around the end of May and they’ll start throwing on their own in June. He will probably be better than he was because he was throwing with a bad arm before.”
Right now all Bednarik can do is signal in plays and get mental reps.
“There is a lot you can learn but it’s not as good as taking a physical rep,” Rodriguez said. “Adam is a sharp guy and I think he’s a guy -- judged on the way he’s practiced in the past -- that has a feel for the game. Even though you’d like to have him in the spring we don’t play a game until September so he should be alright.”
“We’ll get a feel for it,” he said. “They won’t be judged because they’re still learning but by the end of spring I’ll have a little bit of an idea and it’s hard to predict.”
“Two reasons: one we’ve become more multiple in our formations and two, we’ve got some guys with good ball skills with our tight ends and fullbacks,” said the coach. “They catch the ball pretty well and that’s probably going to be big part of our offense.”
“We don’t have many veterans at receiver but Ray is one of them,” said Rodriguez. “He’s a talented guy and he’s had a great off-season. I think he’s been committed to becoming a better player and a better leader.”
Coach Rod says there have been times throughout his career that Bolden has showed signs of being a big-time receiver. At other times he hasn’t.
“We’ve seen it over the past year where we’ve said, ‘This guy could be a big-time guy.’ I’ve seen more of those teases this spring than anytime I’ve had in the past,” he said.
The biggest factor for his inconsistency, according to Rodriguez, is the fact that Bolden came from a very small school in upstate New York.
“He was very raw. He played at a small school and was well coached but he had to make an adjustment to the speed of the game and get stronger and work on some of his mechanics,” Rodriguez said. “He’s still working on some of his mechanics but he’s gotten stronger and he’s gotten a lot more confident. That’s the biggest thing that Ray has lacked is confidence and when you come from a small school that’s usually to be expected.”
“Hopefully it motivated him,” said Rodriguez. “Jeremy is a smart guy and he’s a proven player. If he comes into the fall in great shape which I expect him to be then he will be a very solid center.
“We lose some experience but not as much as you think because Jeremy started the year before,” the coached added. “We really considered him a starter last year even though Tim was starting. We don’t think there is anything there that will hinder us because he’s not a first-time starter.”
“It’s hard with our style of play and the way things are set up in the program,” he noted. “It’s hard to tell fans and everybody to have patience but we’ve got to do that to be fair to our young men because they are young and we don’t have a whole lot of seniors. There is still a level of expectation that we expect them to perform at. I told the team that I don’t want any excuses. We’ve played for the last three Big East championships and we expect to do it again.”
“Jahmile Addae and Dee McCann have the ability to do that. I was really pleased with the way Anthony Mims played in the bowl game. He probably played the best game of his career against Florida State,” said Rodriguez. “A guy missing this spring that is probably going to be the leader of the defense is Mike Lorello. He’s been doing it for several years and he’s going to be one of the defensive guys that can hopefully make big plays as will new guys such as Eric Wicks who has got a lot of talent. It will be hard to keep him off the field as well.”
“He’s a tremendous worker and there is no question in my mind that physically he’s going to be ready,” Rodriguez said. “He’s still young as far as learning the position but Marc is going to play a lot of football for us this year. Not just at linebacker but on all the special teams.”
