Football Notebook
April 29, 2005 12:40 PM | General
April 29, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After analyzing his football team’s performance this spring, West Virginia University coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t sure if his defense is that good or his offense is that bad.
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| Senior Dee McCann is expected to take over Pacman Jones' cornerback spot in the secondary.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
One thing is for certain, the defense had the upper hand in spring drills leading up to the Gold-Blue game.
“It’s a hard thing to evaluate,” admitted Rodriguez. “Did they look good because the offense was bad or are we really better on that side of the ball?”
The coach does concede the fact that his defense has more quality players than it has had in the past even if it doesn’t have a first-round player like Pacman Jones running around in the secondary.
“I do think we’ve got more guys that are going to be ready to pay than we’ve had in the past – more defensive linemen and more secondary guys,” Rodriguez said. “We want to make a conscious effort of the coaches playing more people. This spring gave me encouragement that we’ve got more guys that can play.”
Any good defense starts with the players up front and it appears defensive line is one of the deeper spots on the team. Keilen Dykes and Ernest Hunter are a pretty good pair of down linemen to go with Craig Wilson, Pat Liebig, Andrae Wright and Warren Young. The coaches believe they may also have found a capable edge pass rusher in Florida transfer Johnny Dingle.
The secondary features a pair of veteran safeties in Mike Lorello and Jahmile Addae and an experienced corner in Anthony Mims. Senior Dee McCann is expected to take over Jones’ cornerback spot and Eric Wicks or Ridwan Malik may wind up playing the other safety position. There is also quality in young corners Antonio Lewis and Larry Williams.
In fact, Rodriguez felt secure enough in the secondary to move Vaughn Rivers from corner to wide receiver to help with depth problems there.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel must find two new starters at linebacker but does have junior Boo McLee returning. Jay Henry distinguished himself in the spring and could be an option at inside linebacker while Jeff Noechel is an option at outside linebacker. Morgantown’s Marc Magro and Pittsburgh product Mortty Ivy continued to make strides.
“I think our guys are very comfortable with what we’re doing scheme wise and I think they’re going to be a real good group to coach,” Rodriguez said. “They will be physical, play hard and be able to do some of the things we want to be able to do in our schemes.”
But Rodriguez is concerned about not having a big playmaker like Pacman Jones patrolling the field.
“You look at your leading tackler was your corner and that’s really rare in itself,” Rodriguez said. “After watching last year’s film he made a lot of plays where if he didn’t make them nobody else was in a position to make them. He was chasing guys down from the backside.
“You’re losing a big-play guy there and at linebacker you’re losing two starters so obviously that’s a concern. But I have a lot less question marks as far as who we’re going to play defensively than offensively.”
Rodriguez also has some big concerns about his kicking game. Andy Good quit during the spring and injuries forced the Mountaineers to forego the kicking game completely in the last couple weeks of spring drills.
“We usually do a lot more field-goal kicking in the spring,” Rodriguez said. “Without any kickers and the only one we have being a walk-on who was hurt we couldn’t do any of that at all the last two weeks. That was a little bit of a difference for us and something we have to make up in August.”
Rodriguez signed a pair of kickers and will immediately give them a very close look when they arrive in the fall.
“Once they get their timing down we’ll try and create as much of a pressure environment as we can,” he said. “We’ll put the kickers out there and if they don’t make them we’ll run a little bit more or less depending on that.
“But it’s still different until you get into a game and you’ve got a big crowd out there. If they’ve got the ability and we think they do and they’re confident then they’ll go out there and get it done.”
The coach has become more satisfied with the performance of his punter Phil Brady, who struggled at times last year with his consistency.
“I thought Phil really made some strides,” said Rodriguez. “He’s still got to be a little more consistent but he was more consistent this spring than he was in the fall. He’s a competitive guy. We signed another punter to come in to battle Phil but he’s not one to give it up easily and he’s working his tail off. That’s going to be a fun competition to watch.”
Just how competitive some of these position battles are in the fall will go a long way in determining West Virginia’s fate in its season opener at Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Sept. 4. Rodriguez knows the Dome will be a tough place to break in a new quarterback against a team with a brand new coaching staff.
“At home everybody has an advantage because of your home crowd but there I think it’s different because for the new guys the lighting is different, the atmosphere is a little different and it’s a different place to play,” Rodriguez said. “More difficult for us is our summer preparation for our first couple of opponents is critical and we’re not really sure what they’re going to do. You try and guess because their head coach came from here and their coordinators came from here, but until you actually see them in a game it’s hard to really prepare for what they’re going to do.”
The coach says the game being nationally televised and the conference opener will provide extra motivation for his team to perform well.
“We’ve just got to go up there and be able to make adjustments quickly and calm our nerves,” he said. “The noise in there is always pretty tough to hand so we’ve got to do a really good job of preparing our guys.”
