Open Mind
July 28, 2005 02:56 PM | General
July 28, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is going into fall camp with an open mind on who his starting quarterback will be. That means there will be a spirited competition to determine who gets the job when practices begin on Saturday, Aug. 6.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez says he's in no hurry to name his starting quarterback for the season opener against Syracuse on Sunday, Sept. 4.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Rodriguez said Thursday that sophomore Adam Bednarik and freshman JR House, both recovering from shoulder surgeries, should be ready to go for the start of camp.
“I think we’re back to where we feel pretty confident they’ll all be 100 percent when practice starts,” he said. “Adam says his shoulder feels better. I talked to JR and he’s been throwing without any pain. I’m not sure they will have their arm strength back at 100 percent and that’s simply because you have to build up to that. As far as them being fully released and ready to go for practice all indications we have is that they will be ready to go by the 6th.”
Bednarik, House and freshman Pat White are among a group of seven players in camp vying for the job. White came on last spring and had an impressive performance in the Gold-Blue spring game. Sophomore Dwayne Thompson, who played some wide receiver last year, will also be in the mix when camp opens, according to Rodriguez.
“He deserves and will get a shot at quarterback but we’ve got to make a determination at least after the first few days who our top three guys look like they’re going to be at least for this fall. And then see if these other guys have the ability to help us at receiver or another position,” he said.
Rodriguez is conscious of the fact that he has to walk a fine line between giving all of the candidates a fair shot at the job while at the same time also getting his team prepared for its season-opener against Syracuse.
“There are some different philosophies,” he explained. “Some coaches want to name (the starter) early before summer and all that. Obviously by game week we’ve got to have a guy but I think it is more important that we pick the guys that are going to get the majority of the reps. The first three guys, and particularly the first two, have got to get the majority of the reps.
“You can’t give seven guys reps in preparation for a game.”
All seven quarterbacks in camp have their strengths and weaknesses, but perhaps the most intriguing one is House, a former state player of the year who has spent the last six years playing professional baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. House, 25, is the oldest player on WVU's roster.
Even though he has not thrown a football in a game since 1998, Rodriguez can envision a scenario where House could be the team’s starter against Syracuse.
“It’s so wide open and he’s mature enough and intelligent enough that he can learn quickly,” Rodriguez said. “The biggest thing with J.R. is how will his shoulder hold up through camp and will be able to get the arm strength back he had before the surgery? I think those are the biggest question marks … and just shaking off the rust after seven years. How quickly does he shake the rust off and get back into the football mode?”
“We’ll probably know that in about a week.”
House has been in Morgantown all summer enrolled in classes and participating in unsupervised workouts with the rest of the quarterbacks.
“He’s been throwing just about every day,” said Rodriguez. “The first part of the summer he was limited because he was doing rehab. He says he’s been out there the last month or so throwing seven-on-sevens with them and learning some of the stuff. The nice part of the summer is those guys can learn on their own just by hanging around each other and organizing their own workouts.”
The coach even hinted that there is possibility that more than one quarterback could see action against Syracuse. West Virginia, unlike schools such as Miami and Florida that have similar-type quarterbacks in their programs, the Mountaineers have a potpourri of quarterbacks consisting of athletes, pass-run specialists and drop-back passers.
That means the coaching staff may have to tweak their system a little based on who wins the job. Rodriguez explains.
“There are different styles for each quarterback. Whoever the top quarterbacks are … what they do well will be what our offense is geared around,” he said. “We have enough flexibility and we’re going to have enough flexibility in August to gear it that way.”
Rodriguez believes all of the quarterbacks will have to be hit a little bit during training camp. That means live scrimmages and a head coach who will be holding his breath a little bit more.
“There will be a quick whistle but I think we’ve got to go some live because sometimes it’s not fair to them if they are not live,” he said. “I don’t know if we can get a guy ready if we don’t do some live with the quarterbacks. If a guy is coming free and he’s got a big shot on him we’ll blow the whistle or tell them to hold up.”
Briefly:
“Three of the four guys got over a 3.0 grade point average this year,” Rodriguez said.
Barrett, a former prep All-American wide receiver from Martinsburg, is expected to be in camp this fall as an invited walk-on. Rodriguez said he could earn a scholarship by the end of the semester.
“We have some real concerns whether he’s going to bounce back or not,” said Rodriguez. “He wants to try and give it a shot but right now Erick, the coaches and trainers are all kind of waiting to see how his knee recovers from the latest scope.
“It’s really a shame because we know he can play here and can be an asset to our team, but we don’t want him out there if he can’t play at 100 percent.”
“And I have so many young guys that could potentially be in the mix that we’ve got to teach a lot,” he said.
