Back to Work
December 26, 2006 03:34 PM | General
December 26, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez expects his team to shake off any rust it may have acquired during the four days off for Christmas break. The Mountaineers resumed practice Tuesday morning at the University of North Florida in preparation for their game against Georgia Tech in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl.
 |
||
| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez gives instruction during Tuesday morning's practice at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“We’re trying to get them back into a rhythm a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “I like what we were doing practice wise before we left. We’ve got to shake some of the rust off from the last couple of days.”
The coach plans on having a couple of physical practices before tapering off as the week goes on.
“We’ve got to get back into playing football again,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve got to have two real physical, tough practices today and tomorrow and then we will gear down on the hitting a little bit and just try and get our timing down.”
Rodriguez said senior defensive tackle Craig Wilson and senior wide receiver Rayshawn Bolden are questionable for next Monday’s game with injuries.
“Ray has got a wrist problem. We will re-X-ray it again today to find out more about that situation. Craig has got an ankle problem that bothered him in the last game and he’s still hobbling around,” Rodriguez said. “It’s going to be three or four days before we know anything on him.”
Running back Steve Slaton wore a no-contact green jersey for a thigh bruise suffered in practice before the break. However, the sophomore is expected to be OK for the game.
“He will be a little bit better each day,” Rodriguez said. “We will limit his reps a little bit in practice but he should be fine by game day.”
Following today’s practice, the team is scheduled to go to the Gator Bowl team welcome party at Dave & Busters later this afternoon.
Briefly:
“The only problem we had travel-wise was the two guys coming out of Miami who had a flight canceled,” Rodriguez said. “They will be here this afternoon.”
“You’re going to have a completely different team with 25 seniors leaving and 25 new ones coming in. Every year is a new year,” Rodriguez said. “We heard a little bit of that last year at the Sugar Bowl, ‘Boy that was a great year but next year should be better.’
“I think there are so many variables that can happen with injuries, chemistry and luck that every year takes on its own personality,” Rodriguez said. “This isn’t the beginning of next year but the end of this past year.”
“I don’t think they are going to change their system from what they did with their backup quarterback last year against UConn,” Rodriguez said. “They are still going to throw to the Johnson guys and they are still going to run it with (Tashard) Choice. They’ve got enough weapons that missing Reggie Ball may hurt from an experience standpoint but I don’t think it will hurt them from a productivity standpoint.”
Ball may have been more mobile than backup Taylor Bennett but is not a true running quarterback like Pat White.
“Where as Pat looks to run and we have a run game built around him I think Reggie has made some plays with his feet I don’t think they look to do that with him as much as they do Pat,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez isn’t sure which is better: playing an established starter with a lot of tape to study or an inexperienced quarterback with little tape to go on.
“I guess it depends on how they play,” he said. “When (Ball) was really on he was really on and then he’s had some games where he wasn’t as consistent as they would like. But they’ve got good coaches and a lot of talent around them.”
“Our ticket situation looks better than we thought because West Virginia's fans have performed as usual in buying tickets,” Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett said. “It's what every bowl game that invites West Virginia has come to expect. Their fans appear to be very enthusiastic about this game, and we're getting reports that the hotel rooms are going to fill up.”
According to Catlett, a “few thousand tickets” remain for next Monday’s game at 73,000-seat Alltel Stadium. About 60,000 attended last year’s Toyota Gator Bowl that featured Virginia Tech and Louisville.
