Spring Ball Underway
March 21, 2006 01:00 PM | General
March 21, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is looking for improvement from his young football team during spring football drills now underway. The Mountaineers had their first workout of the spring Monday afternoon inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez watches a drill during Monday's spring football practice at Milan Puskar Stadium.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I’m anxious to see how much better our guys can get,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody we played had young teams so you know they are going to get better.”
Rodriguez plans to pay close attention to quarterback Pat White, whose freshman season saw him lead the Mountaineers to their first major bowl victory in school history over Georgia in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
White, a 6-foot-2-inch, 185-pound sophomore from Daphne, Ala., made major strides last year but still has a lot to improve upon, according to Rodriguez.
“Understanding how people are defending us and how to attack them – not just in the throwing game but also in the running game,” Rodriguez said. “Teams are going to disguise how they defend us and he can improve on that.”
Rodriguez is also looking for a more vocal and assertive White on the field this spring and fall.
“He really started to have confidence last year,” Rodriguez said. “Pat is a quieter guy off the field, but on it he’s a little more vocal.
“He’s got all the tools. We’ve got some things we’re going to experiment with offensively to try and gear it around the talents of our players,” Rodriguez said.
Unlike previous successful Rodriguez quarterbacks Shaun King, Woody Dantzler and Rasheed Marshall White is the first of the group Rodriguez recruited himself.
“Those guys were already there,” Rodriguez said. “Shaun had to learn quickly because he was a senior. He was ahead of anyone I had ever had except for Jed Drenning as far as the mental aspect, the defenses, the route packages, coverages and all that. Woody was just a great feel-guy for running the football.
“Pat is probably ahead of Woody as far as understanding the offense and the passing game, and he has a feel like Woody did for running the ball.”
Because White had some eye opening rushing numbers, producing consecutive 100-yard games against Pitt and South Florida and finishing the year with 952 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground, Rodriguez is certain defenses are going to key on his young quarterback this year.
“They’re going to load the box and play cover zero and see if Pat can beat them,” Rodriguez said. “Can we execute the passing game to score points? We’ve got to work really hard at that,” Rodriguez said.
Briefly:
“It could or could not be permanent,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll see how it goes. Obviously we lost a lot of secondary guys and we think he’s a pretty good athlete. He wanted to try there so we’ll give him a try.”
“We’re pretty excited about him,” Rodriguez said. “The learning curve is going to be steep for him because we’re going to throw him into the mix right from the start.”
Best is said to have breakaway speed similar to starter Steve Slaton.
Rodriguez said backup quarterback Adam Bednarik may be sidelined. The WVU training staff is still concerned about his throwing shoulder.
“We thought his shoulder was fixed last year,” Rodriguez said. “He played with some pain this past season and it’s still bothering him. Right now his situation for this spring and next fall is up in the air. We’re consulting our trainers and doctors on that.
“He may need additional surgery and that’s a concern,” Rodriguez said. “It could be six to seven months which could put him out for the season.”
Rodriguez said the practice reps that normally would go to Bednarik will now be transferred to redshirt freshmen quarterbacks Nate Sowers, Jarrett Brown and T.J. Mitchell.
“Those guys we need to take a good look at,” Rodriguez said. “You’ve got a guy like Nate Sowers and the defensive guys want him right now. He’s talented enough to play quarterback so we’re going to take a really good look at him in the next couple of weeks.”
“If you’ve had success like last year you’ve got to stay humble; people tend to build them up in the media and around campus,” Rodriguez said. “The biggest thing I’ve preached to them is to stay hungry. It doesn’t matter how much success you had in the past, you better be able to prove yourself all the time.
“The great teams – the teams that are consistently in the top 10 – they deal with (great expectations) every year,” Rodriguez said. “For us, it should be a part of your program dealing with high expectations. If our guys don’t expect to win the Big East and that’s not their first goal then they’re in the wrong program.”
