Prying Eyes
March 26, 2006 02:59 PM | General
March 26, 2006
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| Andrews | Goulbourne |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez’s prying eyes have locked in on a couple of promising redshirt freshmen this spring in safety Quinton Andrews and linebacker Ovid Goulbourne.
Rodriguez was tempted to use Andrews last year but chose instead to have him spend his first year in the program as a redshirt so he could better learn the defensive system. Andrews was a first team all-state and all-Dade County selection at Monsignor Pace High School who received considerable recruiting interest.
The same goes for Goulbourne, a productive running back-turned-linebacker from Easton Area High School.
“Quinton Andrews is starting to catch my eye at safety. He’s a redshirt freshman and he has done some good things,” Rodriguez said. “Ovid Goulbourne has done some good things for us at linebacker. The veterans – the (Steve) Slatons and the (Pat) Whites – we expect things out of them. But the guys that haven’t played before … we’re really looking hard at them and there are a couple of them that are going to be able to play this year.”
Charles Pugh, who saw action last year as a true freshman on special teams, has also been getting a lot of work at corner in place of Antonio Lewis, who is nursing a minor foot injury.
“We expect Antonio back in there soon,” Rodriguez said.
The coach admits that even though he’s got the vast majority of his players returning, he’s still got to take things slowly until some of the younger players can get a better grasp of the system.
“The mental mistakes kind of drive you crazy but when you look at them it’s mostly freshmen doing it and we’ve just got to be patient with them,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately we want to go at a faster pace because we want the guys that have a little bit of playing experience to continue to progress.”
Rodriguez expects to have inexperienced players behind tailbacks Steve Slaton and Jason Colson this year as well.
“What I see is a separation (between Slaton and the rest) from learning what we can do,” Rodriguez said. “Owen Schmitt can play tailback but Jetavious Best is a guy that we’re excited about and we think can do some pretty good things.
“And then Ed Collington (sitting out) is coming in the fall and there may be another freshman, but we’ve got to get some depth there,” Rodriguez said. “If Jason Colson is healthy he brings us a guy there and Jeremy Bruce will play both tailback and slot receiver. The spring is a time for us to experiment with that a little bit.”
Experimentation is also taking place at quarterback, where freshmen Jarrett Brown, Nate Sowers and T.J. Mitchell are getting the majority of the reps behind starter Pat White. Last year’s co-starter Adam Bednarik has been sidelined with more shoulder problems that have still lingered after having surgery last spring.
Of the three freshmen, Brown is perhaps the intriguing with his great size (6-feet-4 inches), his outstanding arm and terrific straight-ahead speed.
“The biggest thing I like about him is just his raw physical talent,” Rodriguez said of Brown. “The guy is 6-4, he can run and he can throw. He’s just got to learn. If he can learn and not panic mentally, then he’s got a chance to be a great player. He’s got all of the skills and you can obviously see it every day in practice.”
Having White already in place means Rodriguez doesn’t have to force feed the offense to Brown or the others this spring.
“What is nice is if Adam Bednarik is OK then we’ve got two starting quarterbacks again and one of those freshmen can emerge as a third guy that can challenge them,” he said. “Even though Pat and Adam have both proven themselves, we want true competition and those young guys are talented enough to give us that.”
Briefly:
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| Rodriguez |
“This is great,” he said Friday. “We would never go in here with full pads with the old stuff. I probably should have gone outside (Friday) but I knew it was going to be dark before we ended and the temperature would have dropped about 20 degrees. I wanted them focused on practicing and not the weather. Sometimes that happens and even though you tell them not to they focus on the conditions.”
The coach says his team can get a decent scrimmage in the indoor building.
“The only problem is it is only 70 yards so you can’t go full, but by dropping the nets on the side it’s as safe as or safer than the game field,” he said.
The indoor facility opened in 1998.
Coach Rod said Saturday’s scrimmage was more situational with a lot of third-down and red-zone work.
“It’s just to get our guys accustomed to looking at the chains and what do they need to do to get a first down and the execution part,” he said.
“Because of our shortage at corner we’re probably going to leave him there,” he said. “Vaughn is a really intelligent player so if it comes to the fall and we need to use him a little bit at wide out we can do that.”
Rivers is also valuable to the team as a punt and kickoff returner.
“I like the way they’re working,” Rodriguez said. “John Bradshaw has played a little bit and Jake Figner hasn’t but I think they’re going to be able to help us. Those two guys are pretty athletic and then Damien Crissey has some experience.
“It’s our biggest concern up front simply because we’re going to have a starter there that has never started before,” Rodriguez said. “I think we have the talent, it’s just a matter of those guys learning the fundamentals better.”
After taking Sunday off, the team resumes practice on Monday.
