Football Notebook
April 13, 2006 09:34 AM | General
April 13, 2006
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| Rich Rodriguez |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Gold-Blue Spring game scheduled for Saturday at 12:30 pm at Milan Puskar Stadium will give West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez a chance to see which young players can do what with people in the stands.
“All spring the coaches have been behind (the young quarterbacks) to help guide them,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why the spring game is important because the coaches aren’t going to be on the field. They’ve got to manage the game themselves: make the right calls and make the right decisions.”
West Virginia fans traveling to Morgantown will have an opportunity to see backup quarterbacks Jarrett Brown, Nate Sowers and T.J. Mitchell get extended action. All three have done some positive things during the spring.
“You say the spring game is not the most important thing but there is some importance to it because you find some guys that are calm in that situation and some guys panic,” Rodriguez said.
The coach said established players like Steve Slaton, Pat White and Dan Mozes won’t play a great deal, although Mozes may play a little more than the other two simply because of a lack of depth along the offensive line.
The coach expects the scrimmage to last about 100-110 plays and is excited about the prospect of having his program showcased on national television with ESPNU airing the scrimmage on a tape-delayed basis.
“To be one of the 10 or 12 that they put on national TV it gives a chance for some of the recruits and the families that can’t be here a chance to watch this, I think it’s a neat thing for them,” Rodriguez said.
Briefly:
“We saw some good and some bad,” he said. “A lot of the guys that needed work -- I’m talking about the freshmen and the redshirt freshmen -- I think as a whole we improved. I think we found a few guys that can help us win that maybe we redshirted last year. I think our guys are eager to improve.
“What is next is that they have got to have a great summer,” Rodriguez said. “One of the keys last year was our guys had a fabulous summer. When we started practice in August and the coaches saw them for the first time in two months they were ready to go.”
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| Dan Mozes |
“I told the team that I hope they all have individual goals,” Rodriguez said. “There is nothing wrong with individual goals but that usually follows team success and that they’re always going to be a part of something bigger than themselves. When the team has success it usually trickles down to the individual guys getting honors. Dan understands the program and the system enough to keep working hard and try to prove that he deserves that.”
“Other than Mortty Ivy’s knee injury, to this point we’ve come out of the spring OK,” he said. “We had some guys out like Brad Palmer and Ray Bolden and we’ve got nicks and bruises, but everyone has those.”
“Pat has been pretty conscientious this spring,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a happy go lucky guy, but it’s easy to lose your confidence if you miss a couple even in practice. I think the last few practices he’s been a little sharper and has gotten his confidence back.”
