Spring Preview
March 02, 2007 10:02 AM | General
March 2, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Now that Rich Rodriguez has completed his coaching staff with the hiring of wide receivers coach Tony Dews, the seventh-year West Virginia mentor can now turn his full attention to spring football drills set to begin on Monday.
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| Coach Rich Rodriguez holds up the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl championship trophy after his Mountaineers produced a 38-35 come-from-behind victory over Georgia Tech.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“The first thing that we’re going to do is see if some of the guys that were either redshirted last year or had limited roles are going to be able to contribute more next fall,” Rodriguez said Thursday afternoon. “Have they gotten better as players? Do they understand what we’re doing?
“The second part is to get our returning players better – better at what we’re doing, better at what they’re doing individually and working some techniques and fundamentals.”
Rodriguez said there will be some minor tweaking this spring, both with schemes and personnel.
“We’re not going to do a whole lot of experimentation but it is a time to try out a new play or two on offense,” he said. “Try out a few new things defensively and we’ll probably do more special teams this spring than we have in the past because of some of the rule changes.
“I won’t divulge a whole lot about what we’re doing scheme wise on both sides of the ball for obvious reasons,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody has some things that you study in the off-season that either you think you can do better or somebody else did a good job that can help you. For us, it’s not going to be a major overhaul in any phase.”
Players working at new positions this spring include Selvish Capers and Greg Davis. Capers will move from tight end to offensive tackle and Davis is going to get a look at safety.
“(Selvish) has been physically at the tackle position weight wise and size wise and I think he’s receptive to at least taking a look at that this spring. In the secondary, Greg Davis is going to work some at safety,” Rodriguez said. “Some of the linebackers will move around. We may take a linebacker or two and put his hand down and have him be a D-end.”
Backup quarterback Nate Sowers is one of the team’s top four wide receivers, according to Rodriguez.
“Nate Sowers is a guy who will be playing multiple positions on offense,” Rodriguez said. “He will play probably several receiver positions and he will still take some reps at quarterback.”
Running backs Eddie Davis and Jetavious Best will also get work at slot receiver, and fullback Owen Schmitt will line up at tight end in some new formations.
“Some of those things we haven’t done with those guys and we’re going to do them this spring,” Rodriguez said.
The coach also mentioned that sophomore quarterback Jarrett Brown is going to take more reps with the first group this spring.
“Pat White will take normal reps but Jarrett Brown will take reps with the first team, too, because Jarrett has proven himself,” Rodriguez said. “We know we’ve got two quarterbacks that I think are good enough to win with. And Nate is right there behind them.”
All-American running back Steve Slaton is recovering nicely from off-season wrist surgery and has been running and lifting weights, although he will be held out of full contact situations this spring.
“Steve won’t do the full-contact things because he’s got a pin in his wrist, but a lot of the passing and non-contact parts Steve will do all of that,” Rodriguez said. “He’s doing the running now and most of the lifting, too, in kind of a modified thing. Hopefully the surgery took well; he seems to be happy with it. We think by May he should be full-go as far as lifting and working with that hand.”
Several other players will either be limited or out this spring. Offensive linemen Frank Carduff (knee surgery) and Greg Isdaner (shoulder surgery) are out, and redshirt freshman tackle Jake Miller could be out with a hernia.
Linebacker Marc Magro (knee surgery) won’t be available and sophomore wide receiver Darren Brownlee will be limited while recovering from wrist surgery.
It is also unknown if Adam Bednarik will be cleared to participate this spring. The junior is scheduled to see the doctor today about his ailing shoulder.
“If Adam is back at full strength that gives us three quarterbacks that have started a game for us and we know we can win with. (Quarterbacks coach) Rod Smith ought to be the happiest coach on the staff,” Rodriguez said. “If Adam can’t throw we’ll put him at another position because he’s one of the better athletes on the team. He’s kind of like Nate Sowers, though maybe not quite as fast.”
Many are again predicting a Top 5 finish for the Mountaineers. One college football expert has already got West Virginia facing USC in the 2008 national championship game. Rodriguez says his players are getting used to the hype.
“Hopefully that’s not big news,” he said. “It’s not big news at Florida, Texas and USC. I almost sense that it’s not that big of a deal being projected to finish high. I don’t sense it amongst the players.
“There is a certain level of commitment that we have to make and I have sensed it so far. Guys are not getting a big head or getting caught up in that.
“I’m excited for our fans and I hope that they are excited,” Rodriguez said. “I expect we will sell out in season tickets again and I expect us to break our attendance records and everybody will be excited about West Virginia football. But were 0-0 and we haven’t gotten a first down yet or stopped anybody.”
Spring practice has been moved up two weeks this year to give construction crews enough time to install the new turf. Construction is also taking place in the north end zone where more Touchdown Terrace seats are being installed.
Rodriguez is particularly excited about the new FieldTurf surface.
“In my opinion the single best invention in football in the last 50 years is this rubber infield product to play and practice on,” Rodriguez said. “If they did a survey of how many injuries has been prevented from playing on that surface compared to the old AstroTurf or the muddy grass fields it’s phenomenal.
“We wanted to get this done for our June football camps.”
