Young Guns
August 05, 2007 11:44 PM | General
August 5, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s way too early to proclaim this freshmen class the best that Rich Rodriguez and his coaching staff have lured to Morgantown, but for the second straight day the veteran coach is dropping hints that it could be.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez tries to keep dry during Sunday's practice at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Dale Sparks/All-Pro Photography |
Rodriguez said Sunday evening that some newcomers might wind up playing this season.
“I think we’ve got a handful of young guys that might be able to help us with some of those rookies at the skill positions,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t want to say who or how much until I see them for a few days in camp with their pads on.”
Naturally early opportunities usually present themselves at wide receiver, running back and in the secondary where the learning curve is not quite as extensive. Special teams is another area that doesn’t require significant schooling. Diminutive athletes Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Brandon Hogan appear to be naturals returning both kicks and punts.
“You don’t have to learn as much returning a kick and we have some guys kind of like Devine … Jock Sanders and we’ve got Brandon Hogan,” Rodriguez said. “All three fit that mold of running back/slot receiver that may be able to do something.
“They’re all swimming mentally and they don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going – they’re all kind of running in place right now,” Rodriguez said.
Of the newcomers, Hogan has probably had the most extensive background playing in a spread offense in high school. The Virginia player of the year at quarterback seems to be understanding things pretty quickly so far.
“Brandon seems to pick up our concepts really quick and he’s playing slot receiver,” Rodriguez said. “The other guys are doing a good job, too, but Brandon has kind of stood out.”
Many more high school programs are beginning to adopt the spread offense and Rodriguez says that removes some of the guess work involved in evaluating prep prospects.
“Now you find all kinds of athletic quarterbacks with the spread systems where 10 years ago you wouldn’t find that,” he said. “I think concepts help somewhat, especially at the quarterback position.
“Brandon ran a similar system in high school and a lot of the concepts I think he understands. The higher you go the more technical it gets and we probably make it too technical,” Rodriguez said. “Nonetheless, these two weeks are critical because even though some of those freshmen have (summer) class most of them their focus is strictly on football right now.”
Rodriguez is also interested in seeing how a couple of other wide outs perform when the pads go on next week.
“We’ve got a couple of new receivers that I think can give us some competition and some depth,” Rodriguez said. “Will Johnson, C.J. Matthews and Alric Arnett … those guys are going to have a chance to compete.”
After two days of watching practice, Rodriguez says some of the newcomers at least look the part in shorts.
“This is a big class of freshmen and I think one of the most athletic classes we’ve had,” he admitted. “Does that translate into being a football player? After you go through about a week and a half of pads you’ll find out I think.”
Briefly:
“Also, he had a knee problem that he played with in high school that flared up for him during the summer.”
“I didn’t realize until the other day how young we are, especially offensively,” he said. “We’ve only got 2 or 3 seniors playing. I think Darius (Reynaud) is listed as a senior but he’s not. He can have another year when he graduates. Those guys have at least been in the program and what we ask of them is that they’ve got to bring those young guys along.”
The crash-coursing also includes some transfers that Rodriguez says have a chance of cracking the two-deep this season.
“We’ve got some transfers like Ryan Mundy, Alric Arnett and Archie Sims and we can’t assume that they know what they’re doing because it’s their first year here. We have to have the upperclassmen help them get ready because they can help us,” he explained.
“It’s like a vacation around here,” Rodriguez joked.
Some players will be in summer classes forcing Rodriguez to have the first of the two practices on Thursday real early in the morning.
“It was hard to throw and catch because the ball was so wet but the mental mistakes were probably a little bit better today for the most part,” he said.
The team continues practice Monday afternoon.
