Thursday Update
December 25, 2008 07:51 PM | General
December 25, 2008
CHARLOTTE - West Virginia offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen believes the key to success on Saturday against North Carolina in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl will be how well West Virginia’s interior offensive linemen can handle North Carolina’s physical front four.
 |
||
| West Virginia Quarterback Pat White gets loose before Thursday's practice at Country Day School in Charlotte.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Tar Heels will have a pair of 300 pounders lined up over the guards in junior Cam Thomas and sophomore Marvin Austin.
“They’ve got two really good inside football players over our guards,” Mullen said Thursday. “Up the gut they are a really strong football team.”
That strength in the middle stretches all the way back to the secondary where senior strong safety Trimane Goddard is an all-ACC pick. Free safety Deunta Williams is only a sophomore but his size (205 pounds) and playmaking ability has also caught the eye of West Virginia coaches.
“The two safeties are NFL type guys,” Mullen said.
North Carolina employs a tradition 4-3 defense so the Mountaineers are not preparing for a lot of exotic looks. Mullen said it’s more a matter of dealing with some outstanding personnel.
“I don’t think schematically they are anything different than what we’ve seen all year long,” Mullen said.
Offensive line coach Dave Johnson said the Tar Heels can usually get pressure on the quarterback without blitzing, which is obviously a concern.
“They’re a base four-man front which is a front that gives you some problems inside,” Johnson said. “They’re big. They get great movement but I wouldn’t characterize them as a blitz team but they will bring some pressure whenever they think they can get to you.”
On Saturday North Carolina will be without second-leading tackler Mark Paschal, whose career is over after suffering a spinal chord injury during the N.C. State loss. Replacing Paschal in the middle is senior Chase Rice, who had 10 tackles in the Duke win.
Sophomore Quan Sturdivant is the team’s leading tackler with 111 stops that includes a career-high 13 tackles against Duke.
North Carolina’s secondary is ranked eighth in the country in interceptions with 19. Seven of those picks have come from Goddard, who leads the country.
“We’re going to have to play well and we’re going to have to play hard,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a four-quarter battle and we’re looking forward to it.”
Briefly:
“He’s done a nice job. He’s not Mike Dent yet but he’s working hard and he’s got a great attitude,” Johnson said. “Mike to his credit is even helping Eric a lot, giving him a lot of pointers. I have to look at the whole line so Mike just focuses on him and helps him make adjustments even on game day.”
“It’s tremendous,” Johnson said. “It’s one of the biggest benefits of going to a bowl is the time you have to get guys fundamentally sound and to continue to work on things, particularly us being a new staff.
“This will launch us into having a quicker start in the spring being able to do some things – the terminology. We’ve even done some new drills in the fall and during this time period of preparation that we will use in the spring. They will already be used to it so that will help us as well.”
“Number one, winning this bowl game will help us as far as exposure goes,” Holliday explained. “Anytime you are playing a bowl game and you’re playing over the holiday it helps because of the exposure you get. We’ve got some good kids and now we’ve just got to finish it. We’re in the fourth quarter in recruiting and we’ve got to make sure we finish strong.”
Holliday said the coaching staff is targeting about six-to-eight more prospects to fill up this year’s recruiting class.
“We know who we’re targeting. We’ve just got to make sure we finish strong and get the next six or seven kids to finish up this class.”
The next contact period begins January 4 and that’s when coaches will be back out on the road meeting in person with prospects.
“What happens during the dead period is they limit the number of calls and of course you can’t be on the road to see them,” Holliday said. “You’ve got to make sure you use that one call wisely and of course at this point you’ve got great relationships established with those kids so they should be calling us, which they do.”
