Hold the Line
April 10, 2008 10:32 AM | General
April 10, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – By nature, West Virginia University offensive line coach Dave Johnson is even-keeled and soft-spoken. On the football field he’s more professor than drill sergeant. Of course he really doesn’t have to raise his voice that often this spring with the depth he has inherited at offensive line.
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| Offensive line coach Dave Johnson hopes to have at least 10 players ready by this fall to play the five offensive line spots.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The past three or four years West Virginia has recruited the five offensive line positions extremely well and it shows with Johnson having nine returning lettermen and four promising youngsters to work with. Two starters - center Mike Dent and left guard Greg Isdaner - are out this spring and the unit really hasn’t missed a beat. That’s a pretty good indication of what Johnson is working with.
“I’d like to have about 15 that I can have ready. It just depends on what you have and who is ready,” Johnson said after Wednesday’s practice. “I’ve been places where I’ve only had seven. You want to have as many as possible. I don’t think you put a number on it. You try to get 10 ready and have a good, quality backup at each position but that’s unrealistic at times.”
It may not be unrealistic this fall.
Working with the first group this spring has been three-year starter Ryan Stanchek at left tackle, senior John Bradshaw at left guard in place of Isdaner, sophomore Eric Jobe in place of Dent at center, Jake Figner and Eric Rodemoyer at right guard and Stephen Maw and Selvish Capers at right tackle.
With the exception of Jobe, the remaining six have significant playing experience and Johnson has also been impressed with the way Jobe has handled himself at center this spring.
“He’s doing well. I’m real pleased with him,” Johnson said. “Everybody acts so surprised that he’s doing so well. I don’t know the past history but I just see a guy that everyday has a great attitude, comes to work, is very attentive in meetings, asks great questions so I’m real pleased with him. I think he’s a guy that will get some quality work and be ready to go.”
Johnson said Capers and Maw will continue to battle it out at right tackle. Capers is a converted tight end who eventually earned the starting job midway through last season. And Maw was a surprise starter in the Fiesta Bowl where he played brilliantly.
“Right now they are getting equal reps at this point,” Johnson said. “They both have good points and bad points so we’re just trying to work through that and trying to let them compete and see how it ends up.”
Johnson admits Maw, a former Eric Community College transfer, has a different outlook now after the way he played in the bowl game.
“Confidence is such a big part of the game,” Johnson said. “With confidence you can play a little bit faster. His approach to the game is probably a lot different than it was a year ago probably because of his experience in the bowl game. It’s nice that you have guys that have gone through those battles and have experience to draw from.”
Because the former coaching staff recruited so many interchangeable players, Johnson says the veteran players will continue to be required to learn more than one position.
“For the younger guys it might be difficult but for the guys that have been around it shouldn’t be that difficult,” Johnson said. “They should be able to learn the tackle on both sides or the guard-tackle on their side. If I’m a center I should know one of the guards. We’ll have guys cross-train to do that.”
Johnson likes what he’s seen so far from some of the younger players, too, like Donny Barclay and Gino Gradkowski, who is working behind Jobe at center.
“Gino’s doing well. He’s getting a lot of reps – a lot more than he probably thought he would get during the course of the spring,” Johnson said. “We’re still working on some things with him but he’s a young guy, he’s had to learn new communication, and I’m going to emphasize some different things that they haven’t emphasized here before and he’s doing fine - I’m pleased with his progress.”
This fall Johnson will also be able to add Isdaner, Dent and guard Derek Hayes to the equation.
“Those guys have great reputations and watching the film from last year fundamentally I am real excited to work with them,” Johnson said. “We’ll have that opportunity. We need to get them healthy first. We want to make sure that they are ready to go and squared away for training camp and then we can have a productive training camp.”
West Virginia added four quality prospects during the February signing period, including Parade All-America offensive guard Josh Jenkins from Parkersburg. It’s a group the ex-Georgia Bulldog coach is anxious to mold.
“We still have some questions and they may not be answered until the fall,” Johnson said. “We think we have some quality players and we think we have some quality players coming in here in August.”
Briefly:
“Old professors come by, old teammates have come by – old players that I used to coach when I was at other places that live in Western pa and even here in West Virginia so it’s been real exciting to me,” Johnson said. “My family is here so it’s been great to come back home and see so many familiar faces.”
Johnson had hip replacement surgery in January right after he agreed to return to WVU and is already moving around pretty well on the football field.
“The hip is fine,” Johnson said. “It’s doing well. They say I have a thirty year guarantee.”
“The biggest thing schematically is blocking our defense. It’s a tough scheme - it’s tough to communicate what’s going on with those types of things with our defense,” Johnson said. “With what we’re trying to do sometimes you end up teaching kind of the exceptions to the rules rather than the rules themselves but we’re doing OK.”
Consequently, the team had a 6 am conditioning session with the head coach this morning.
Those who think Stewart is a soft as a pillow are finding out that when you push into that pillow too hard you find a steel bar right down the middle.
