Football: WVU Coach Bill Stewart Quotes
October 13, 2009 04:54 PM | General
By MSNsportsNET.com
October 13, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.- West Virginia University football coach Bill Stewart quotes from Tuesday's News Conference.
Opening statements
I want to talk about a very tough win up at Syracuse. I hope all of our players, and I know the staff and the fans know, how difficult it was to win up there. That was a very neat time to be there with Ernie Davis Field being dedicated and it was good that we came out with a win. It was a very nice win for our football program.
We came out relatively injury free. We had a bump here and there, but it’s not bad.
We had a good flight home and a good practice on Sunday, now it is time to begin preparations for Marshall. The Thundering Herd are a difficult challenge, as is every game and it is going to be opportunity No. 6. It is a non-conference game, but it is a game of great importance and of much value.
As many people know, I coached there very proudly under coach Sunny Randall and I have found memories of Marshall, Huntington, W.Va, and all of their people.
This should be a game that is for the Friends of Coal and for state pride.
On Scooter Berry
We feel that his progression is going anywhere from adequate to okay, not great, not good, but still ok. Our medical folks are on top of that situation as well as others. Scooter did ok (in the Syracuse win). He didn’t do anything extraordinaire as he can do or has done, but he didn’t go out and stand like a one-armed man which was good to see. What we are going to do is continue to watch his development over the next couple of weeks.
On discovering players because of injury
That is the only blessing it has to it, I would like to keep him in the lineup. The fact remains, the game goes on. We have a saying in this program that you pick up the saber and march on. You replace the fallen one at that moment and we have had some young men step up and play well.
I would like to see Josh Taylor get an interception a game that would be nice. He has come on well this season.
I think Chris Neild has had the banner year. Of all the interior defensive linemen, he is having an all-star year. Julian Miller has stepped up, and then as guys roll in there, Larry Ford and J.B. Lagemen have stepped up.
On Marshall’s halfback
I have been watching the film for a long time and Darius Marshal has it. He runs and plays hard. I watched the kickoff return and last year he ran up and down the field on us. It looked like he was running sprints at a track meet. This year he has done the same thing. When he doesn’t have the ball, he blocks. He is a great football player. We will have our hands full with No. 5 Darius Marshall.
On Will Johnson
By the end of January, Will Johnson bought into the plan that to play in this offense on this team you have to be bigger, faster and stronger. He outgrew his wide receiver position that he played in high school. I don’t know that he was ready to be a tight end last season, but we played with what we had. He and Tyler Urban were young guys that had never played one snap as a college tight end. He has grown leaps and bounds since last year and he has a very fine future ahead of him.
On the true freshmen
Shawne Alston will play. He is on special teams as a true freshman. Pat Miller is on defense. He has played and done a good job. Tavon Austin has played and he also has done a really good job. Those freshmen that we think can contribute, we will use and those who we don’t think are ready, we will hold them as long as we can until we have to step up and put them in the batter’s box.
On the WVU tight ends
We are blessed to have two good athletes as tight ends (Tyler Urban and Will Johnson). You also throw Ryan Clarke in there, who has been a fullback, H-back and tight end on the backside in practice. You take a guy like Ryan Clarke, like we did Owen Schmitt, line him up at tight end and line him up in the backfield – that is the one he scored on the other day with the belly option.
We used two tight ends a little bit with Owen Schmitt and Mike Villagrana. I like tight ends, I like the H-back position and I like the big guys because what it does is confuse the defense.
On Marshall’s tight ends
I think they (Cody Slate and Lee Smith) are really good. Cody is a big tall guy and he is an athlete who presents miss-matches. When you get a guy like that on a corner, he doesn’t necessarily have to out-jump him, he just has to put a body on him. They are very tough to defend.
On the importance of this game
The Mountaineers know the importance of this game. It is all about state pride and the state program; their program and our program.
On Geno Smith
I really liked what I saw last week. It was my call to put him in the game. We had a couple of three and outs, but that wasn’t his fault. He had a couple of reads and he threw well. I wanted him to get a quarter under his belt and I would like to do that more. He may have to play, I hope he never has to because of injury, but just in case, he needed to get some experience.
On the Blue Sweater Vest
It was the Gold Rush and I thought it was special. I wanted to wear a gold shirt. I felt like if we asked the fans, so why not me? I would wear a gold shirt, but I didn’t want us all to look like mustard seeds on the sideline. I thought if I had the shirt on people would think I was just wearing an oxford, so I put on the Nike sweater vest.
Now I don’t want to break the moxie. Every Friday when we have the study with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes guys, Lonnie Galloway makes us all sit in the exact same seats and that is a moxie. I guess I will wear the sweater vest for a while, hopefully a long, long time.
On scheduling
That is being handled by my superiors who know a lot more about that than me. I do know the reasons why we ask for some situations, is because we don’t have but seven other BIG EAST teams, we need seven home games.
On Owen Schmitt
That was an emotional display of, “I am ready to go.” That is Owen. The only other time I saw him do that, is when we ran that surprise punt and he hit the ball off the side of his foot – that was a temper tantrum. That was Owen, I think it is awesome and I think more players should play with his intensity. He loves the game.
On Mark Snyder
Mark Snyder is a tremendous coach, a great guy and he is doing a heck of job. He also has a tremendous staff with John Shannon, Rick Minter and Phil Ratliff, they are all Marshall guys. Staff continuity has helped him.
On the running back match up
They are both (Noel Devine and Darius Marshall) are tremendous competitors and from what I hear Marshall is a good team-man like our No. 7. Young men grow and mature as they stay in the program, so if Marshall is the same as Devine, then that is why he is doing so well. They have talent and they will make plays. This is a very close matchup.
On Chris Neild
I can only tell you that Chris Neild is playing like you should play the game. He is having fun, he is leading and he is playing hard. At East Carolina he almost had his jersey ripped off. He is relentless in his effort. Ask the players what makes No. 90 tick. We are so blessed to have Chris Neild on our team.
On Sidney Glover
Sidney Glover and I have a very good relationship. I am boss and he is employee. I am glad he is doing as well as he is doing. Not to give any special favors from the coaches, but he has been coming in more than anyone this season. That tells me that he wants to get good and he is making up for some lost time.
