Back to Work
December 27, 2009 03:52 PM | General
December 27, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – West Virginia got back to work early Sunday afternoon in preparation for this Friday’s Konica Minolta Gator Bowl game against Florida State in Jacksonville, Fla.
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| Bill Stewart observes practice Sunday afternoon at University of North Florida.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Bill Stewart said before Sunday’s practice that he is anxious to see how his team responds after having a few days off to celebrate Christmas.
“They are bouncing around,” Stewart said. “They know we are here for a reason and I’m sure these guys have their minds focused on the matter at hand.”
With the exception of some weather-related issues in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre area, Stewart said the remainder of the team had little trouble getting to Jacksonville.
“A couple of guys were a little late. They ran into a little bit of weather bit it worked out,” Stewart said.
The team had a 1 ½ hour workout Sunday in helmets and shoulder pads and will have another 1 ½ practice scheduled for Monday. Stewart said his coaches are cognizant of getting in the necessary work in without over-working the players and losing their legs before the bowl game.
In fact, his biggest concern is making sure key players don’t get banged up before the game. That happened once before with quarterback Rasheed Marshall prior to the 2005 game against Florida State.
“We had that happen to us once before when we were down here and got a quarterback nicked up,” Stewart said. “We have to be aggressive. We want to play physical and we want to play fast, but we certainly want to be smart and try and stay on our feet during practice.”
Stewart said part of Sunday’s practice was spent specifically working on third-down situations.
Briefly:
“We’ll just pick up and press on,” Stewart said. “We’ve always done that being an injury or what have you.”
“To go out here for 3-4 hours would be absolutely nonsense to me. They know the job at hand,” Stewart said. “They know what we want to accomplish and then we try to go out there and accomplish the mission of the day and the mission of the day is the things we need to do against Florida State.
“If the practices here are anything like the ones we had at home then that will be fine with me,” he said.
“These young men are sharp and the old Gipper speeches don’t go very far these days,” laughed Stewart. “There will be some emotion but I don’t have to tell these guys. They read the papers, they hear what people are saying and they know my love for Coach Bowden. They know Coach Bowden was a West Virginian and it’s a great ending for him.”
“I recruited Virginia and Maryland for years here at West Virginia when I was an assistant. I know his coaches, I know his area and I know his school system very, very well. We really wanted E.J. Manuel,” Stewart admitted. “I recruited him hard and he committed to Florida State early. He is a great player and he will be even a greater player.
“The Florida State fans will smile when they see this young man play the next three years. That’s how good of a player E.J. Manuel is. He has my attention; he has our defensive coach’s attention, and certainly has our football team’s attention.”
“The big plays we’ve had against us have been by pretty good football players,” he said. “I think back to South Florida. When that guy they’ve got is faster than the guy we’ve got and they throw a perfectly thrown ball I don’t how to coach against that and I don’t know what players should do about that? You just try to bully them up as a corner, bang them a little bit and get him out of rhythm.
“On the other hand, I always worry about big plays but I want our guys to have big plays,” Stewart added. “We’ve challenged all of our guys and I’ve talked to them off to the side, ‘I want you to play your game but in the framework of our offense and defense. Don’t come out too sky high.’”
“When we can go out there and tell people that we’ve been to another January 1st bowl, when you’ve been in the Gator Bowl and playing in this emotional, epic battle against Coach Bowden, it’s colossal,” he said. “I don’t know a high school coach worth a salt that wouldn’t watch this game unless he had to drive his bride and family to his mother-in-law’s for brownie points. I can’t imagine anyone not watching this football game and the players know it.
“That’s why they come to West Virginia University to play in games likes these.”
