Football: West Virginia Coach and Player Quotes
March 24, 2009 07:56 PM | General
March 24, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Coach Bill Stewart and football player quotes following Tuesday afternoon's spring practice
 |
||
| Bill Stewart |
On today’s practice:
It was fun to see the guys come out here today, and it will be a long row to hoe. I saw great enthusiasm, and I thought they flew around and practiced hard. We have a long way to go, and we have a lot of work to do.
I saw some great effort out there, especially the skill guys. I thought the secondary, especially the linebackers, flew around.
On the offense:
Offensively, I saw some good catches by Alric Arnett and Wes Lyons. Jarrett Brown threw some nice balls. Other than that, we didn’t really have a good test of anything else (offensively). We have a long way to go with our offensive line. Hopefully, we’ll have good tight end play again out of Tyler Urban.
On special teams:
It was fun to see the defense do as well as they were doing, and we had a nice day on punting. We started on kickoff, day one, and had a decent start. We want to continue to be where we were in punting, No. 2 in the country, and we’re looking to improve on our kickoff game.
Scott (Kozlowski) has not kicked off in a game since high school. He will punt for us and kickoff for us, much like what Patrick McAfee did for us, but he won’t do the field goal kicking. Jeremy Cash is doing a nice job of snapping the ball and holding.
On Jarrett Brown:
Jarrett Brown is undefeated as a starter. He’s not Patrick White, and he knows that. He brings a lot to the table, and he’s a tremendous competitor. I hope, for his sake and ours, that he has a very fine finish to his career. That would be a nice treat and blessing but that depends on how hard he works and how the ball bounces. Again, this offense has a long way to go. Jarrett has a lot to live up to.
On blitzing:
We have got to get better at blitzing; I’m a blitz guy. If you blitz, then you have to know how to cover, and we’re working on those skills. We’re going to blitz in practice. I think our defense will be up to the challenge, but we have a long way to go.
On Reed Williams:
Did you see No. 47 out there today? Reed Williams is a good football player. He is a born leader, and it oozes from him. What Pat White was to the offense last year, Reed is to the defense. He’s a team leader and does a good job of keeping the defense on task. It’s hard sometimes when you play defense, because you want to fly around. It’s easy to forget your assignment when you’re in the attacking mode. With Reed on the field, that doesn’t happen. It’s a real blessing to have him.
On Coley White:
I thought Coley did a good job running the option today. He needs to pick up his speed of the game – he’s not on the scout team anymore. He has to get the speed of the game and the only way to do that is to get out there in the batter’s box and take a couple swings. That’s going to come.
On Bradley Starks:
Bradley Starks can play. He can throw right now, but we don’t want him to throw right now. We’re going to let him have all of the spring and summer to work on receiving. He’ll pitch and catch now and then. I believe Bradley Starks is going to be a big time receiver.
On Ovid Goulbourne:
He is a special team’s phenom and has the chance to be good. If he can stay healthy, then he has a chance to be special, because he has such great coverage skills. He was a high school tailback, and if we keep him healthy he is going to bring a lot to the table. He’s going to be in a red jersey and will not have any contact this spring.
 |
||
| Reed Williams |
On being a young team:
We had a lot of talent last year, and I think we played well as a team. I think we have an opportunity to be better than we were last year, and that is something that Coach Casteel preaches to us daily, because its not something that is going to be handed to you. He lets us know that you have to work to get where you want to be. Behind him, I think we have a great chance.
Experience is huge especially when you play in front of 65,000 people. When you get out there in front of the crowd, things change, and it’s not just playing in front of the coaches. It’s hard to make split-second decisions, and there is more motion thrown into the offense. It’s not easy so the guys that have seen that are valuable.
On blitzing:
I think we blitz a lot already as linebackers, and I’d like to see us blitz more. We did a great job in the bowl game and in the later part of last season. I think coach really wants to get after them and to do that we have to get our secondary guys used to who they need to cover in what positions and that’s going to take some work. That is what spring ball is for.
 |
||
| Mark Rodgers |
On today’s practice:
I look at spring ball like everyone looks at the first game, like a big game is coming up. This is a great thing for me. In spring ball, you have to practice hard and get better. You have to do the little things right and try to do the best that I can.
 |
||
| Josh Jenkins |
On today’s practice:
It was a long day. It’s always good to be out on the field having fun. Physically I’m 100%. I’m getting ready, dropping weight and getting where they want me to be, and I’m ready to start the season.
On being a young offense:
We are all young, and we have one senior this year. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of bonding to get where we need to be as an offensive line and as an offense all together. There has to be a lot of repetition to get our steps down, our snaps there and all to the right place.
We’re all so young. We have two returners, who are a great leaders but it’s really important that everyone plays together all spring without any injuries.
