Back to Work
March 24, 2009 09:40 PM | General
March 24, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bill Stewart is expecting considerable growth from his Mountaineer football team this spring. West Virginia began spring workouts in shorts and shoulder pads Tuesday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
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| Quarterback Jarrett Brown throws a pass during Tuesday's practice at Milan Puskar Stadium.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
“It was fun to see the guys come out here today, and it will be a long row to hoe,” Stewart said. “I saw great enthusiasm and I thought they flew around and practiced hard.”
The second-year coach says the offense has considerable ground to cover with several new players in key spots along the offensive line.
“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,” Stewart said.
Stewart made it a point during the middle of practice to work on kickoff coverage. West Virginia ranked near the bottom of the NCAA in kick coverage in 2008.
“We want to continue to be where we were in punting, No. 2 in the country, and we are looking to improve on our kickoff game,” Stewart said.
Last year’s backup punter Scott Kozlowski was asked to perform kickoffs today, and Stewart indicated that Kozlowski may take on dual role this fall much like Pat McAfee did last year.
“Scott has not kicked off in a game since high school,” Stewart said. “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.”
Kozlowski was mildly surprised when Stewart asked him to go out and kick off with the first group today.
“I did a couple of kickoffs for fun and all the sudden Coach Stewart said today that I was No. 1 on kickoff and I said, ‘OK.’ I was a little nervous but it went OK today,” Kozlowski said.
Stewart said the defense will continue to work on blitzing, provided the secondary can handle all of the coverages in the back end.
“We have got to get better at blitzing; I’m a blitz guy,” Stewart said. “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.”
“I’d like to see us blitz more,” added senior linebacker Reed Williams. “We did a great job in the bowl game and in the latter 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.”
The Mountaineers will have another practice in shorts and shoulder pads on Wednesday and the team’s first full-contact workout is scheduled for Saturday.
Briefly:
“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,” said Stewart. “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.”
“We had a lot of talent last year, and I think we played well as a team,” Williams said. “I think we have an opportunity to be better than we were last year, and that is something that Coach (Jeff) 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,” Williams explained. “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.”
“I thought Coley did a good job running the option today,” Stewart said. “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.”
As for Starks, Stewart believes he can become a big-league playmaker at wide receiver.
“Bradley Starks can play. He can throw right now, but we don’t want him to throw right now,” Stewart said. “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.”
“I look at spring ball like everyone looks at the first game, like a big game is coming up,” Rodgers said. “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.”
“It was a long day,” he said. “It’s always good to be out on the field having fun. Physically I’m 100 percent. I’m getting ready, dropping weight and getting where they want me to be, and I’m ready to start the season.”
Jenkins is one of four underclassmen up front that could wind up starting in 2009.
“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,” Jenkins said. “There has to be a lot of repetition to get our steps down, our snaps there and all to the right place.”
