Football: Coach Casteel and Mullen Quotes
April 14, 2009 02:51 PM | General
April 14, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University Coach Assistant Jeff Casteel and Coach Jeff Mullen quotes following Tuesday morning’s practice.
Defensive Coordinator Coach Jeff Casteel:
On the safeties:
We’re at the point where we are trying to get guys reps. As many guys that we can get in there and take a look at, the better. We’re still evaluating players right now. We don’t read too much into the first group or second group, we’re just getting the guys reps and making sure they know what they’re doing.
On Sidney Glover:
He has been out almost the entire spring, so it’s good to get him back. He’s a little rusty but it’s good to see him out and running around. He’s ok to go. He had a hamstring injury and sometimes those things are tough. We wanted to make sure that was healed up so it didn’t hinder him when he starts running in the summer. He should be ok.
On installation:
We’re still looking at some things in our base package right now. We’re giving the kids some things to think about and see if they can execute. We’ve been fairly slow this spring as far as our installation, so that they get a better grasp of what they need to do.
Offensive Coordinator Coach Jeff Mullen:
On today’s practice:
Everyday there is good and bad. You can’t really look at it or evaluate it until you look at the tape, but I was really happy with a lot of the young kids who made some plays this morning. Everyday you win a little and you lose a little - that is just spring ball.
On the inside game:
It’s tough when you’re in shells because the defense can’t tackle you. A lot of the two-hand touch plays that looked really good may not have been. What I really like about these morning practices is that our kids come in and they are awake and alert. They are bouncing around and I thought they gave really good effort in the inside drills. You win some and you lose some, but overall I thought it was a really good practice.
On Brandon Hogan:
Coach Galloway would have a better grasp on him, but it’s really nice to see him make some plays.
On his goal for the last week:
Health. We’re hoping to finish up healthy and I think that’s really everyone’s goal in the spring. Spring is when you experiment a little bit on offense and defense, and you see what might help your kids in the fall. Spring is when you experiment with personnel and sometimes you have kids running around who aren’t quite sure and that’s when injuries can happen. I think the biggest thing that we want to come out with this week is to remain healthy and to continue to improve. On offense, our biggest opponent is ourselves. Every game I’ve looked at over the years, when you look back on the losses, you can see that it’s not what the defense did to you. The biggest opponent is ourselves and when we get better with what we are and who we are, then I’ll be very happy with that regardless of the points on the board.
With the wide receivers and the offensive line, I see improvement every day. As a coach, you never, ever feel like you’re quite there, but you also realize that you’ve done a few good things as well. The thing I think I like best right now about our offensive line, is that I sense that we have a unit that likes each other. They work well together and they communicate well together. They eat together, come to meetings on time together and I sense a very close-knit group. That is a direct reflection of Dave Johnson and what he’s doing with those guys. He is really bringing those guys along, and it’s fun to watch Selvish Capers and Don Barclay who are some of our older guys, really take some of the young kids in, and put their arm around them. It’s been really fun to watch.
On who he sees the most improvement from:
I’ve seen improvement in everybody. Maybe Jarrett Brown? He’s a quarterback and he has certainly shown improvement. I think the offensive line would be a tremendous candidate for that when you’re thinking about that there are three or four guys there that this is their first college full time experience. When you look at a guy like Wes Lyons who is playing three positions, Bradley Starks is playing three positions and Bradley is still a young guy. There are so many candidates for that and that’s the exciting part for me - that I’m seeing that improvement.
On Jarrett Brown:
The biggest thing for any quarterback is experience and repetition. You can point it out on the chalk board and you can walk through it all day long, but until you get out there and you have to make the decision before the ball is snapped, until you physically go through that, you’re not going to be as good as a quarterback as you could be. Jarrett has had a ton of reps and he’s had a pretty good spring so far.
On the receivers:
We don’t have Jock (Sanders) with us right now so that makes us a little skewed, and when you can throw in a productive Wes Lyons or some of the other younger kids that might have a chance to play, then yeah. The problem with that though, is that a lot of the younger kids have not done it before. It’s going to be tough to replace Dorrell Jalloh, but having said that, I think the numbers are a little bit better and I hope it continues to go that way.
One of the things we want to do this week is get some of those guys some time with the first unit. Today was an opportunity for them to get out there with the No. 1 offensive line, and work with them, and do some pretty neat things out there.
On the incoming freshmen:
We had a really great class this year that we signed and I’m really excited about all of them. I’m looking forward to working with all of them and I think we have some great running backs coming in. I’m excited to see them all here and see them play. You can never count on a true freshman but you have to give them all opportunity. At the end of the day, the best 11 have to hit the field. We’ve all been around it long enough to see that sometimes a true freshman can be one of those. We’ll give them the opportunity to show us that in the fall.
