Football: Coach Bill Stewart and Player Quotes
April 06, 2009 12:01 PM | General
April 6, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Coach Bill Stewart and player quotes following Monday morning’s practice.
Head Coach Bill Stewart
On today’s practice:
We got a lot done today. We worked on pass protection, and we had a nice red zone skelley. We had good situational play from both sides of the ball, and while that was going on, I kept seeing No. 82 (Alric Arnett), No. 4 (Wes Lyons) and No. 14 (Bradley Starks) make play after play.
The secondary did a nice job today, and Eddie Davis had a pick. It looked like he could have gone 95 yards, and what we did was throw a fade route when you throw the ball in certain coverage. We scored when Jarrett Brown hit Alric Arnett to the right, before we came back and seven or eight plays later, we went to the left and Eddie picked it, and would have taken it 95 yards.
We then went into our two-minute mode where we worked on our assignments and our blitz package. That was good for both the offense and defense. What it does is help the defense stem and fly around in the drill. They did all three today, and they brought heat.
Again, I thought Jarrett Brown did a nice job today. We did what I call our Nascar field goal, because it is a hurry up field goal, and we had a pick at the end.
The players will be students the rest of the day. We have treatment and then study hall in the afternoon today, and then maybe they can spend some time on their books tonight. After that I’m sure some of them will watch that basketball game tonight. How late they stay up is on them because tomorrow at 6:15 a.m. we’ll be back out here.
On tonight’s NCAA Basketball Championship game between North Carolina and Michigan State:
I had four nice years at Chapel Hill and I coached there, very proudly. I’ve always been a Tar Heel fan except for one game a couple of months ago. So, I have a lot of loyalty to the ACC and North Carolina. I’m a big Roy Williams fan. However, being politically correct, I like that blue collar mentality that Tommy Izzo brings. He’s a heck of a basketball coach. It won’t be a game by 30, I can tell you that!
On the development of the offensive line:
Someone told me that they needed to grow up fast and whoever said that, is absolutely right. The line is gelling. They are young, and they are aggressive- that’s what I like. They don’t get down on themselves.
On Selvish Capers:
I had a talk with Selvish Capers after workouts yesterday, and we just sat down on the couch together. I told him how proud I was of him, how I liked and admired his leadership, and how he had to step up and be the mother hen of that flock. The next older guys are Donnie Barclay and Eric Jobe, and neither of those guys played a lot. Those two young guards in there, their heads are spinning so we’ll see. We’ll have a tough camp and we’ll make them tougher. I was really pleased about how mentally tough they were on Saturday when we went to goal line. They could have kept their heads down because they had a hard day. The defense really bullied us until we got to the goal line. I was very pleased with the leadership he demonstrated. He was a guy we took a chance on, and he is going to prove America wrong that you don’t have to be an Einstein or test well to succeed. He needs to take the young guys under his wing, like Josh Jenkins and Jeff Braun. He’s earned that right.
On Eddie Davis:
I’m happy for Eddie. He was on the watch list, and you never want to give up on a lad because people never gave up on me. It’s his time. He needed to step up, and it looks like he’s doing it. It’s really early so we’ll see, but he looks like he’s earning the right to at least get on the field next year. Eddie is probably the fastest, if not one of the fastest guys on the team. He tests well, he is over a 3.0 GPA student, and I can’t even remember his name coming across my desk for missed classes. All I’ve ever hear about Eddie Davis is that he’s a class guy and that he has great potential. Well, it’s time for potential to become performance. He had a nice day this morning.
We have the greatest cornerback coach in America, bar none. If anyone can help this lad ascertain his thoughts of playing major college football and maybe going onto another level, David Lockwood is the right guy. He did it last year with Ellis Lankster and Eddie Davis is a talented young man. I hope David and Eddie can gel and have a nice relationship.
On the kickers:
I threw him out of the meeting yesterday. Do you think their mothers will read this? I threw every one of them out of the meeting. Every one of them. Gone.
On Tyler Rader:
Tyler Rader right now is being evaluated very closely for swelling. He has a knee hyperextension. He was doing a good job and on the eighth play of the scrimmage it happened. I’m hoping that the injury won’t be as serious as we think. The medical staff will let us know as soon as they can get to the bottom of it. It was a tough loss for a nice young man who absolutely deserves a chance to play this coming year. He was in the equation.
On Najee Goode:
He got dinged in the ankle, and he’s a tough guy – he sucked it up and went through Saturday’s scrimmage. I like his toughness and he in particular, of those linebackers, needs reps so that was not good today that he didn’t get a lot of reps, but, he shows tremendous toughness.
On Chris Neild:
I like Chris Neild just as much as anyone on our football team. He’s a man’s man. He’s tough, very durable and most importantly, he’s dependable. He’s another guy that I can never remember having a class missed notice come across my desk. You show me a guy who lives right off the field, in the community, and in his daily walk, and then I’ll show you a guy that we count on out here. He’s a mainstay. He’s doing very well.
J.T. Thomas
On being a leader:
I try to let my play speak for itself, as far as leading the team. I try to do the right things off the field too. If I’m deemed a leader, then I’m deemed a leader.
On Reed Williams:
Everyone knows that Reed is probably the best player on our defense. He’s going to help us tremendously this year.
On the experience of the defense:
A lot of guys saw things for the first time last year so now we have experience this year, which should help. We have a couple more experienced guys than the offense does. The offense has a young offense line, and we’re taking advantage of that.
Eddie Davis
On playing different positions:
Running back was the hardest to learn because the hard thing to learn was pad-blocking. You had to know who was blitzing and when they were blitzing. I don’t remember blocking in high school.
On playing corner:
I like to guard people. That’s what I like to do. I like zone because I can see the whole field, and it also gives you some room for error. I feel different this year, because I know the position.
Robert Sands
On playing multiple positions:
At times it gets confusing and sometimes you just have to stop, take a deep breath, and think about your assignment and what you need to do. I like playing bandit a little bit better because I see more action, and I’m used to that. For the most part, I’m faster at free safety, because I’m more familiar with the things I have to do.
It was different but for the most part it was pretty cool, because I got to practice a lot with the ones. I didn’t think I’d be a starter my freshman year. I actually thought that I’d be redshirted. I came here with the mindset to come in here and work, and I hopefully I’d get some playing time, but I picked up the plays so fast that the coaches wanted me on the field.
I’ve only been a bandit for a week right now. It’s a little different and a little hard, but I’m picking it up pretty well. All the safeties need to learn more than one position, and the coaches wanted me to learn another position, because I have the free safety position down.
