Football: Coach Stewart Quotes
August 14, 2009 06:56 PM | General
August 14, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Quotes from coach Bill Stewart after practice eight of fall training camp.
Notes prior to start of press conference:
The scrimmage will be open tomorrow to media. Media members may photograph or videotape from 2:30 to 3:10 p.m. All media are welcome to stay for the entire scrimmage, but cannot photograph or videotape after 3:10 p.m. Media members will meet in the end zone, and following the scrimmage, coach Bill Stewart and players selected by the coaching staff will be available for interviews on the field.
Coach Bill Stewart
Opening Statement:
It’s practice eight here in Morgantown. It was a hot one, a good one to work in, a full pad practice, and I thought our guys got after it. I was very pleased with the effort, but was very disappointed in our consistency. That’s something a good team has to have. I want to see somebody step forward and be the dominating force of this football team. I want to know who to count on early in the season. It always seems like one side carries you, and I haven’t seen that happen. I’m very disappointed in our football team. Effort and enthusiasm have been good. We’re not close at this point to be ready to play a football game. Maybe it’s because I’m in survivor mode instead of that get-better mode. We’re going to get our hands on it and get it figured out.
Let me tell you a little bit about tomorrow. We’re going to go in the morning. We’re going to be in helmets and do kind of identical to what we did Thursday. There are some situational things that we need to do better. In the afternoon, with officials, we’re going to hit it. We’re going to play Mountaineer football, and we’re going to get after each other – players and coaches. I’m excited about that and very much looking forward to that. I hope our players are ready as much as the coaching staff and I. We really want to compete and see who is going to be the dominant force.
What we’re going to cover – if you come early, we’re going to be in the victory drill. Then, we’re going to get some good PAT and punt work. Then we’ll have the free ruling zone from the -35, and we’ll go backed up from the -1 or -2 yard line to see if we can change field position. Then we’ll go into the red zone, around the +25 and +28 yard line. We’ll also see if we can get our kickers involved. Then we’re going to put the ball on the eight-yard line and do goal line work. We’ll end with some two-point plays. We did that today, and it was split evenly – half offense and half defense.
I’m not in a real good mood right now. I wanted to see someone step up to play and knock somebody out, and I haven’t seen that just yet. I have seen great competition, but I’m not real happy with practice eight. Maybe with the two tomorrow in the hot sun, somebody will be able to step up and lead this football team.
On whether Stewart means physical performance:
I’m talking about that we’re just hitting each other. I want somebody to take charge and take control. Is our defense going to be dominating? You all keep writing, that and I keep talking about blitzing. Well, let’s blitz and cover them and the offense scores every now and then. I want the defense to snuff them out. If we get the ball down in the field offensively, I want somebody to put the ball in the end zone. It just hasn’t been consistent, and that’s what’s frustrating to me.
On whether inconsistency is normal this early in practice:
Sometimes. Every great team I have been on, the defense has always dominated at this point.
On movement on the depth chart as of now:
We’ve had movement in the skill position and in the secondary. We have a lot of receivers. We have a lot of playmakers. To have a bell-cow at this point, we don’t have a bell-cow right now. That’s frustrating to me right now. I really want to see somebody step up and dominate. Defensively, there were a couple nice plays today by a couple of the cornerbacks. (Brandon) Hogan and (Keith) Tandy had some nice plays. I have not seen just enough great plays by our defense.
It’s still wide open at the safety position. On the defensive line, I would say Chris Neild and Scooter Berry have done a pretty good job. Julian Miller has stepped up.
On whether the two’s on offense and defense have stepped up:
I think we are doing a pretty good job offensively there. We’re probably doing better on the ones on offense and better on the twos on defense.
On what freshman are in contention for playing time:
I haven’t narrowed it down, but there will be freshmen playing. Their heads are spinning, and they have to become more consistent.
On format for scrimmage:
The No. 1offense against the No. 1 defense.
Whether playing the one offense against the one defense changes impression of dominating ideas:
I’m a tough teacher. I’m going to coach tough. It can skew the curve. I want them to compete, battle and get knockout blows. Hopefully, tomorrow we will see that.
