Saturday Practice Quotes
December 11, 2010 03:20 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU football coach Bill Stewart and select player quotes following Saturday's practice inside the Caperton Indoor Facility:
Coach Bill Stewart
Opening statement:
I thought we had a very intense practice. It was basically good-on-good. We went one-on-one most of the day, inside drills, pass skeleton and team we went NC State prep. They’ve been in class time, preparing for finals and we had a nice practice. This week will be devoted strictly to our finals, its exam time here at West Virginia University. The weight room will be open, but it will be discretionary, if they can get in, fine, if they can’t, that’s fine also. The academics first and foremost come first.
We will go again next Saturday, the same type of arrangement as today with the tempo and schedule. We’ll then begin the intense bowl practices where we breakdown NC State because our coaches have been on the road this past week, and we’ll be on the road again this week.
We’re excited to be in the Champs Sports Bowl, it’s going to be a heck of a game. We have a real tough opponent in NC State, we’ve had two common opponents. We beat Cincinnati and they beat them. We beat Maryland and they barely lost to them. They have beaten a fine Florida State team, they put points on a fine Georgia Tech team and they’ve had a heck of a year.
I had a good visit with Tom O’Brien, we go way back. He’s a heck of a football coach, you all remember him from his Boston College days, I remember him from his University of Virginia and Naval Academy days. He’s a heck of a coach and a real good friend. We are looking forward to a real good time.
Whether anyone is out for the game:
I hope not. I hope everyone is able to academically. We had two last year and I have met with some guys who I thought needed a little jumpstart from the head football coach. They and their position coach and I met last week before we went on the road. It’s up to the guys and it’s the stretch run.
We’re going to wait and see on Brandon Hogan. Chris Neild got some work today in team period. We kept him out of the intense one-on-one with the offense, simply because his hamstring. I don’t want to injure that in anyway and a week from today he’ll be better.
Backup plans for Hogan:
The corners as of today are Patrick Miller, Broderick Jenkins and Brantwon Bowser can play. We can still run our SWAT and 40 team, but we hope Brandon can go and if anyone can do it, Brandon Hogan can do it.
Whether he is concerned with distractions:
We’re focusing on the Wolfpack. First of all we’re focusing on finals, then the Wolfpack. There have been all kinds of distractions this year and what I saw was a pretty great focus in the stretch run by a football team, staff and the head football coach these last four weeks.
Whether he would want an assistant to coach the bowl game if an assistant took another job:
I’m going to focus on the NC State Wolfpack and I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.
Let’s just talk about special teams. I do the punt, I speak all over the country on the punt. I turned the film off today after game six because I really study film. After two punt blocks by Colby Jackson and Asa Watson at the end of the sixth game, I put the clicker on hold because I just couldn’t stand to watch anymore. That’s what we’re doing right now, focusing on the NC State Wolfpack.
On how it is different coaching a bowl game:
It’s called management of people, management of attitude and it’s a mental discipline that young people have to be told what the plan is, how to buy into the plan and how to execute the plan. For instance, I could’ve had a practice Friday night, but I didn’t want to. Saturday is a day that we got everything accomplished and the coaches are very excited, as are players if you saw the competition today. I wanted you to see how intense we practice and how things are done. The crucial part is don’t grind them, you don’t need to do that. I’ve been on staffs that did that and the bowls didn’t turn out very well. We practice very fast, very physical and we let them have some fun once we get to the bowl site. After, we do the work, but I’m not a guy that grinds.
On if getting the guys ready is like getting a horse ready:
I’ve never been in the horse racing business, but I assume it’s like that. When do you peak? In that first scrimmage, if we looked like we were coming out of the gates the best team in the country then I would worry because how much would you improve? We’ve had great success here in the bowls I’ve been head coach and couple right up until that time. There was time West Virginia didn’t do very good in bowls and I think there are a lot of factors that go into that.
On whether NC State is similar to the Boston College days:
They are a little bit different than Boston College because of Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson has thrown the ball 500 times, 291 completions, 14 interceptions and 26 touchdowns. This guy is a player and Russell Wilson is very, very talented. They have put up 4,880 yards compared to 4,000. They’ve had 925 plays to 775 plays. They’ve had the ball about 32 minutes compared to 28. Their third down percentage is 44 percent, but they’ve only given up 32 percent success to their opponents. This is going to be a whale of a football opponent we’re playing.
On the extra practices:
You get better honing your skills and doing your skills when you participate. We want to have almost a spring ball, you get 15 practices in the spring counting the game. We’re going to get 10 good practices with the tenth being the bowl, that’s pretty special. What we’re getting is like an extra spring practice. Going to bowls is a great advantage to those who get to go, particularly ones who go year in and year out like the Mountaineers.
On whether the time off will help Devine:
Noel has been nicked up and dinged up. I went in and changed some things offensively after the UConn game. Let’s hope he heals a little bit.
About Geno’s confidence in his foot:
I told you we may run our quarterback more at UConn, and we did. The last four games, we ran him a lot with the option, and I thought he’s done a great job. Tavon’s (Austin) run the other day would not have been successful had Geno not mesmerized those ends and backers. That has made us a much better football team, his ability to run. He’s so much more confident now running the option because of his decision making. If we swing No. 7 (Devine) out there, someone better cover him now.
On surpassing the season’s goals:
We’re 28-11, if we win this we’ll be 29-11 and that’s three pretty good years. We’ve done okay in bowls and we’ve finished strong every year. I should want the BIG EAST title, our staff should want the BIG EAST title and most importantly the players should want the BIG EAST title. That should be our goal every year and those are realistic goals. We’ve had seven double-digit win seasons in the history of the program and our goal is to be the eighth.
On whether there was any disappointment on not being a BCS team:
I was asked that question, and I haven’t had to play any mind games. We’re going to go to Orlando and play a good opponent. We have a chance again to be the eighth team in the history of WVU football to have 10 wins or more. We are BIG EAST champs, our graduation rate is 90 percent and we never had a top 25 recruiting class until I became the head football coach. We were 24th two years ago and 19th last year. I don’t know what else to say, I don’t have an agent and I’m not going to run a billboard out here on the mileground with all those stats.
On Anthony Leonard:
He has been a special guy, and he is one of those seniors that when his time came, he absolutely stepped up in a very positive, workman like manner. Not many people would have thought he would be the player he is. It’s so rewarding to so good things happen to young men who buy into the plan, follow the plan and have faith in the plan. I’ve so proud of Anthony Leonard and all of my seniors.
On whether he envisioned Leonard’s success when Lazear went down:
I will be brutally honest, I had hoped, because I hadn’t seen that at that position. When he started to play, I was sitting in there with Jeff (Casteel) and said wow, coach he’s coming. What really helped was that when Patrick Lazear got to come back, and we could platoon. The key to our defense has been the 40 and the SWAT.
On the defense:
Our defense has been a real joy to watch gel. What makes a 1996 defense, what makes a 2007 defense, what makes a 2010 defense? One word. Chemistry.
Geno Smith
On what he knows about NC State:
I don’t know too much and the only thing’s I know are what I saw watching them on TV. I haven’t broken down film yet. I’m focusing on school right now and I’ll get to that later next week.
On Saturday’s practice:
We didn’t go as hard as we normally do, but guys were out there flying around and there was good competition going on.
On the job Bill Stewart did rallying the troops after two losses:
Coach Stew did an incredible job. He got behind us and made everyone accountable, he didn’t make excuses, and it wasn’t a pity party. He told us that our backs were against the wall and that we would have to fight out. I think that’s what we did.
On the difference on the offense in the last four games:
The key difference was just the turnovers. We didn’t turn it over as much. We were out there playing in-sync, and Shawne Alston came in and gave us a changeup. The turnover difference was the difference in wins and losses.
Noel Devine
On whether the time off gives him time to rest:
Of course, our bodies need rest and with the two weeks we have we are taking care of business in the class room and on the field.
On how he feels physically:
Rest heals a lot. I’ve just been trying to get into the training room and get a lot of rest to get healthy.
On going back to his home state:
It’s great to have the support from home. It gets me excited and thrilled about it. I just want to go out with a bang and throw a party, a coming out party. It’ll be the last one for WVU.
Chris Neild
On the season:
This season flew by. I can remember being in the summer getting ready for the season. We have to take advantage of this last game and hopefully get double-digit wins.
On his hamstring:
It feels real good. They really are trying to rest it up for me and I’m lightly running on it. I have a lot of time to recover so by game time I’ll be fine.
I never had a hamstring injury before; it’s something that is new to me. I need to take it with time and hopefully it will heal with time.
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