FIVE THINGS I'VE LEARNED
August 16, 2011 01:52 PM | General
Here are five things I think I learned from listening to West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen talk to reporters after each practice last week …
1. He is still looking for offensive linemen.
Holgorsen seems content with four of his five starters, singling out the play of left tackle Don Barclay and center Joe Madsen, who he calls one of the better centers he’s ever been around.
“He is a smart football player but he doesn’t have very long arms, which is ironic because that is one thing we normally look for in our offensive linemen,” Holgorsen said of Madsen. “He runs around like T-Rex sometimes, but his snaps are good; you put the center in charge of making all the calls and pre-snap stuff and he has done well with that.”
Holgorsen said he is also satisfied so far with his two guards, Jeff Braun on the left side and senior Tyler Rader, playing in place of the injured Josh Jenkins on the right side. That leaves right tackle where freshman Quinton Spain has been working with the first group, although that position is far from being settled.
“We need a right tackle and that’s the biggest concern,” Holgorsen said. “We have about four bodies and we need one of them to step up.”
In addition to right tackle, Holgorsen said O-line coach Bill Bedenbaugh is still searching for backups.
“Those first four are doing good - they make plenty of mistakes - but the other six need to keep getting better,” he said.
2. He isn’t that big on doing a bunch of advance scouting.
Previous coaching staffs here spent considerable time in the summer compiling information on its upcoming opponents and doing a lot of pre-scouting stuff. Holgorsen says a lot of that effort can be pointless, citing as an example his prep work against Oklahoma last year when he was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.
“You talk about a shock,” he said. “I have known (Brent) Venables and Bob (Stoops) for about 10 or 11 years now. They have been a traditional four-down front for 10 years; I watched the tape and said this is the same stuff they have been doing for a long time,” Holgorsen recalled.
“They are an area zone blitz team – every now and then they will bring a safety down or bring everyone down and play man to man. Well, they came out against us in a three-down front for the first time in their careers at Oklahoma. It took us about a quarter to adjust.”
Holgorsen also mentioned preparing against Oklahoma State for 10 years and during the course of that time the Cowboys had three or four different defensive coordinators: His point being that things can change so much not only from year to year, but from month to month.
“Teams that I’m real familiar with, I kind of have an idea of what they are going to do, but I am still going to prepare for them the same – I am going to watch a bunch of tape and see who the personnel is. I am going to look at their tendencies, but their defensive coordinator may have changed. You don’t truly know until you get into the game.”
Pretty interesting stuff.
I seem to recall something Dwight Eisenhower once said about preparing for unknowns … something to the effect that plans are meaningless, but planning is everything.
Well, Holgorsen is definitely a planner.
3. He doesn’t have a name for his offense.
Asked last week what he called his offense, Holgorsen shrugged, smiled and replied, “Offense, I guess?” There is none of that “Air Raid”, “Fun-n-Gun”, “Run and Shoot” or “High-Octane” stuff you sometimes see and hear on TV.
“I have been asked that a bunch of times,” Holgorsen commented. “I don’t have a phrase. I don’t have a name for it. Here are the plays, here is how we practice, here is what we do, and now let’s go get better.”
That’s all?
“Nah, there’s probably a little more to it than that,” he smiled.
4. He won’t milk the clock by playing things conservatively.
It’s been written many times here and other places how Bobby Bowden turned 1.8 million West Virginians against him in a single afternoon when he went conservative up at Pitt in 1970 and blew a 35-8 halftime lead. Well, late in the games West Virginia is leading this year you likely won’t see Holgorsen going two-tight and bringing in an extra blocking back to run out the clock - that simply isn’t what he does offensively.
“If you’re up by one score and there’s only three or four minutes remaining in the game, I’ve seen offenses try and do something different than what they did to get the lead. All of sudden, they’re three-and-out and they’re punting,” Holgorsen said. “The other team then has two or three minutes left and only down a few points to try and win it.”
So how does Holgorsen milk the clock?
“I usually just call plays really slow,” he said. “That’s always fun to see a quarterback who is used to receiving a quick signal have to stand out there and ask, ‘So what’s the play?’ That’s how we slow it down if we need to.
“If the game is tight, everyone talks about the need to use a four-minute offense to be smart and milk the clock. You have three plays to do your best to get the first down.”
5. He sees a lot of similarities with what he inherited last year at Oklahoma State and what he’s working with here at West Virginia right now.
“It was probably about this time that we developed a starting unit and then trying to narrow it down as the days went on,” Holgorsen said last Friday. “I don’t know who is starting and who isn’t starting right now, but we’ve been looking for more competition at receiver and I think we’re starting to accomplish that.”
The one area where Holgorsen seems more comfortable now is running back, where freshmen Andrew Buie and Dustin Garrison continue to impress, thus making spring holdovers Vernard Roberts and Trey Johnson that much better.
“Buie took about three to the house (during Friday’s practice). Dustin Garrison is a very different type of runner (than Buie),” said Holgorsen. “He is very patient and sees it, then squirts through there. He will have plays where he should have lost two yards and ends up gaining six. They complement each other very well.”
If the freshmen running backs continue to perform, Holgorsen says he has no reservations whatsoever putting them out there against Marshall on Sept. 4.
“The last three years we have had a true freshman that is either the guy or is one of the main guys,” Holgorsen said. “Running back is a position that is pretty easy to develop. It’s probably the one position you can do that in.”
1. He is still looking for offensive linemen.
Holgorsen seems content with four of his five starters, singling out the play of left tackle Don Barclay and center Joe Madsen, who he calls one of the better centers he’s ever been around.
“He is a smart football player but he doesn’t have very long arms, which is ironic because that is one thing we normally look for in our offensive linemen,” Holgorsen said of Madsen. “He runs around like T-Rex sometimes, but his snaps are good; you put the center in charge of making all the calls and pre-snap stuff and he has done well with that.”
Holgorsen said he is also satisfied so far with his two guards, Jeff Braun on the left side and senior Tyler Rader, playing in place of the injured Josh Jenkins on the right side. That leaves right tackle where freshman Quinton Spain has been working with the first group, although that position is far from being settled.
“We need a right tackle and that’s the biggest concern,” Holgorsen said. “We have about four bodies and we need one of them to step up.”
In addition to right tackle, Holgorsen said O-line coach Bill Bedenbaugh is still searching for backups.
“Those first four are doing good - they make plenty of mistakes - but the other six need to keep getting better,” he said.
2. He isn’t that big on doing a bunch of advance scouting.
Previous coaching staffs here spent considerable time in the summer compiling information on its upcoming opponents and doing a lot of pre-scouting stuff. Holgorsen says a lot of that effort can be pointless, citing as an example his prep work against Oklahoma last year when he was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.
“You talk about a shock,” he said. “I have known (Brent) Venables and Bob (Stoops) for about 10 or 11 years now. They have been a traditional four-down front for 10 years; I watched the tape and said this is the same stuff they have been doing for a long time,” Holgorsen recalled.
“They are an area zone blitz team – every now and then they will bring a safety down or bring everyone down and play man to man. Well, they came out against us in a three-down front for the first time in their careers at Oklahoma. It took us about a quarter to adjust.”
Holgorsen also mentioned preparing against Oklahoma State for 10 years and during the course of that time the Cowboys had three or four different defensive coordinators: His point being that things can change so much not only from year to year, but from month to month.
“Teams that I’m real familiar with, I kind of have an idea of what they are going to do, but I am still going to prepare for them the same – I am going to watch a bunch of tape and see who the personnel is. I am going to look at their tendencies, but their defensive coordinator may have changed. You don’t truly know until you get into the game.”
Pretty interesting stuff.
I seem to recall something Dwight Eisenhower once said about preparing for unknowns … something to the effect that plans are meaningless, but planning is everything.
Well, Holgorsen is definitely a planner.
3. He doesn’t have a name for his offense.
Asked last week what he called his offense, Holgorsen shrugged, smiled and replied, “Offense, I guess?” There is none of that “Air Raid”, “Fun-n-Gun”, “Run and Shoot” or “High-Octane” stuff you sometimes see and hear on TV.
“I have been asked that a bunch of times,” Holgorsen commented. “I don’t have a phrase. I don’t have a name for it. Here are the plays, here is how we practice, here is what we do, and now let’s go get better.”
That’s all?
“Nah, there’s probably a little more to it than that,” he smiled.
4. He won’t milk the clock by playing things conservatively.
It’s been written many times here and other places how Bobby Bowden turned 1.8 million West Virginians against him in a single afternoon when he went conservative up at Pitt in 1970 and blew a 35-8 halftime lead. Well, late in the games West Virginia is leading this year you likely won’t see Holgorsen going two-tight and bringing in an extra blocking back to run out the clock - that simply isn’t what he does offensively.
“If you’re up by one score and there’s only three or four minutes remaining in the game, I’ve seen offenses try and do something different than what they did to get the lead. All of sudden, they’re three-and-out and they’re punting,” Holgorsen said. “The other team then has two or three minutes left and only down a few points to try and win it.”
So how does Holgorsen milk the clock?
“I usually just call plays really slow,” he said. “That’s always fun to see a quarterback who is used to receiving a quick signal have to stand out there and ask, ‘So what’s the play?’ That’s how we slow it down if we need to.
“If the game is tight, everyone talks about the need to use a four-minute offense to be smart and milk the clock. You have three plays to do your best to get the first down.”
5. He sees a lot of similarities with what he inherited last year at Oklahoma State and what he’s working with here at West Virginia right now.
“It was probably about this time that we developed a starting unit and then trying to narrow it down as the days went on,” Holgorsen said last Friday. “I don’t know who is starting and who isn’t starting right now, but we’ve been looking for more competition at receiver and I think we’re starting to accomplish that.”
The one area where Holgorsen seems more comfortable now is running back, where freshmen Andrew Buie and Dustin Garrison continue to impress, thus making spring holdovers Vernard Roberts and Trey Johnson that much better.
“Buie took about three to the house (during Friday’s practice). Dustin Garrison is a very different type of runner (than Buie),” said Holgorsen. “He is very patient and sees it, then squirts through there. He will have plays where he should have lost two yards and ends up gaining six. They complement each other very well.”
If the freshmen running backs continue to perform, Holgorsen says he has no reservations whatsoever putting them out there against Marshall on Sept. 4.
“The last three years we have had a true freshman that is either the guy or is one of the main guys,” Holgorsen said. “Running back is a position that is pretty easy to develop. It’s probably the one position you can do that in.”
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