Football: Assistant Coach Interviews
March 22, 2012 08:21 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University assistant football coaches meet with the media to discuss spring practice.
Offensive Line Coach Bill Bedenbaugh
On how the line is playing
The first group is really good, a couple of backups okay and then a couple of kids not very good. The young guys need to improve everything. They’re not where we need them to be, and they have to keep getting better, they’ve regressed. I don’t know if their mentally and physically tired, but they need to pick it up.
On Josh Jenkins
He’s good, but just like everyone else he has to get better. He retained a bunch of stuff. He was in a lot of the meetings, out there coaching, so he is a guy who has experience and he understands the offense. It’s just getting out there, getting reps and getting comfortable with Joey (Madsen) and (Quinton) Spain. He’s done a good job of that so far.
On the communication through (Joe) Madsen
He’s doing really good. Our defense is really good to go against, because they are a 3-4. It is some of the stuff we are going to see and it’s one of the toughest defenses to play against because they can disguise things on one side and then they bring it the other side, so you have be sharp and read different things. We haven’t gotten into a ton of reading safeties, we’re trying to keep it simple, but as time goes on, and we see this defense more, we’ll figure out exactly where they’re coming from and when they’re coming. As long as everybody is on the same page, even if we identify the front wrong, we can pick up everything.
On identifying depth
That’s what we’re trying to do. Obviously, we want these so-called backups to be pushing the guys in front of them and unfortunately that’s not happening at a lot of positions. (Curtis) Feigt after the first day or two has really come along, and Nick (Kindler) is a lot better than he has been.
Running Backs Coach Robert Gillespie
On what he is looking for coming back from break
Renewed energy. Hopefully they miss football after three or four days of being home. Hopefully they get the fun out and get there mindset back on football, because as coaches that ‘s what happens to us. We enjoy the first couple of days and all of the sudden we start calling each other, texting each other and drawing plays on napkins.
On if it is good for coaches to get a break from the players
I think it is fair for those guys to give maximum effort while they’re here and as coaches we give them everything that we have. With that being said, I think it is a fair exchange for us to get a break and get away from the kids and they deserve a chance to get away from us.
On Andrew Buie’s play
He’s been doing an excellent job. He has matured and you can see that the offseason program has definitely helped, but he is a very matured and focused kid and these extra reps that he’s getting are paying dividends. Hopefully this week will give him a chance to heal up a bit because he has gotten a few more reps in camp, but he has been doing great so far.
On the depth in the running program
It’s hard to find depth with (Dustin) Garrison being hurt. We have Shawne (Alston) and Buie, but the dark horse, the guy that has stepped up and has taken pressure off, is Ryan Clarke. Clarke is a kid that carried the ball a lot in the past, but he proved that he was a willing blocker and he bought into his role.
Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Shannon Dawson
How the wide receiver group has looked
Up and down we haven’t been doing great. In my opinion we’ve dropped too many balls. I’ll give credit to the defense because they’re real aggressive, real aggressive at corner and making us work for releases. If I had to letter grade it, I would give it a C or C-, we can do better, a lot better.
What areas could use improvement
Catching the ball. Our blocking has gotten a lot better, I’ll give them that. We’ve gotten better at blocking at basic schemes. Our effort is good, I just think we need to finish plays.
If he is worried about the break
Our guys would never party or anything, I’m worried about myself.
On why guys are dropping the ball
I don’t know what’s wrong to be honest with you. Today is probably concentration because there are obvious distractions with the kids being ready to go home and relax a little bit. I can understand that, but they need to take advantage of every practice.
Quarterbacks Coach Jake Spavital
On the break
It’s a perfect time, especially after watching today’s practice. Geno (Smith), Paul (Millard) and Ford’s (Childress) arms are pretty dead. We’ll give them a good week to relax and then get back into next week.
On Ford handling the throwing
Ford was struggling a little bit today. I need to start cutting the reps down of individuals, because it is pretty taxing on a quarterback’s arm when you’re throwing 500 to 1,000 balls. It’ll be good for them to get a week of rest.
On how Ford is adjusting to competition
Ford is doing good. Obviously, we’re having Geno run with 1’s non-stop, and Paul and Ford running with the two o-lines. Ford is handling it well. He just needs to take care of the ball and learn that the game is faster than it was in high school.
Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Joe DeForest
On the defense thus far this season
After six practices, I feel really good about where we are; the kids have picked it up, the coaches have gelled, and it’s all coming together. We have a lot of work to do after spring break, but I’m very pleased with the progress we’re making.
On the 3-4 defense being easy to pick up
As a coaching staff we try to make it as easy as possible on them – transition-wise, we tried to rhyme some things, make sure they understand who was blitzing and who wasn’t, and they’ve run some of the coverages we’re going to run, so there was some carry over there. After six practices, I’d say the defense is a C, because we’re not even close yet – it’s an A for effort.
On the terminology being the biggest difference
There’s no question; anywhere across the country, if you’re going to blitz an outside linebacker we would call it one thing, and Alabama would call it another thing. It’s the same defense, just different words.
On players sticking out so far
We’re just getting to know them all, but Josh Francis is an impressive player, because he plays so hard all the time. Von Miller played that spot, and of course he’s a good player. Josh is similar to Von in that he’s a quick twitch guy, He’s not as big as Von was, but we’d like to mold him into that guy and use him in that capacity. That’s probably the most impressive thing I’ve seen on defense, but they play hard every down and their practice tempo is remarkable.
On spring break
As a defense, we said that we’ve built this thing for six practices, and we need everybody back after spring break and to take care of your teammate – if he’s in a bad situation, pull him out and just be smart.
Co-Defensive Coordinator Keith Patterson
On linebacker Doug Rigg
At times, Doug has shown great ability at linebacker – he’s a big, physical young man. We have to get him to be more consistent but today was probably his best practice of the spring, so that was encouraging. We’re trying to push anybody who played in the past, like Doug and Jared Barber, to be leaders. Isaiah Bruce has had a productive two weeks as well.
On linebacker Josh Francis
He’s an extremely explosive blitzer off the edge, and he’s hard for the offensive linemen to handle, so he’s had a great spring. Tyler Anderson and Taige Redman have had good practices as well. We feel like we have plenty of depth and different types of players at that position, who can impact the quarterback and stop the run.
On working with coach Holgorsen’s offense
It’s hard to go up against an up-tempo team, so when you can practice against it every day there’s no doubt that it’s an advantage. The whole problem when you play teams with a fast tempo is being able to get the call from the sidelines, and you basically end up playing by the seat of your pants, because you’re not thinking of what’s going to happen and that’s built into our system now.
Defensive Line Coach Erik Slaughter
On spring practice thus far
We’ve really got a lot of stuff in that’s been new for them, and they’ve played extremely hard, which is all you can ask for. Now we have the break, and we’ll come back and be starting over, because it’s new to them so we’ll see how much carries over. Obviously, without working out for a week, there will be some conditioning issues, so we’ll really have to buckle up and grind for the next three weeks.
On focusing more on technique or endurance during spring drills
It’s both, you have to be a good technician, but you have to be a good technician when you’re tired too. With the tempo of the offense in college football, you’re going to play when you’re tired so executing technique in a drill when you’re fresh is one thing, but dong it after you’ve played 40 or 50 snaps is another – they’re both very important.
On playing against coach Holgorsen’s offense
It helps, and we played this offense at Stephen F. Austin for the three years I was there. We were really good at sacking the quarterback, so I think that helps, because you get to rush the quarterback a lot. The thing that you have to focus on is stopping the run, the tempo at how they play and the speed at which they call their plays. You have to be a tempo defense these days; you have to communicate on the fly and do it when you’re tired.
On learning the guys’ capabilities
You see their strength and weaknesses, and we all have things we need to work on to continue to get better. It’s an ongoing process – if you stop trying to get better than you’re done, and we don’t plan on being done for a long time. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of March or January, we’re playing for a national championship so you still have to do things right.
On staying positive
We’re steadily getting better, and I’m a positive person – I don’t like getting yelled at and degraded, I perform better with a pat on the back. I’m going to push them hard, work them hard and love them harder; we’re going to be out there every day working, and there’s no rule in football that says you can’t have fun while we’re doing it. I think guys perform better with confidence, so I want my guys to have confidence in what they’re doing. A confident football player is a fast football player, and fast football players make plays and that’s the name of the game.
Alumni Series | Violet Hewett
Friday, May 01
SWIM: What it Means to Represent West Virginia
Wednesday, April 29
SWIM: What it Means to Become a Mountaineer
Wednesday, April 29
Gold-Blue Spring Festival Fan Recap
Sunday, April 19
