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Dana Holgorsen: Spring Football Update
March 15, 2015 06:20 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media earlier today prior to the first practice of spring camp.
On the first practice
We’ve already had a good day today. We’ve got probably about 40 juniors here. We broke out the new team room. We’ve had two or three meetings in there so the guys were fired up about that. That’s really going to help us in recruiting. It’s going to help us be much more efficient with our meeting time. The guys were excited. There is a lot of enthusiasm. We will go three non-padded practices here this week before spring break. They’re bouncing around pretty good. Everyone is in a pretty good place.
On if the opening on the coaching staff has been filled
Yes. Mark Scott was a graduate assistant for the last three years. He is Gibby’s (defensive coordinator Tony Gibson) eyes in the sky. He was all last year. His graduate assistantship was up. So he was not going to be able to coach, which was going to hurt us. We’re going to put him on the field. He will help defense and help special teams as well. He’s a good, young coach.
On if Scott will be coaching special teams
Coach (Joe) DeForest is still working with it. He’ll coach up Mark, and that will take some of it off of Joe’s plate.
On what the team is looking to accomplish today
The number one thing we talked about was turnover margin. We were 119 in the country in turnover margin. The first thing that we do after stretch right here is going to be ball security on offense, and it’s going to be turnover circuit on defense. If we can get better at that, that will win us some more games.
On the new team room
It’s as good of one as I’ve seen. There are some that are bigger. I would challenge you to find one that’s better. There are no glitches. The kids can fit in the seats, and the guys in the back rows can see the screens. They did a great job with it. The graphics are great. It’s as good of one as I’ve seen.
On what feature of the team room stands out
Just it being functional more than anything. You guys have been in that team room we were in. You can’t hear anything. You can’t see anything. We’re going to be able to meet the right way. We’re going to be able to be more functional. That was my biggest thing. Obviously bells and whistles helps in recruiting, but more importantly being functional is something that’s very important.
On the wide receivers
We have to find guys who can make plays on the outside. We all know the situation that we’re in right now, losing Kevin (White) and losing Mario (Alford). We need to find some wideouts who can make plays. We’ve got about six or seven of them right now. We obviously recruited three of them, too. We need to find guys who can make some plays.
On the structure of the spring schedule
I would rather be in pads right now. Once spring break is over, the weather is going to be better. We obviously got pretty good with it today. Just getting those non-padded practices out of the way. It’s all mental. The first three days are going to be mental. We’re going to make a lot of mistakes that we’re going to have to get corrected. Then when we come back from spring break, it’s going to be all real football. That’s when you get to hit and put the pads on and get physical and work on the toughness aspect of it as well.
On if the team will work on improving the turnover margin from day one
Hopefully by putting it at the beginning of practice, it will help. It’s all about the emphasis. We’re going to work on that right now and hopefully the guys will understand why we’re doing it.
On if the teams is able to focus on the turnover margin and other little things since it doesn’t need to install new systems
Well, no, because you have to let these guys rep, and the best way for them to get better at what we’re asking them to do is to rep. We’ll keep practicing the way that we’ve been.
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