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Dana Holgorsen Spring Practice Update
April 02, 2016 02:26 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Saturday, April 2, at the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field.
Opening Statement
Welcome everybody. Sorry to only keep you all a couple minutes. We have a coaching clinic going on. There were a couple of things we had move along a little bit. This is practice No. 6. Things are going well. We have had two non-padded, two uppers, and this will be our second full practice. You will see a full practice today. Some of the drills might make sense, some of the drills might not. There will be a two minute situation where we will move the ball. Other than that, it will probably just be a bunch of drills and stuff. You are going to have 200 hundred coaches out there to kind of lead through this. There is not enough space out there for you guys as there is in the stadium, so I apologize for that. However, there is a lot of space for us to be out there and get some stuff done. The practice field has worked out great. The guys are excited about playing. The guys are excited about the facility, and we are getting a lot of good work in.
A couple of things. I want to make you aware of guys that you won’t see out there. (Redshirt junior running back) Jacky Marcellus has decided to transfer and go to a school where he has a better opportunity to play. He is a good kid that has done everything right. Academically, he is in good standing. He is a great kid. I have a lot of support for him, and he is just a kid that wants to go play somewhere. I really support that. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jovon Durante, (senior defensive lineman) Larry Jefferson and (redshirt senior kicker) Josh Lambert are all suspended for spring practice for a violation of team rules. We anticipate having all three of those guys for the start of summer, but you won’t see any of those guys out there as well. (Redshirt sophomore running back) Donte Thomas-Williams has been suspended for spring ball as well due to conduct that was detrimental to the team. His future is left to be determined. Two signees, (freshman wide receiver) Marcus Simms and (freshman quarterback) Cody Saunders are doing great, but they have some things back home that they are trying to deal with this weekend, and we expect them back next week. Other than that, we are pretty healthy. (Sophomore wide receiver) Gary Jennings is going to be in a green jersey. He has a wrist situation. He is going to be full go next week, but he won’t be full go today. (Redshirt senior safety) Jarrod Harper had shoulder surgery, and he is not going to be ready until the summer. That is where we stand. I’ll take a couple of quick questions.
On who has been coaching the wide receivers
I am. Who do you think has been coaching them? I have a pretty long history with coaching receivers. I’m excited about this group. It has been fun for me to be able to be in the room with these guys. Coaches have opportunities to move on. I’m never going to think that is a negative thing. Guys that leave here for promotions or something like that is very positive for our program. With that said, I have been pretty fired up about getting in the wide receivers room and doing stuff that I have done for 15 years. I think these guys are going to be just fine.
On finding a replacement for former assistant coach (wide receivers) Lonnie Galloway
Potentially. You know how the hiring process goes. A lot of that stuff is out of my control. There is a lot of coaches for this job. I am pretty confident that we can get a guy in that can help us with this program.
On senior quarterback Skyler Howard’s progress thus far
It’s good. He is pretty confident. The last time he played live football he threw for 560 yards, second all-time in the history of West Virginia football. He is pretty good. I am really happy with what we are doing up front. (Assistant coach/offensive line) Coach (Ron) Crook and (assistant coach/offensive coordinator/fullbacks/tight ends) coach (Joe) Wickline are really working well together. Our pass protection is really improving, which in turn makes (senior quarterback) Skyler (Howard) a little bit more comfortable. The better that he is with the timing aspect of the receivers, the better everyone is going to be. It is not just about him and his development. It is about everybody else’s development as well.
On the running back situation this year
(Redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell) Rus looks better than I have seen. looks better than I have seen. He is in a good place. He is healthy. He feels good. He is in a good place. (Freshman running back) Kennedy McKoy is way better than expected. He has learned from No. 4 out there. He is representing No. 4. He’s on track. He is a small kid, and he is picking things up. Everything looks good.
On who is out there kicking since redshirt senior kicker Josh Lambert is suspended
(Redshirt junior kicker) Mike Molina. (Redshirt sophomore kicker) Billy Kinney is doing some of that as well. We are also going to add another body to do that. Those guys are doing fine now, but it is about their development and their progression in spring camp as well.
On using the drones
Video. It does great video. It shoots video right to your phone and computer. You get great shots. Obviously, you can move it around. We have two of them flying around. We had to clear it with the FFA. Seriously. We are within four or five miles of the airport. I would like to get about three or four of them up there, because they give you a different angle. You can learn a lot of things from it and it helps with technique as well. There’s a highlight video aspect of it, but there is a teaching element to it as well. You can get some angles that I have never seen before.
On if there is a noticeable difference with the defense after some guys graduating
They look the same to me. We are in three year of the same scheme. Those guys are flying around. They are doing a great job. If you look at the first string defense right now, it is made up of juniors and seniors. We are at a point in this program where we are not replacing guys that graduated with new guys, junior college guys or freshman. We are replacing guys with players that have been in this program for several years. It looks like the same defense.
On if this is the first time head coach Dana Holgorsen has used a drone
My son has used them. He is a freshman at Morgantown High School. He sits on the back porch and flies that thing all around the neighborhood. I looked at it, and said those things are shooting videos and angles that I have never seen before. As soon as we received clearance, and I’m being honest when I say that we needed to get clearance, we started experimented with the different angles a little bit. I told (video coordinator) Kyler Butler, our video guy, to give me a different angle every day.
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