MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, August 02, 2016, at the Steve Antoline Family Football Practice Field.
Opening Statement
Welcome to fall camp. We are finally here, tired of vacation. We have nine good weeks of summer in, we gave the guys off last week. They’re back, they’re eager, they’re ready to go. We just had a little run through pre-practice in there and they weren’t supposed to sweat, because it was kind of a run through, walk through type stuff and they are all drenched right now. I was trying to trick them by being inside and practice was supposed to start here but they are already tired. That just means they are eager and they are ready to go.
On new NCAA social media recruiting regulations
Nauseating, absolutely nauseating. That is all I want to say about that. I think the NCAA will revisit that. The bottom line is they made it a lot harder to recruit and they made their life a lot easier. I probably have to be careful, but leave it to the NCAA to make it easier on them and harder on us.
On if any scholarship players are not in practice
Nope. Everybody is here ready to go. We have a couple making up a summer workout because they decided to go home before the summer workout was made up. Which summer is mandatory and they left early so they have to make that up before they are privy to go practice. There is a couple of them out there but they will be out here pretty quick.
On what this team’s trademark is compared to other years
I think it comes from, collectively a lot of different things. It can come from you all at times. It can come from what people are saying about us. Last year there was a lot of optimism because of what we had coming back defensively. This year there is not quite as much optimism but we have equally as much coming back offensively. That kind of made us mad offensively last year and it makes us mad defensively this year. I think there is a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and we are anxious to put in the work to get us to game day.
On position changes for fall camp
(Senior defensive lineman) Jon Lewis is back at defensive end, we just need that body. Plus, we have (redshirt sophomore Trevon) Wesco at tight end, and we have a couple more tight end bodies. He will be back at defensive end. (Freshman, defensive lineman) Chase Behrndt, we are experimenting with him at nose guard. We recruited him as an offensive lineman, but we are thin. (redshirt sophomore defensive lineman) Jaleel Fields is out. I don’t know if I even mentioned this, he had knee surgery so he is out for the year so we are down a body at nose (guard). We are seeing if Chase can do that. He is a Kyle Rose of sorts. High school state wrestling guy, he has a mean streak to him. We will see if he can do it. We don’t know if he can.
On new recruiting regulations
Do what you want. With the relaxed rules, we aren’t going to get in trouble. With relaxed rules, with phone calls and text messages we aren’t going to get in trouble. It’s funny how we had a “major” infraction with some impermissible text messages and phone calls in which no more than one was to a single prospect. Somehow it is a major infraction but it is now legal so I guess we won’t get in trouble anymore.
On plan for improving the passing game
We have already done it, we did it a lot in the spring. We have dang near the same bodies that we had in the spring. Young offensive linemen, which we probably aren’t going to count on very much. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jovon’s (Durante) back, he looks good. He is going to dabble in some inside receiver today. The tackles with (Assistant Coach, offensive coordinator/fullbacks- tight ends) Coach Wickline, showed a lot of improvement in the spring. The rapport with (senior quarterback) Skyler (Howard) and the receivers, it looks a lot better as well. Just continuing what we did in the spring. Just reps and reps and reps. All of those reps should turn out to be beneficial when we need them too.
On (freshman running back) Justin Crawford’s reps
He looks good. Thick, quick, twitchy, fast. He was here all summer so he is ahead of the curve. We don’t have to teach him what to do out there. (Freshman running back) (Martell) Pettaway was not here all summer so we are going to have to teach him, but we really don’t have to teach Justin, who was here all summer and knows what to do. We will plug him in there and see what it looks like. He looks good to me, he looked good in that run through. He was full speed.
On receiving corps being most physical he has coached
I can’t say that. The likes of Justin Blackmon, Josh Cooper. We could go back to Texas Tech with (Wes) Welker and (Michael) Crabtree, and (Danny) Amendola. We had some tough ones, I’m not putting this group in that category yet. I like the physical nature of (senior wide receiver) Daikiel (Shorts Jr.). (Sophomore wide receiver) Gary (Jennings) has a physical nature to him. We have to get (redshirt junior wide receiver) Shelton (Gibson) and (redshirt junior wide receiver) Ka’Raun (White) and these younger, twitchier guys to see if they can be physical at all.
On receiving corps being most physical he has coached at WVU
Probably, Kevin (White) was pretty physical, he could dominate you. Mario (Alford) was kind of soft, I can’t wait until that one goes viral. Stedman (Bailey), that wasn’t his strength, his strength was gliding and he mesmerized people with how he wiggled. It has a chance to be, here, it has a chance to be, yeah.
On how a physical receiver can make a difference
Everything, blocking, attacking. If you want to be a big time receiver, you have to be physical through bodies. A lot of times if you run a route, you are being defended, and if those guys knock you off your route then it is no good, you have to be physical through routes. You have to be physical when you block. You have to be physical when people get up in your face and put their hands on you. This group has a chance, by no means am I going to put them in the categories that I just said.
On speed at the receiver position
That is a different story. This is collectively the fastest group I have had. That doesn’t mean they are the most productive or effective, or any good at all, but collectively they are probably, in a straight line, the fastest group I have had probably ever.
On developing chemistry on defense
It is what fall camp is all about. We are going to line up and go through 29 practices. We will get 50 snaps of team today and 40 snaps of skel (skeleton). It is just day one of 29 days to be able to get out there and just play. You have to put the ball down and play a bunch.
On if the heart of the football’s defense is to have strength up the middle as well as the offense
I can’t answer it defensively. Offensively, yes. Without a doubt. Your center and quarterback which is about as middle as you can get. Those guys have a lot of snaps under their belts. Not teaching them anything. We’re just playing ball and getting better at practicing, developing relationships and rapport. Having the guards, it gives you a chance to be successful. You still have to have guys who can see the hole. Wendell (Smallwood) can hit the hole pretty good. He couldn’t get you 12 but he could get you 10 real quick. You have to have those guys and you have to make plays at receiver. We’ve talked a lot about having to score more. We have to have guys who can make people miss and figure out ways of getting in the end zone. Without that, being solidified up front, those guys don’t have a chance. It’s fun to have an offensive line that gives you a chance to be able to work on the other stuff. As we all know that’s why I was hired five years ago.
On the difference of preparation opening against Georgia Southern last year to opening with Missouri this year
Yes. We start school two days later, too. For whatever reason, I don’t know. We were working on Georgia Southern throughout five weeks of camp. Here, we won’t have to work on Missouri until about two weeks, two weeks before the first. It does. It give us another week and a couple of more periods to be able to do that.
