Rich Rodriguez press conference summary: 4-2
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media following spring practice and here is a summary of what was said.
–Rodriguez said that there is a lot of new guys on defense and he likes the athleticism of the group. They’ve gotten bigger and longer in the secondary. They should have more depth if they’re lucky but still a lot of work in progress.
–Rodriguez wasn’t happy today. He didn’t think they got better today.
–Athleticism up front on the defensive line and there are more in the mix.
—Matt Sieg is just playing defense right now. He wants to get him some reps on offense before the end of spring ball. Siege is comfortable at safety and is confident. Sieg is sharp enough to handle that.
–The speed of the game happens so much more for true freshmen not matter what high school you come from but Sieg seems to be adjusting to that.
–Rodriguez said that every spring in 29 years about half way through schematically he believes they’re doing too much. There are things you have to put in it but you want to see what your guys can do. He wants to be somewhat game ready April 18. The most important thing is getting the players better and evaluating where they’re at across every position.
–Rodriguez said they do a lot of stuff defensively and he made them dial it back a couple days ago and he will have to do it more. He is trying to get a big picture view of what the quarterbacks can do, too. The players will get the next three days off to relax but it won’t be three days off for the coaches.
–Rodriguez said you want to try to experiment some but often times it’s wasted time because you end up doing what you do. There are two weeks of spring left and his group didn’t get everything out of today like they should have. Today wasn’t the best day for us and they’ve got to learn from that.
—Geimere Latimer was a really good athlete that played everywhere. He is a sharp instinctive guy and a good football player. He takes coaching and has been what they thought he was in recruiting.
—Deke Adams has great experience and is a great person. They were very fortunate he was available and able to hire him. They switched a little bit with him coaching both ends and William Green coaching the interior guys.
–The cornerbacks are longer this year. It’s a whole new room and there is some size there and a lot of athleticism. Rodriguez yelled at them today but it’s going to be a really competitive room.
–Rodriguez said it’s not as big of a jump as high school from junior college but it’s still a jump. The junior college guys aren’t spoiled. When you’re giving them stuff like a t-shirt and dinner, they are tickled to death.
–They had ability alignment when Rodriguez played cornerback and he often lined up deep.
–Rodriguez said that they go in the stadium for atmosphere but today it didn’t work because they weren’t practicing well. Usually he notices a difference when they practice in the stadium but not today.
—Scotty Fox is making good progress, Mike Hawkins is more competitive and has done a good job of picking up quickly. Max Brown has gotten better but the young guys have some skill but they look like freshman at times. Fox and Hawkins haven’t gone live as much but they will split the team up for some scrimmages next week and let everybody go live and see what happens.
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