Rich Rodriguez press conference summary: 4-6
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media following spring practice and here is a summary of what was said.
–Rodriguez congratulated Ross Hodge and the basketball team for winning the Crown.
–Rodriguez said that if bowls would encourage NIL it would help participation because money has always been a great motivator. He thinks you could see a non-conference game at a neutral site creating some of that as well. Everybody is looking for ways to create revenue.
–Rodriguez was disappointed out of the last practice, but it was better today. He is forcing the coaches to hone down the play list. They have a few more practices to hone down the plays and will try to split the team up and have a draft to make a true evaluation of where the guys are at.
–The returners at wide receiver like Jaden Bray will help and the guys that have experience out of the portal that they took were productive and showed things at a higher level. They did some good things today and showed some confidence. The transfers should all be able to help.
–Rodriguez said they want their wideouts, at the four positions, to learn all of them and simplify all of it to have guys play multiple positions.
–Rodriguez said if guys are making people miss in space is his team bad at tackling? You’ve got to evaluate some of that. They went live for around 20 minutes today.
—Scotty Fox is more comfortable with what not only the offense does, but what is going on the defensive side. He was really good at that as a true freshman but understands it even better now. Today he made some good reads on the pass play and a great release.
–Rodriguez thinks they’ve made a lot of steps on the offensive line and on defense they are more athletic. Linebackers made some really athletic plays today. There hasn’t been one thing that has stood out really good but there isn’t any glaring negatives either.
–Rodriguez said they have room for two or three spots. His staff is still watching guys in the portal but it’s not like this time last year. You’ve got what you’ve got.
–Competition everywhere else has been pretty good. One of the reasons they want to split things up is if one guy is always going against the second group, it isn’t necessarily fair. They can make a better evaluation of who deserves it. If you’re good enough to win with you will play. He wants his team to be concerned if they’re good enough to win with because they will play them.
–Rodriguez thinks they are faster at the wide receiver position. Some of that is athletic ability, but some of that is tips from coaching to use that athletic ability to get open.
–Every coach has got to coach to his personality but there needs to be an intensity level that mirrors what you want on game day. He doesn’t want to be the guy that always has to bring that intensity level but he wants the guys to understand the importance of each play and each rep in practice.
—Ryan Ward is the leader of the room know and understands what they want to do. They have the talent in the room this year, they will play two tight ends, maybe three tight ends.
–They will split up the team some in the next practice. They will try to do that in the spring game that will be a split up scrimmage.
—DJ Epps, Armoni Weaver, TaRon Francis, Greg Wilfred and Charlie Hanafin are playing in the slot. But if they simplify it inside guys can play outside and vice versa.
–Rodriguez wants to see how his pass rushers can get after the quarterback without having to scheme them to get sacks.
–Rodriguez said they will draft by position for the upcoming draft. Not randomly selected. He will be the coach for both teams and they will have a lot of fun with it. He will split the strength and coaches and personnel staff up. He is trying to figure out what to do with the winners and losers.
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