Rich Rodriguez press conference summary: 4-8
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media after practice Wednesday and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
–Rodriguez said they got in 50-60 plays in a scrimmage format and tried to treat it like a game. He felt they got a little bit better from a competitive standpoint and they will watch the film. He felt they got better with how to practice, the intensity level and engagement level. He said they will meet and lift the new couple of days and then get three practices in next week.
–Rodriguez feels it’s a little bit of a work in progress with short yardage but he has seen some improvement. It starts with the physicality with the running backs and the quarterback making good decisions. It will continue to be a point of emphasis.
–Darius Morant, the new back, is a physical guy and he has shown some glimpses of doing some good stuff out there. Christopher Talley made some nice runs, Martavious Boswell made some nice runs. Andre Devine showed some flashes and has a chance to help them. Cam Cook didn’t get a whole lot of reps in the live period and they will get some more reps moving forward. Amari Latimer runs like a big guy and is physical. You can tell the decisiveness they have when they truly understand what they’re doing on offense.
–They want to dedicate a practice next week to go live and see how it goes with punt return and kick return.
–When he sees a big play in practice Rodriguez wants it to be that both guys executed and one made a play over another. He thinks they are more athletic. This is who we got and it’s good that he sees the athleticism and ability to make big plays but when guys know completely what they are doing they can play a little faster.
—Malik Agbo can play both sides right or left. He is going to be one of the key cogs. They want to have eight guys that can play up front and he hopes they can get 10.
—Darius Wiley is an athletic guy and play with great size and length. They are trying to get their players to not only get pressure on the quarterback but to bat passes down.
—Kevin Brown can play right tackle or left tackle, Malik Agbo can go left or right, Deshawn Woods strictly at tackle. Landen Livingston can play them all, Carsten Casady is strictly tackle. Devin Vass has been injured so he can play inside and outside. Cam Griffin can play all five positions, Livingston can. Wes King can play center and he doesn’t believe there were any bad snaps today.
—Scotty Fox and Mike Hawkins did not go live and were in black shirts. Both of them have game experience so he is not worried about them panicking under pressure. They are both athletic and can run and it hurts them when they can’t run. Max Brown made several plays running the ball because he was live.
—Kayden Luke has been working primarily with the tight ends but he wants to get him some work at running back. He wants to get onto his coaches about that.
–Rodriguez believes it helps to have a guy that no matter who is the corner he can win at receiver, but you really want to have two so you can make them play split safeties or play more zone.
–Rodriguez said they try to get guys to play everything but if they have a particular skill set they’re good at they need to utilize that to a certain degree. Simplifying things to where a guy can play to his full ability and play faster is the best thing at least initially. He said the defense can only have so many calls and it’s also a fraction of the offense for the rest of the spring and he wants to see how he executes those before he adds more stuff on. You have to evaluate guys and get them ready to play.
–Rodriguez doesn’t want to limit anybody.
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