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Dominion Post
4 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
WVU quarterbacks to throw more than Rich Rodriguez is used to
MORGANTOWN — If you think of a quarterback on a Rich Rodriguez-led West Virginia team from the early 2000s, most would think of quarterback Pat White. White was Rodriguez's most successful quarterback, leading the Mountaineers to a 33-5 record as a starter under Rodriguez, and finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2007. White was a decent passer, but he was known more for his running ability. He rushed for 4,480 yards in four seasons with the Mountaineers and had his two best seasons under Rodriguez. Part of White's rushing success was his athleticism, but more was due to Rodriguez's offensive scheme, which focused more on the quarterback run. Through all of his stops, Rodriguez's quarterbacks rushed a lot, and it'll be the same in his first season back in 2025. However, Rodriguez said this year they'll 'probably' pass more than people think. 'We are putting a lot more pass plays in than run plays,' Rodriguez said. That doesn't mean the West Virginia quarterbacks aren't going to run. Rodriguez clarified he's still going to run his quarterbacks a lot, which was the case during WVU's Gold and Blue Spring Showcase and in the limited time the media could watch at preseason practice. WVU showed a bunch of designed quarterback runs at the Aug. 8 practice, and it didn't matter who was at quarterback. Rodriguez thinks all five quarterbacks have the ability to run the ball the way his offense needs to. 'They don't have to be Pat White fast to be a 1,000-yard rusher,' Rodriguez said. 'We don't have any slugs back there. We're running them.' Quarterback Nicco Marchiol, who many project as the favorite to be the starter, said he could be a 1,000-yard rusher if Rodriguez needed him to. Marchiol wasn't the biggest runner in his limited playing time over three seasons, but Marchiol said he's in the best running shape he's ever been. The more pass plays come down to the strengths of the quarterbacks. White's strength was his athleticism, so the offense was built around letting him run wild. Rodriguez is still learning what his quarterbacks' strengths are, but one of them is their arm strength. 'All five can really throw it,' Rodriguez said. 'I've never had that many that could throw it that well, as far as arm strength goes and all that. There's not really a past play that's out there, or a route package that is out there that we're like, well, we can't do that because we don't have the arm strength to make that throw.' Rodriguez is also putting in more pass plays because the offensive line is still learning Rodriguez's offense, so pass plays are a bit easier to learn to block. The season is fastly approaching. Rodriguez said this is the last week of install and evaluation, and next week, WVU needs to start game preparation. Rodriguez is still figuring out what he has in his quarterbacks and what he should focus the offense on. It's still going to be very run-heavy, but don't be surprised if the quarterbacks take more deep shots. 'That's certainly a thought for us going into the next two weeks,' Rodriguez said. 'When we tear this thing down, I'm not worried about 50% run plays, 50% pass plays. I'm worried about these are the plays we can execute.'
Dominion Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
West Virginia's first fall scrimmage was "productive" with room for improvement
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia capped off its first full week of practice with an intersquad scrimmage on Saturday inside Milan Puskar Stadium. It'd been 126 days since WVU's last scrimmage, the Gold and Blue Spring Showcase, and Saturday's scrimmage was similar. Rich Rodriguez said he ran around 100 to 110 plays during the scrimmage, going over multiple different situations. Everyone was live during the scrimmage, meaning everyone could be hit, even the quarterbacks. It was a closed practice to the media, and the only spectators in the stands were coaches' families or other WVU personnel. There was a public address announcer to give it more of a game feel, and Rodriguez tried to gamify it by handing out points for successful plays. Rodriguez's biggest problem was the penalties. WVU had a Big 12 officiating crew there, and they called a couple of procedure penalties, some holding calls, which Rodriguez compared to turnovers, and one unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a touchdown. Rodriguez was especially unhappy with his player about the unsportsmanlike call. 'I told him next time, just keep running into the locker room,' Rodriguez said. 'They'll learn. They'll all learn from it. They're pretty conscientious.' Overall, Rodriguez seemed content with the first scrimmage. He'll do more reflecting after watching the film. 'I thought it was a productive day from a head coach standpoint,' Rodriguez said. 'You see the defense won some, the offense won some. That's probably a pretty good thing.' This was the first time the quarterbacks went live, so when they took off for a run, there could be consequences. Rodriguez didn't talk too much about how the quarterbacks did passing the ball, or if any quarterback made any leap above the competition in the position battle, but he was pleased with how the quarterbacks ran, going live for the first time. 'I thought the quarterbacks ran competitively today, which was the first time they were really live, live in this situation,' Rodriguez said. 'Sometimes they ran a little sideways, which we're fixing, but I thought they were pretty competitive running today.' One of the worries for Rodriguez heading into this scrimmage was how many plays he could run because he didn't have a lot of depth at running back. Thursday, Rodriguez said WVU was down to just two backs, Jahiem White and Diore Hubbard. Friday, Cyncir Bowers was back at practice. Saturday, WVU's running back room was back at four, with Kannon Katzer practicing again. Rodriguez said Hubbard, White and Bowers showed flashes during the scrimmage, but still had things to learn. 'There were a couple times, though, in short yardage, where we got to stick our foot in the ground and get the one yard, two yards, and press the line of scrimmage,' Rodriguez said. 'We're still learning that.' Rodriguez said tight ends had a 'pretty good' day blocking, and the slot receivers had some 'big' catches during the scrimmage, too. He didn't think there were any big plays out on the perimeter, but he'll have to rewatch the film to be sure. Defensive coordinator Zac Alley thought the defense's performance was a tale of two halves, or in this case, a tale of the beginning and the end of the scrimmage. Alley said the defense started really fast and executed, forcing the offense to punt. However, towards the end of practice, Alley said the defense 'fell off.' 'I challenged the guys afterward to maintain the first play, the first quarter, and the last play, the fourth quarter, the same,' Alley said. 'They're both as important, and you never know which one wins the game. Just maintain the energy, the execution, the effort, with technique throughout the entirety of a game, a scrimmage, whatever that is, we've got to be better at that.' The fall off wasn't because the team wasn't conditioning. It was more a lack of anticipation. The defense wasn't anticipating what would happen on a third-and-long on the 50-yard line compared to a third-and-short on the 2-yard line. 'We got to do a better job of understanding the situations,' Alley said. During the scrimmage, Alley and Rodriguez tried to make it as game-situational as possible. Alley gave a couple of his mike linebackers helmet communication, so he could simulate what it's going to be like during the game. He doesn't use it to call plays because that's done on the sideline with signals, but he does use it for relaying what he sees and what to look out for. 'Just so they get used to hearing me in their head,' Alley said. 'If they have to go in the game and do it, it's not the first time they've heard me yelling at them before the snap.' Rodriguez said the defense tackled 'OK', and Alley said the defense did 'pretty well' Saturday. 'It was one of the better first scrimmages I've had for sure,' Alley said. WVU didn't do any live special-teams plays during the scrimmage, but Rodriguez had the punters and kickers kick and punt a couple of times. During the upcoming week, WVU will have a day where the special teams go live to do some evaluation.
