Rich Rodriguez Radio Show summary 11-3
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez held his weekly radio show Monday night and here is a summary of what was said.
–Rodriguez said that it wasn’t one particular thing that led to the upset against Houston. They had been practicing better but he met with the whole offense by himself and told them to come off the ball better. They ran with more purpose, tight ends and receivers blocked better. Executed better on offense and true freshman Scotty Fox is growing up. They played hard on defense.
–There’s still a little bit of doubt and hesitation there when you don’t have confidence but if you’re going to be in a fight throw the first punch. The mentality on offense they know when the snap count is and you have to throw the first punch. That’s who they’ve got to be and who they should be all the time. Fox was really solid and made some next level throws and up front even when they missed something they knew what they missed at. They’re not going to dominate but if they play with great effort and put the pressure on the other team to make mistakes that bodes well.
—Nick Krahe has been solid in every game. Landen Livingston has been solid at center. Donovan Haslam gives them a 330-pound presence and when he knocks you, he really knocks you. He is a freshman in the system and will continue to get better and better.
–The reaction on the sideline when Haslam pulled Diore Hubbard showed them that they were really in the game.
–Fox is getting better and better. The throw to Jeff Weimer was big and the RPO throw to Rodney Gallagher was next level. There’s still going to be freshman moments and he has to remind himself of that. Rodriguez said that he was making such a big deal out kneeling down at the end of the game and Fox told him that which was something you don’t really expect out of a freshman.
—Colorado is just trying to find a guy that fits at quarterback. The five-star freshman Julian Lewis got in and played well and he’s seen he could be starting. They have recruited very well and they’re athletic. The last couple games they’ve had turnovers and mistakes which has piled up on them but he expects to get their best effort. You prepare for the plays, not the players. Rodriguez is focused on West Virginia and putting them in position to win. A performance like Saturday validates what the coaching staff has been telling the team. If you play hard every snap you give yourself a chance.
–Typically they would have a max distance of 49 yards on field goals, but they had a breeze and Kade Hensley hit it right. Nate Flower has hit the ball well on kickoffs with six of eight being deep enough.
–Rodriguez was asked about the pass interference calls and he said he should have been angrier. The game is fast and the athletes are bigger and stronger so it’s harder now to be an official than ever before.
—Deion Sanders was a mentor for Noel Devine. Sanders thought he would have to go to a prep school but Rodriguez thought he could pass the test. He then passed the ACT and had a great career here. Now, he’s on the staff and his son Andre Devine is on the team.
–Execution wise West Virginia did not play that well on defense but they scaled back some things. The defense forced turnovers and kept playing and playing and didn’t panic. Jimmori Robinson missed all that time so he was months behind everybody else and he’s getting more comfortable with what he’s doing. He has a lot of ability and you could see the weight of the world was on him and he just finally enjoyed playing and had some fun which should help him moving forward, too.
—Jordan Scruggs is an experienced guy and they recognized that on film for his pick six. They are rotating a lot of players up front on the defensive line.
–You have to be ready to go all the time. Part of their job is to now let the team relax. Once they grow up in the system and it becomes engrained they have to keep their foot on the pedal.
–All three of the quarterbacks for Colorado are available. They may not know who starts until game time. They all do a lot of the same things.
–Rodriguez constantly looks at the play list but even when coaches have good ideas he wants to focus on what they do really well. And things they’ve been repping that haven’t been called they want to rep those instead of introducing new things. He would rather change tempo and formations up instead of plays and make them recognize it. You can’t control the tempo if you don’t get first downs, you can’t get first downs if you don’t come off the ball or execute in pass plays. The things that are non-negotiable is playing hard and physical.
–West Virginia stayed on schedule and it allowed them to use tempo. They didn’t give up a sack. They weren’t way behind the schedule so you could keep the tempo going.
–All the staff are reaching out to recruits but it’s still different that for a lot of them. They love the game and the visit here but somebody offers them more money or it’s a better opportunity to make more money. It’s frustrating at times but they’re in a situation where they have to go in a lot of different areas to recruit. Rodriguez thinks they’ll sign a great recruiting class and will sign a dozen or so portal guys in January and get the program back to where it needs to be.
–Rodriguez said that Fox and Khalil Wilkins were the young bucks but they stayed engaged. You could see early on with Fox that he can make some next level throws and he is extremely coachable. From day one you told him this and that’s exactly the way he would do it. You could see from the jump he had the fastest release and maybe the strongest arm of all of them. He is a football junkie and always around the facilities. Rodriguez revealed that he doesn’t eat processed foods.
–You have to feature what your quarterback does well but have the ability to do everything. You have to be smart enough to find out what he does well and if Fox is the number one quarterback what does he do well and how do they feature it?
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