MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football fans have heard repeatedly an iconic two-word phrase since coach Rich Rodriguez returned to the Mountaineers -- "hard edge."
Players are starting to understand who Rodriguez is but are also buying into what he is selling them.
"Hard edge" has also become a social media slogan and rallying point for WVU fans.
It's also been something that offensive lineman Landen Livingston has taken to heart, whether it be during practice or scrimmages.
Livingston tied that mentality into the Mountaineers having a chip on their shoulder this season. An example of that fuel is ESPN tabbing WVU a "long shot" to win the Big 12 Conference.
ESPN also ranked the Mountaineers No. 16 in the league in its preseason power rankings.
"It's just having the 'hard edge' football mentality," Livingston said. "[It's] trying to go out there and outwork our opponent. It's either prove them right or prove them wrong."
The Pennsylvania native didn't hesitate when noting what playing with a "hard edge" mentality could do for this year's offensive line.
"[It's] mentally and physically outplaying your opponent," Livingston said. "That's every play, no matter how tired you are. No matter what challenges, either if there's a loss on the play before or massive gains. It's having that same mindset every single play and attacking the opponent."
Rodriguez knows how to get his players enthused, and that was evident during his first stint at West Virginia.
The Grant Town native guided the Mountaineers to 60 wins from 2001-07.
Rodriguez recently went on "The Pat McAfee Show" and gave another stellar quote that will be added to his arsenal.
"When you hold, you're lazy," Rodriguez said. "If you loaf, you're a traitor. You play for the other team. I don't want lazy people, and I don't want traitors."
How does that not get someone amped up to run through a wall for him?
It's that hard edge mentality.
Rodriguez mentioned a specific game that embodied that mentality -- it came in the 1980s when he was playing for the Mountaineers.
His first game as a Mountaineer came in 1982 when WVU played the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. WVU beat the Sooners, 41-27, and quarterback Jeff Hostetler threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns.
Rodriguez only made one tackle in that game, but his memories are still vivid.
"I was on special teams, and I actually got in the game early at safety," Rodriguez said. "I think on the first play I was chasing someone downhill and one of their big linemen clocked me and said something like, 'Welcome to college football.' Then, three or four plays later, they had a guy named Marcus Dupree, and they ran a little option or something and I hit him. It might have been a little bit late.
"But I hit him out of bounds. I stood up like a veteran and was like, 'Yeah, welcome to college football.' I just learned that phrase 10 minutes earlier. That was my introduction to college football."
Rodriguez understands the meaning behind that hard edge mentality because the fans also home in on it.
The Marion County native recalled the night WVU returned from Oklahoma after upsetting the Sooners.
"We pulled into the Blue Lot because there were a bunch of fans waiting for us, and they were rocking the bus," Rodriguez said. "The coaches weren't sure to let us off the bus. They asked us what to do, and we said, 'Let us off the damn bus.' It was pretty exciting."
