MORGANTOWN – On Saturday, West Virginia’s football team held the first full-scale, officiated scrimmage of its preseason camp, and afterward, WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said he saw both good and bad in the performance.
“We got about 100 plays in. Everybody got reps, which was good to see,†Rodriguez said. “Everybody was live, including the quarterbacks, and we needed to see that a little bit.
“I thought it was a productive day from a head coach standpoint because we saw the offense win some and the defense win some. That’s probably a pretty good thing.â€
Rodriguez said he’ll hold out his final judgment on Saturday’s performances until after he watches the video, but in his post-practice press conference, he did note some players and positions that caught his eye.
• “Our quarterbacks ran competitively, though I also thought their eyes were in the wrong place at times. There are a lot of decisions for them to make, so we have to get that corrected.
“This is the first time they were really live-live in this situation. They did run a little sideways at times, which we’ll have to fix, but I thought they all ran competitively today.â€
• “I thought our defense tackled OK today. The one thing we did have is we had way too many penalties.â€
• “We’re still not getting enough push from the [offensive] line up front. We’re still getting in too many stalemating situations. We’re not getting off the ball and changing the line of scrimmage, particularly in short-yardage situations.â€
• “[The competition for placekicker] is really a three-man battle with Kade [Hensley], Ethan [Head] and R.J. [Kocan]. Those three guys are all battling right there. It’s all going to be earned.â€
• “Ethan is the leader in the clubhouse on [kickoffs]. I don’t remember what his percentage on touchbacks was [last season at Tulane], but it was pretty high, and that’s one of the reasons we wanted him.â€
• “[Missouri senior transfer defensive lineman Eddie Kelly] is a guy who can come in and make an impact. He’s in better shape than when he got here. I think he loves football. Obviously, everything is different for him here – new system and all that. I think he has a chance to contribute. You can’t have enough of those guys – big defensive linemen [he's 6-foot-5, 288 pounds] who maybe can rush the passer. Those are pretty valuable.â€
• “[Redshirt freshman tight end] Ryan Ward made a big catch [in the scrimmage]. The tight ends looked like they had a pretty good day blocking. All the slot receivers had some big catches today.â€
• “[Running back Cyncir Bowers, who just started practicing recently after being held out with an injury through the first eight days of camp] is still learning and getting in shape. When you miss practice, you miss conditioning, too. Cyncir has some talent and ability. He had some decent runs today, as did Jahiem [White]. [Fellow back] Diore Hubbard has gotten better and showed a few things today. Kannon [Katzer] came back [from injury] and practiced today. There were a couple of times, though, when we went short-yardage where we have to stick our foot in the ground and get the 1 yard or 2 yards we need.â€
