Quick Hits: Bounce Back Day, Perimeter Blocking, NIL Deals, Sharp O-Line + More

The Mountaineers bounced back on day three of fall camp with better effort.

WVU Athletics Communication

Friday morning, the West Virginia Mountaineers held an open practice for the media. Shortly after, head coach Rich Rodriguez met with reporters to discuss how today went after a bad day two.

Opening statement

“I thought our guys did a better job today of the intensity level and attention to detail, so I thought we got better today. Pretty spirited, pretty good. Obviously, you get so much more work done in shoulder pads than in shorts or without the pads on.”

The key focus of today’s practice

“We do a lot of perimeter stuff, and we got to be good perimeter blockers — our wide receivers, tight ends, running backs — all of our skill guys, we demand a lot out of them from a downfield perimeter blocking standpoint. Today we got some of that work done, but there’s a lot of work to do with that. I liked the effort. I didn’t think the technique was very good, for the most part. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to run the football at times at different places. We’ve had really good running backs, good quarterbacks that could run, but we had really good downfield blocking and guys taking a lot of pride in that.”

How the offensive line has looked

“It’s a very conscientious group. I mean, I’ve got three really good o-line coaches working with them. Mentally, as far as assignment-wise, and again, we’re not that complicated at all, but what I saw at least the last three days, they’ve been pretty sharp mentally. I didn’t think today we got as much push maybe up on the line of scrimmage. And Coach (Zac) Alley, he’s got 46 blitzes and 18 coverages and 45 fronts put in already, I think. I hate to limit it because they do such a good job teaching it, but there’s a whole lot more our guys have saw up front today in the third day of practice than you would normally expect, so I’ll reserve judgment until we see it a few more times.”

Execution of special teams unit/specialists

“Ollie punted pretty well today. Kickers have seemed to be pretty accurate. We got some good competition going on there. I’m excited about our special teams. I think because where we’re at with our roster and got so many new guys, everybody wants to compete to play, and they know special teams is a way for them to get on the field.”

Dealing with NIL deals

“We kind of have like an NFL salary cap would have, and what’s projected for QB1, left tackle two. And the hard part about that for us, or anybody that’s new as a staff is you really don’t know. I mean, what do you pay this guy and that guy because you really hadn’t played a game with them? But you have to project that as best as you can, and then you have to have the ability to restructure the salary cap or their salaries as the season goes along or as the season goes. This will be the toughest year for that because everybody’s projected. And our players know that you don’t want to pay your fourth-team nose guard more than your starting quarterback. You have to have a salary cap structure that rewards guys for earned success.”

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

EA Sports Highlights Jahiem White, the Leader in One Key Attribute on College Football 26

CBS Sports Ranks WVU’s 2025 Schedule Among the Most Difficult in Big 12

Best Virginia Shares Heartfelt Message With Fans After TBT Loss in Semifinals

Pat McAfee Believes 'There's a Good Chance' College GameDay Goes to Backyard Brawl