Quick Hits: QB Evaluation, Injury Update, State of the O-Line, Thoughts on Ohio + More

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez met with the media on Tuesday to discuss the win over Robert Morris and preview this week's game versus Ohio.

Here are some of the notable quotes from today's press conference.

Opening statement

“The crowd was fantastic. It was a beautiful day. I thought our guys played pretty hard, were pretty focused, but we certainly didn’t play well in the first half offensively with the three fumbles. Our execution outside of three fumbles was okay. Our guys didn’t panic and put the team away like they should have in the second half. A lot to work on, a lot to get better, and we know from here on out the challenges get a whole lot tougher.”

How the offensive line looked

“I thought our o-line played pretty hard. We didn’t get as much push at times as we need to. The physicality was there sometimes, but not probably to the point where we’re going to have to have it going forward. Assignment-wise, they were pretty solid for the first game. I thought they communicated well. There were a couple missed assignments, as you would expect, but overall, mentally, they did a good job.”

Evaluation of the quarterbacks

“Kind of like we thought. Nicco’s got some game experience. He’s relaxed out there seeing the field. There’s always one or two things that we want to take back, but he was in control of running the system and did a nice job. Made a couple key first down runs. And then the other guys all had explosive runs — Jaylen (Henderson), Scotty(Fox), and Khalil (Wilkins). I wanted to play them more. That was the disappointing part about having those turnovers. Not putting the game away in the first half, I was hoping to have the whole second half to play those other guys and get some play in our system, but they all went in there and did some decent stuff.”

Initial thoughts on Ohio

“Their quarterback, I think, is one of the best in the country. He’s really good, really talented. He can take the play that’s off and make something happen out of it. They were the best team in the MAC, by far, last year. It’s going to be a big challenge. I told our guys we’ve got to learn being comfortable being uncomfortable because we’re going to be in a small locker room, a long bus ride, against a good team with an explosive quarterback. It’s going to be an interesting challenge.”

What he learned about the defense

“Not much. We weren’t really challenged, and we didn’t think so going in. Obviously, they’re a smaller level, and we gave up a couple 3rd and 10s early, but outside of that, they played pretty solid. They weren’t really challenged.”

Injury update

“(Kannon) Katzer probably will be practicing today or maybe tomorrow. Max (Brown), he’s got a slight hamstring; I’m not sure he’ll go full-go today, but he’ll do some.”

If this is a trap game

“That’s ridiculous. If they’re thinking about anybody other than Ohio, they need to go somewhere else. It’s as simple as that. I don’t even want them thinking about Saturday. I want them thinking about how I get through Tuesday’s practice. That’s not going to be that difficult for us to manage, I don’t think.”