Quick Hits: QB Situation, Pitt Hatred, Injury Update, RB Options + More

West Virginia head football coach Rich Rodriguez just wrapped up his weekly press conference and discussed the issues from the loss to Ohio and this week's matchup with Pitt.

Here are the highlights from today's presser.

Opening statement

“Obviously a big week for us. Playing our rival, a sold out crowd, the weather is supposed to be great. We’ve got to have a great week of preparation. Going to have to have some new guys step up with some injuries that we had in the past game. It’s going to be a big week for those guys.”

The injuries to Jahiem White and Jaden Bray

“Jaden, I think his injury is the same he had before, which is really unfortunate with his foot. He’ll get it fixed again and expect a full recovery. He was one of the hardest workers every practice. He was getting the most miles in, so that’s why you feel bad for the guy. And then Jahiem, it was unfortunate because he was working really hard too to come back and be ready to play. Like I told those guys, we got great medical help. They’ll come back bigger and better and stronger than ever. Unfortunately, somebody is going to have to take their place for this year. We’ve got a lot of candidates, just not a lot of guys who have played a lot.”

How close Kannon Katzer is to returning from injury

“Katzer is getting closer to coming back. I’m hoping he’ll be able to practice this week, but we’re not sure if he’ll be full-go today or tomorrow.”

Jimmori Robinson’s status

"From my understanding, he's going to be cleared, but I thought he'd be cleared for this weekend, but there's still a question about that.”

Significance of the Backyard Brawl

“I think it’s one of the greatest rivalries in sports. The location between the two are close. There’s a lot of intensity with it. There never seems to be any love lost between the fanbases. It’s always, to me, the biggest game on your schedule when you’re at West Virginia.”

What Diore Hubbard brings to the table

“He’s got some speed, and he’s got good ability. I think he was still learning a little bit. He’s been banged up somewhat in the beginning of camp, which set him back a little bit.”

What separates this rivalry from the others he’s coached in

“I’ve told people everywhere I’ve been that I’ve been in a bunch of rivalries, and there’s none that’s more intense than this. I don’t know if it’s because of the location is close or because there’s been so many heated games in all sports against each other. You look at West Virginia and we’re smaller towns, and Pittsburgh’s the big city. Maybe it’s not as known nationally as probably what it should be. I would tell folks, even when I was at Michigan, I know the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is big, but it’s hard to get more intense than West Virginia-Pitt.”

Thoughts on Pitt QB Eli Holstein

"He's an NFL guy. He can make all the throws," Rodriguez said. "Last week was different because Parker Navarro was such a unique guy that would make jump passes, scramble around, make you miss, and get first downs. The plan for him and the plan for everybody else is a little different, probably. Eli can move around a little bit. He's not just a stationary target. They're going to throw it all over the place if we don't get pressure or we don't cover well."

Thoughts on Nicco Marchiol

"He's doing everything he can. Nicco wants to be great, and I know we got to help him in certain spots as well. The quarterback position is very unique here. I've never had this many guys that were kind of in the mix and have different skill sets. I don't want to say we're still figuring it out because we had some time to figure it out, but you get a lot of answers in games. I'm not a typical, you're just going to play one quarterback. We like to give everybody opportunities and see what happens."

If he’ll name a starting QB this week

"No, I'm not naming anything because we've got a long week of doing practice and evaluating our guys. I thought Jaylen (Henderson), we were looking for a little spark, and the best play he had, we got called back because of a penalty. He got a couple of series there, but he's still in the mix, as is some of those other guys. We'll see."

If the 2007 game creeps into his head entering this week

“If it were two or three years ago, it would probably be a little bit more on my mind, but that was such a lifetime ago. Is it a sore spot when it’s brought up? Yeah, so thanks for that. It was the worst moment of my professional career from a game standpoint, and I tried to move past it a long time ago. From that regard, it’d be good to get a win. It’s not going to ease the pain from that. It’ll still always be there, but that’s part of life.”