Quick Hits: Impact Freshmen, Final Portal Needs, Plan for Matt Sieg + More

And just like that, the West Virginia Mountaineers have to spring practices under their belt. Head coach Rich Rodriguez met with the media on Monday evening, providing updates on certain individuals and position groups. Here's everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Got another day in shorts, probably a little better than the last one. Should get better every day, but I thought we moved around a little bit better. We’ll get our first day in pads on Wednesday. I like the effort. Until we get in the pads, you may not really know, but they’re working hard.”

Initial thoughts on Kevin Brown, Matt Sieg

“It’s early, but for the most part, they are what we thought they are. Again, it’s just two practices, but there’s nothing to make us think what we saw in shorts is not going to translate in pads. Somebody said something on social media that Kevin Brown, his legs must have been AI’d or something because nobody’s got thighs like that. No, he squats half the building, and he works his tail off. But a lot of them have. A lot of our weight room records, for what that’s worth, there might be two of them that are guys from the past, but a lot of those have been broken, and a lot of them will probably keep getting broken. The strength staff has done a good job the last six, seven weeks.”

If he’s started a true freshman offensive lineman

“It’s easier now for a true freshman because they can come in the spring, and because we can work with them in the summer a little bit. So it’s not as rare, whereas most of the time, the true freshmen are going to get redshirted. Now, we don’t recruit any freshmen with the idea that you’re going to get redshirted, even the quarterbacks, which is the hardest position as a true freshman. This freshman class is huge, but I think it’s really talented and a lot of them are going to play.”

If the big freshman class was to keep most of roster and develop

“Yeah, that was part of the plan. We don’t want to turn over the roster as much as we’ve had to do the last year and a half. If we evaluated right and they do what we think and we have the resources to retain them, then we’ll be able to not have to replace 40 guys, 50 guys every year. Our hope is we have 21 seniors or whatever we have, and we just got to replace 21 of them.”

Remaining needs in transfer portal

“Well, big guys, whether it’s a big d-lineman or offensive lineman, and then just another running back. We’ve got a good group, but I wouldn’t mind getting another running back if there’s one possible. We’re still looking out there.”

Thoughts on the newcomers at wide receiver

“Well, we wanted to get faster and bigger, right? And we did. We got some size with Prince (Strachan) and some of those guys. Some experience with some guys like John Neider, DJ Epps. There’s some size with some of the young guys coming in. It is a really good group. Jaden Bray is back, and he’s healthy, so that helps. Cyrus Traugh is returning, and he’s done a good job. I don’t think we need to go out and get any more. I think we’re pretty good at receiver

The addition of RB Cam Cook

“I paid close attention to Jax State because obviously we had ties there. Still had a lot of guys that we recruited on that team, and it’s a great school, and I love the people down there. The midweek games, I got a chance to watch, and this guy was making people miss. He’s a really good football player, and he was a really good football player in our league (the Big 12) before he went there. We went after him and knew we wanted an experienced guy. I’m glad he’s here. He’s a really smart football player. He’s got a great feel for it. He can block, he can catch. He’s got all the stuff that you want in a back. He is the alpha in the room.”

The other running backs on the roster

“Amari Latimer is a big, 230-pound guy. He’s got great feet, and you know, obviously, I think he’s going to make an impact. I think all of them are going to play. Amari, (Martavious) Boswell is a fast guy, Chris Talley is a really fast guy, and Andre Devine has gotten better. And then we got two guys, SirPaul Cheeks and Lawrence Autry, they aren’t here yet. It’s a pretty competitive room. Cam will be the leader of it, but all those young guys will have a chance to play.”

If Matt Sieg will play some offense still

“We had one day in our skill development where we had him running some routes or something out of the backfield. We’ll continue to do that. He’s figuring to play such a big role for us on defense, so he’s concentrated on that. But probably toward the end of spring, we’ll take a day or two and have him play some offense because he’s a good enough athlete to help us in a lot of ways. Probably running back or slot.”