Quick Hits: Transfers Making the Jump, QBs Spinning it Well, Film Evaluation + More

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez just finished talking with the media following the 11th practice of fall camp. He discussed the progress of the quarterbacks, transfers moving up a level, and a lot more.

Opening statement

“Today we were in shells. Was originally going to go full pads, but I switched it out of it. Tuesday, Thursday, we’re going to go (pads) and a scrimmage on Saturday, and then shorts the other two days. Got some more situational work in place. Got a lot of evaluations and install, and I told the coaching staff after this week we’ve got to pare down the install to get ready for the first game and also to try to get somewhat of a tentative two-deep.”

If the jump from lower levels to Power Four is significant

“I mean, it’s a little bit, but not as much as you would think. Most of those guys had games against Power Four teams, and if you’re a good player, you’re a good player. I think the hardest thing is like the Power Four transfer guys were more expensive. Some of it’s justified and some of it, maybe not. And not all of them were looking for a payday. When you’re moving up from Group of Five or 1-AA to Power Four, it’s probably a combination. You might get more money because Group of Five don’t pay much, if anything, but it’s also you want to move up in competition and level of play.”

Evaluation of the film from the scrimmage

“I think the effort part wasn’t bad. I expected more times that we’d have to yell at guys. The effort was pretty good. The physicality was okay, but not what it needed to be up front. Tempo was okay, we’re still servicing each other. And probably the biggest takeaway out of that is that we still have a lot more decisions to be made on who’s going to be the first guys running out there on a lot of positions. It didn’t clarify it maybe as much as we thought.”

If this team has the drive, the traits to be special

“It’s still a little early, but I see signs of it. I mean, I think we’ve progressed since the spring, and of course, there’s a lot of new guys. And I think we’ve progressed since the first practice, but it’s still not to the point where I never have to blow my whistle. We’re not there yet.”

How the quarterbacks have thrown it

“All of our quarterbacks can really throw the ball. We’re repping five guys — all five can really throw it. I’ve never had that many that could throw it that well, as far as arm strength goes and all that. There’s not really a pass play or route package that is out there that we’re like, well, we can’t do that because we don’t have the arm strength to make that throw. That’s kind of a neat deal. Every quarterback for every route package can make every throw. So now we just need to see which ones we can be the most accurate with.”

If they will throw the ball more than people expect

“Probably. I think if we’re looking at our strengths, what we have personnel-wise and not just because we’re younger or new up front, we’re putting a lot more pass plays in than run plays. When we pare this thing down, I’m not worried about 50% pass plays, 50% run plays. I’m worried about these are the plays we can execute.”