Rich Rod Expresses Concern of Tampering, Will Alter Layout of WVU's Spring Game

Spring football used to be a fun time of year for fans. Although they were never able to go out and attend practice, the spring game alone would always provide excitement for the upcoming season.

Over the years, spring games have changed drastically. It's no longer splitting the roster up into two teams and playing a normal game-like scrimmage. Most schools will have drills, competitions, and maybe just a little bit of actual football to prevent other schools from poaching some of their best talent.

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez admitted he has concerns with the game due to tampering.

“I think before, you used to worry about - let’s not show too much in the spring. You were worried about schemes, certain plays and whatever. Now, hell, you don’t want guys to see your players because there is tampering. It’s rampant. You don’t see tampering in the NFL because you’ll lose draft picks, you’ll get fined. In college, you don’t see anybody getting in trouble for tampering.

"Some coaches, I think Matt (Rhule) over at Nebraska is not having a spring game because he don’t want people to evaluate his players. And I could see their point. Like, gee, I got this guy that’s really good and he goes out there and shows out, somebody’s going to offer him a half a million dollars and take him from your program. If they don’t direct tamper it, they’ll do it through a high school coach or do it through somebody in the community or an agent or something.

"So yeah, there’s no question - I have thought about that from an open standpoint. I want our fans to watch our players, but a true spring game where you’re going to really see a guy show out and all that? You’re probably not going to have that. We’ll have a little bit of scrimmage and play a little football. I am worried about it because there’s not as much structure to keep the tampering away as there should be.”

In the very near future, I would expect many programs to stop broadcasting the spring game for this very reason. There's very little to no benefit from it. The only thing you're doing is putting tape out there for your opponents to see or for other coaches to become interested in a certain player.

Keeping the game off of TV could possibly help drive up the in-person attendance as well.

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