Rich Rod Reveals What WVU’s Quarterbacks Still Need to Improve

The first evaluation of the quarterbacks this fall camp.

WVU Athletics Communications

For the most part, West Virginia head football coach Rich Rodriguez seems to be pretty happy with the quarterback room through the first week and a half of fall camp. As expected, they are still trying to iron out some of the inconsistencies and execute at a higher level, but he and the staff like where that group is headed.

Rodriguez gave some brief thoughts on that room during his press conference on Monday, detailing the one thing they need to improve on as a group.

“Yeah, it’s been okay. There’s been times where it’s uneven, with the quarterbacks holding onto the ball too long or not seeing the field quick enough. They’re still learning to quit looking at our guys and start looking at their guys more often. But it’s been a pretty solid group.”

Staring down receivers is a big no-no, but so is only looking at your guys. To be a successful quarterback at this level, you should know where your receivers are and where they are expected to be on the field. Instead of looking around for them, you should be scanning the field for where the defenders are and where the open space is.

Rodriguez did not go into detail about any one of the quarterbacks or if this is something many of the younger guys are doing as opposed to the veterans, but it's an easy habit to fall into early in camp. You are still trying to process things live for the first time in months, and it takes a little time to get a feel for it, especially when you consider that four of the seven quarterbacks are in their first year of this offense and the other three only have one year of experience in it under their belt.

WVU Athletics Communications

The deeper we get into camp, the more crisp things should look. Quarterback is not a concern of mine, and I'd imagine the staff feels the same way. There is a reason why Rodriguez doesn't plan to go live with them very often in the preseason. He knows what he has in that room and doesn't need them to run the risk of injury.

"We’ll have some live, physical times, and we’ll go live during some scrimmages, but I’m not sure I’m going to have the quarterbacks get hit unless it looks like maybe they need that to make sure they’re doing the proper ball security stuff and playing with the right type of discipline. I don’t think we need to beat our quarterbacks up to prove their toughness. I like the toughness that we have from our quarterbacks.”