WVU's Fall Camp QB Plan Further Proves One Thing

One of the worst-kept secrets in Morgantown...

WVU Athletics Communications

One thing that sort of got overlooked in WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez's first press conference of fall camp was his plan with the quarterbacks and their usage throughout the next month.

Because he didn't come right out and say, "Hey, Mike Hawkins Jr. is our guy," the practice plan hasn't really been discussed.

“They probably won’t be as live much," Rodriguez said when asked about how he'll handle the quarterbacks. "We probably won’t go as live much as a team because we’ve had a lot of these guys here throughout spring ball. Now, we’ll have a couple of scrimmages, so you got to tackle a little bit. I know a lot of NFL teams, they don’t go live during camp, but they have preseason games. 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.”

This just shows he and the staff know what the deal is at the position

WVU Athletics Communications

Remember, they went live a lot last fall camp with five quarterbacks. Yes, they now know what Scotty Fox Jr. can do, but they only have 15 spring practices with Hawkins to go off of in their system. If there truly were a "competition," you can bet your bottom dollar those guys would be live a good bit to figure out who gives them the best shot to win. That has already been decided.

There is no need to put your starter, or even your No. 2 option, in those situations that often, when you know their role and want to keep them healthy. It's very important that your QB2 stays healthy and engaged because he is always just one play away from being in the game.

Mike Hawkins Jr. is someone the WVU staff (and front office) identified very early on in the process. They had other QBs on their big board, but he was their top target.

GM Chuck Lillie, defensive coordinator Zac Alley, and nickels/sams coach Henry Weinreich all had familiarity with him at Oklahoma and saw what he was doing every day in practice as a true freshman. He hasn't disappointed whatsoever. He has been everything they thought he would be and then some.