The Mountaineers open their season at home against Robert Morris on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 2 p.m. ET. It marks the return of head coach Rich Rodriguez patrolling the sidelines for the first time since 2007, and there are a lot of fresh faces for the football team. Rodriguez addressed some of the key position battles and what he intends to do at The Rich Rodriguez Show on Monday night before the official depth chart is released later this week. Read more: Five Keys to Beating Robert Morris for the Mountaineers.
Five Keys to the Game for the Mountaineers
WVU has a lot of new faces in the program this season, and a lot of the depth chart is still up in the air. They added a lot of players through the transfer portal this season, more than they will in the future, as they will focus on high school players. He also stated that the depth charts will have a lot of “ors”, meaning that they will rotate a lot of guys in and out to see how they do in a live game setting.
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“We want to play the most guys in the country in week one,” Rodriguez said during The Rich Rodriguez Show. “But they need to be good enough to win, I won’t play someone just to play him. But we do want to get a lot of guys in.”
QB Rotation
Rodriguez said he is not against playing multiple quarterbacks this season, and he will ride the hot hand. Nico Marchiol and Jaylen Henderson have the most experience of the bunch and should be the first two guys to take reps against Robert Morris. Max Brown, Scotty Fox, and Khalil Wilkins are the other quarterbacks who are under consideration. Rodriguez and the coaching staff, mainly his son and quarterback coach, Rhett Rodriguez, decide who plays and which plays are best suited for their individual traits.
“We’ve got five guys that, Rhett and myself, we’re trying to juggle and have these guys ready to play. Normally, you try to get two ready to play, maybe three,” Rodriguez said during the radio show. “You hope you have three. All five of these guys are getting reps now, all five of them, so it’s been a fun thing to do, and the competition’s been really good.”
Offensive Line Cohesion
Offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. coached with Rodriguez at Ole Miss in 2019 when Rodriguez was the offensive coordinator. He is now coaching the offensive line at WVU after spending the last two seasons at Wisconsin. Rodriguez views the offensive line as a key spot he wants to see in practice this week, and how they can move people and make holes for running back Jahiem White.
The offensive line is completely revamped this season, with only one returner: center Landen Livingston. Newcomers should fill the other positions. Redshirt sophomore Nick Krahe is working with the first team at left tackle, while Arkansas transfer Ty’Kieast Crawford should start at right tackle. Walter Young Bear should start at left guard, and Kimo Makane’ole is working with the first unit at right guard.
Tempo & Execution
Rodriguez wants to play with tempo. He has warned the Big 12 referees about his plan to play fast so that they can get lined up as quickly as possible.
“When the ball is in your hands, you don’t toss the ball to the side judge and let him toss it to someone else and let them spot it, you’ll see our guys run the ball to where it needs to be spotted,” Rodriguez said at the radio show. “And the refs will properly spot it. I’ve warned the Big 12 refs about the tempo, some refs are slower than others.”
Roster Integration
WVU signed more transfers than they expected to in the upcoming seasons. Rodriguez expects them to recruit more heavily out of high school in the future, but they had to get guys that fit their team and culture this season after accepting the job in December.
He has a lot of players who have experience at other schools, which means he has a lot of depth on the roster this season. They have more than 70 newcomers this season, so he plans to rotate a lot of players into the game to see how they react to live-action. His goal is to play as many players as possible, but to play the players that are good enough to win with.
Line of Scrimmage Control
The final key for WVU in week one is their control of the line of scrimmage. It is crucial to control it on both sides of the ball, especially early in the game, to set the tone. The fewer backwards plays, penalties, and loss of yards they have, the higher chance they have to win the game, and it starts up front.
Jahiem White is one of the best running backs in the country, and they want to give him open holes to run through on the offensive side. Rodriguez also wants a defensive front that stuffs the run and gets after the quarterback. The more plays they run on offense, the happier Rodriguez is about his chances to win the game.
