West Virginia’s spring practices are heating up with the Gold-Blue Spring Festival scheduled for Saturday, April 18. Read more: WVU Football focusing on competition with Gold-Blue Spring Festival approaching.
The Mountaineers are in the thick of their spring camp, and competition has been at the forefront for head coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff. The team will be conducting a “draft” style scrimmage where positions will be split up evenly and the teams will compete to see who comes out on top starting Wednesday, April 8.
Heavy competition among position groups
Besides the running back room, which is led by Jacksonville State transfer Cam Cook, Rodriguez has noted that every position group has been filled with players vying for their spot.
Notably, the secondary has shown early signs of quality depth and multiple players fighting for a starting job. As a whole, Rodriguez believes the group is longer and more athletic than last year’s squad.
That includes freshman safety Matt Sieg. The Pennsylvania native has been impressing the coaching staff with his football IQ and his natural ability at the position.
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The wide receiver group has also had their fair share of quality reps across the board. New additions like DJ Epps, Prince Strachan and John Neider have been able to provide a confidence boost to the coaching staff already.
The quarterback room has evolved as well. Scotty Fox Jr. is starting to show more confidence in his decision-making process after having a year under his belt.
Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. is picking things up quick though, providing a quiet, stable presence to the QB room.
Closer look at evaluations
One area that Coach Rodriguez wants his staff to improve on is calling less plays so they have a better opportunity to evaluate every player.
He chalked it up to simply “doing too much” so far in the practices. That is something that can be common during this time of the year. Many coaches want to expose their players to as much of the playbook as possible during spring practices.
However, that can lead to players focusing more on not making plays instead of just playing and showing their true talents on the field.
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While understanding the playbook is crucial, it’s also valuable for the coaches to see where their player’s talents are and go from there.
There will be more opportunities to learn the playbook and install as many plays as the coaches deem fit. But for now, Rodriguez wants his staff to dial it back and just focus on a handful of plays.
That should allow them to have a better gauge of each player’s strength and weakness as a whole.
Gold-Blue Spring Festival looming
With the spring game just a few weeks away, it’s important for the players to reach the potential their head coach stresses so often.
Rodriguez is still not happy with his team’s effort at times in practice. That is something that will need to be fixed as soon as possible.
The Gold-Blue Spring Festival will be a valuable opportunity for each player to prove they belong on the field come the first game of the season on September 5 against Coastal Carolina.
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