MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (March 2, 2016) – The West Virginia University football coaching staff met with the media on Wednesday, March 2, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Assistant coach (defensive coordinator/linebackers) Tony Gibson
On inexperience of linebackers
It has been different to get them in there and right now we only get a couple of hours a week with them, watching film. We just have to start all over, (Redshirt junior linebacker) Al (Rasheed- Benton) played a bunch, (junior linebacker) Xavier (Preston) played in sub packages. (Redshirt linebacker Justin) Arndt has been a guy that has been around playing a bunch. David Long was a kid that I didn’t get to meet a lot with. We’ve just started all over, we’ve had three or four days of install, where we can watch film, talk about a little bit of stuff and then go out and work some individual drills. It’s been good for those guys, I am confident that they will be able to do what we want. Now production-wise, we will see where that’s at after spring ball if they can make the plays that Kwiat (Nick Kwiatkoski), (Jared) Barber, and Shaq (Pettaway) made.
On having to spend more time with the linebackers
Yeah, that’s something that we do every day. We fit the run on garbage cans and put two backs and a couple of live linemen. We give them power schemes, zone schemes. We did it every day with Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski), (Jared) Barber, and Shaq (Pettaway) and all those guys. We will continue to work on that. That is part of our individual stuff.
On preparation with linebackers from scratch
Same kind of install, we’ll just keep our installs exactly the same and make sure that we are repping up and working it. It’s good now to watch film, to watch the guys do it and get them ready for March 13th when we start this thing. From day one, we’ll have the pressure in and we will just keep adding as we go and if we need to pull back we can.
On vacant defensive coaching position
We’ve had some guys in for interviews, we will have a couple more in this week and hopefully by the weekend we know who that guy is going to be. They will have a week to learn what we do and get it tuned up. The good thing is the way our spring practices are scheduled is we have three days, and then we get spring break for a week so they can get caught up on some stuff and then get back into it for the last four weeks and get them ready. I’m confident that whoever we will hire will be able to do what we want them to do. I know everybody gets impatient but right now Mark Scott has been a guy that has worked with the secondary so he’s doing a great job of teaching and going through things right now with them. I’m not worried, heck I might have to break out and dust off the old DB stuff that I used to do with them as well.
Assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline
On pass protection conversations with Coach Ron Crook
First of all, I have a lot of respect for Ron Crook, he’s one of the best in the business. I like Ron, and I can say that because when you coach at one institution and you watch defensively what they are trying to get done and you watch other offensive line units perform they are doing the right stuff, and they have the right guys. To say that there is a freshman or a young guy or an injury, to say that there is another way to get something done to say we can ease this way or tweak that. We aren’t going to reinvent the wheel, we may have moved the spokes around, you know what I’m talking about, but we aren’t going to reinvent the wheel here. We can work on technique, fundamentals, reads, snap counts, cadences; we can help those guys. Coach Crook does a good job I think. Protection has been something that has been talked about, but I don’t see that there’s a problem.
On drinking sugar free Red Bull
No, that wasn’t part of the contract talks with Dana (Holgorsen). I think we cut the contract out as soon as the first flair pen hit a legal pad of paper. I just happened to have one here, I ran out of coffee in the back, and I just grabbed one because they’re available and I’m good about taking something for free.
On assessing players based on what he heard or starting on a clean slate
That’s a good question, I think too many times guys go in and listen to people maybe that have been here for a long time, and they make assessments and judgements on people, student- athletes, other coaches, people in the department, and they’re true judgements a lot of times. I truly believe sometimes I like to kind of act like I don’t know, find out and give everybody a chance. Let’s see what you are going to do from this point forward because whatever happened yesterday, we can’t change that, we can only change today on and whatever you have you have. We’ve recruited them, and we are responsible for them. They didn’t get here on mistake, so what can we do to get the most out of that ability and make them better and make us better. I don’t have any preconceived notions, there will be enough judgements and enough opinions once it starts.
On coaches asking him for advice on our tendencies after facing WVU last year
Well, Gibby (defensive coordinator Tony Gibson) has, and I’ve lied most of the time. I pretty much say what doesn’t really make any sense because we are actually going against each other this spring, and you can call it what you want, it’s all about winning even the drill. It’s about winning spring, it’s about getting touchdowns and first downs. I won’t be relating a whole lot about what I thought about West Virginia. Although, the fact of the matter is they have good players, they run a 3-3 defense, and they are good on defense. They are really good on defense, so I’m glad I’m on this side of the football. No, there are some things from an offensive standpoint that when you get in a three step-drop or when you do a zone play, play action or pass, how did you handle it if this happened. This is how we are going to do it. This is what we do. You’ll bleed in some things because obviously in the offense in this conference we’ve done enough good things where I’ve been that we can all help each other. That’s why I’m here.
Assistant coach (defense/special teams) Mark Scott
On Brian Mitchell leaving and the conversations about the added responsibilities
All fall, I was in that room every day with coach (Bryan) Mitchell. I was with him one-on-one, and we would talk back and forth what he saw and what I’m seeing, everything like that. It was basically like a, ‘hey you’ve been in the room, you know what we expect, and you need to get those guys ready until we have someone else in’. In the coaching profession, there’s things that change constantly. It’s just like anything else. It’s a less subtle move than going into last spring, taking on the special teams responsibilities. It’s a small move, but again one that I’m willing to take on to get our player, our defense and our team as ready as we can.
On who he expects to step up and be ready
(Redshirt senior cornerback) Nana Kyeremeh is a guy. He has game experience here. He is extremely smart. He’s kind of “steady eddy”. He played for us last year, some at corner. He’s been a special teams’ player for the last three years. He’s extremely intelligent. He knows the ins and outs of the defense. He has good speed. (Redshirt senior cornerback) Rasul Douglas is a guy that came in right before the season and really progressed as the season went on. If you look at, whether it be in the bowl game or later in the year, he really improved as far as technique and playing with the schemes of the defense. Athletically, he can do whatever he wants. Again, his athleticism, seeing a corner out there who’s 6-foot, 205-210 pounds, who moves like he can move, you don’t get that all of the time. (Redshirt senior cornerback) Antonio Crawford is going to be another one. He’s the graduate transfer from Miami. He’s not as big as some of the other guys that we have, but his agility, his quickness and his explosiveness is fantastic. With him there’s going to be a little more of a learning curve because through the fall he was getting our offense, our receivers prepared for that next week’s opponent. It’s really the first time he’s been able to throw himself completely in our defense. (Redshirt freshman cornerback) Jordan Adams is another one. He was on scout team all year last year, but he’s kind of in the middle of (redshirt senior cornerback) Rasul (Douglas) and (redshirt senior cornerback) Antonio (Crawford). He’s not as big, but he has great length, great athleticism. We saw it when he was out here at the beginning of camp, he has a twitch that we haven’t had at the corner position. He has to continue to grow up and learn how to be a college football player. He’s going through his first offseason, which can be a little taxing physically but he’s progressing nicely.
Assistant coach (defensive line) Bruce Tall
On high expectations for redshirt senior defensive lineman Noble Nwachukwu
I think he has taken great steps. He had a couple of sacks two years ago, and eight and a half sacks last year so the progression is going in the right direction. When he cleaned up his tackling throughout the season his sacks went up and his pressures on the quarterback all went up so you can really see the progressions that he made. I thought he played well in the bowl game, and I think that’s kind of your best gauge, where did you start and where did you finish at.
On the experience and depth of the defensive linemen
You can’t simulate experience. Anytime you have guys who have experience that gives you a benefit, you just have to try to get them to progress and get them to take the next step too. You have to kind of drive them and be great leaders and role models for the guys that you are trying to bring along too. Now they have a different responsibility, last year because we were the x-factor, no one really talked about the defensive line. They could just do their thing now they will have more eyes on them, so now they have to answer the call.
On what to evaluate in the spring
What we are going to try to see is how well they work collectively as a group and how they much they have been able to take from the offseason to the spring practice. I know (director or strength and conditioning Mike) coach Joseph and his staff have done a great job getting them prepared for the spring, and now we want to see how they can take the next step and get them ready for fall and progress there.
Associate head coach (receivers) Lonnie Galloway
On where he projects each guy to be or where he would like them to be when they lineup for the first game of the year
Position wise, (redshirt junior wide receiver) Shelton (Gibson) and (sophomore wide receiver) Gary (Jennings) play on the left side. They play the x. (Senior wide receiver) Daikiel (Shorts) plays either spot in inside and we use them down in the red zone. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jovon (Durante) and (redshirt junior wide receiver) K’aRaun (White) play in the z side. I think Marcus right now, we’ll have in at X. He could move. We could move him, just trying to figure out where to put him. (Redshirt senior wide receiver Devonte) Mathis who could play anywhere; It just depends where we need him. (Redshirt sophomore wide receiver) Ricky Rodgers is playing the Z, so this spring for me is going to be trying to develop where and if you’re playing 50 plays, those are the 50-fastest plays that we average already. If I’m playing 40 and the guy that’s the backup of who already starts is playing 40 and you’re playing 40 fast plays, that’s what I would like to have. That’s been one of the things. We never had that luxury too much with Kevin (White) and Mario (Alford). We never took them off the field. Even thought when they wanted to come off the field, we wouldn’t take them off. I wouldn’t. Just trying to keep people fresh until you can play 100 miles per hour all the time.
On if the sky is the limit with these wide receivers this year
I hope. I don’t want to put too much pressure on them. I expect a lot of them, and they know that. The thing from coach (Dana) Holgorsen to me, to them, is that we’re going to coach very hard. We coach very hard. I want them to be the best that they can be 100 percent of the time when they’re on the field. If it’s 10 plays in a row and you need to come out, come out because hopefully that guy that’s behind you that may be a fraction different on why you got to start and why he didn’t get to start. I always tell them that yes it’s good to start, but it’s better to finish. It’s better to finish the game. We’ll have some strong competition going into the spring season coming up, and they’ve all been working hard. I expect a lot out of them. I expect a lot out of these guys.
On if he thinks senior wide receiver Daikiel Shorts is underrated outside of the locker room and not getting as much credit as he deserves
The thing about (senior wider receiver) Daikiel (Shorts) is he always comes to work. He doesn’t say much. He observes a lot. He watches me. He watches to see what’s going on. He’s 100 percent dependable all the time. The thing for him is going to be to try to figure out how to lead on where I have to lead. That’s the next step for him because as soon as he got here he jumped into the fray and he started. He has continued to be a consistent player. For him things are going to be to just work on quickness and those types of things, because he has what you need, especially being able to work over the middle and then once you get down the score zone, down the 20, I use him outside because he runs good routes and moves his body
Assistant coach (offensive line) Ron Crook
On if it’s as easy as just plugging redshirt sophomore Yodny Cajuste into left tackle with what you had last year
I mean that’s the plan. I don’t know if there’s anything easy about it. Again, he’s a guy who’s still young and had some great experience last year. Can’t describe how much it’s going to help him to have that experience to draw back on, but he still started five or six games. He still has a lot to learn and get a lot stronger. He has to continue to develop his technique. Every aspect of his game he has to continue to improve on, but again having that experience is going to be a big help for him. As far as the other guys we have five guys who have started games and played throughout the course of the season, so we’re excited about that, but we still have to continue to build depth. As we saw last year, there’s going to be times where we’re going to have to slide someone out of there due to injuries. Someone have to be ready to go. We’re still building and still looking for guys to step up.
On if he feels comfortable going into the spring
I would have to say yes. Going into the spring, I’m excited where we are. Again, like you said you’re never fully happy about it and never fully where you want to be, even returners. Tyler has to get stuff. We see on film every day, you have to do a better job with this. Each and every one of them has things they need to work on. A lot of technique work, a lot of just continuing to develop their understanding of our offense and our communication schemes, which comes from being there and being around each other for going on four years now.
On having assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline with his offensive line background
The biggest thing that he does is just gives me someone I can talk to and ask questions about, ‘hey how have you done this, what’s your opinion on this’, and we’ll watch film together. Most of the time we see the same things and talk about the same things and have the same beliefs and ideals. But someone who says hey here’s what we’ve tried once, and it worked and maybe it can work into what you’re looking at.
Assistant coach (running backs) Ja’Juan Seider
On redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell’s improvements physically
He is working. He is definitely dedicating himself. I think he has a lot more focus in his life now. He doesn’t have any outside distractions to worry about with family or life, whatever it may be. He is focused. I told him, ‘this is it, and you have a lot of things you can improve on. You showed that you can be a good player. You haven’t rushed for 1,000 yards yet, you have a lot of goals that you can accomplish. There is no reason that this time next year that we shouldn’t be talking about you in the same breath that we talk about Wendell (Smallwood).
On redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell benefiting from being the guy
Well like I told the guys from day one, the three years that I’ve been here there has been a different guy start, so you have to earn what you get. No one is going to give you anything. I made it clear to (redshirt senior running back) Rushel (Shell) that I have high expectations for you to be the guy, but you also can get beat out if you don’t work. I think he took that message to heart.
On what the freshman running backs do well
It’s hard to say what they do well with until we get out there and physically get after it on the field. These questions right now are more strength related to the weight room. They can tell you more about the guys now. We get a couple minutes a week to work with them, and it’s just to clean up individual stuff and taking a lot of the question marks that they have in their head from last year to now understanding what are we trying to do on certain plays, what are we reading, what are our goals on this play. To get them a year older should help. At the end of the day you are handing them the ball as running backs, you should be able to run with the ball and vision that’s stuff you can’t coach as a coach.
On what early enrollee freshman running back Kennedy McKoy brings
I think that the Mountaineer Nation is going to be really happy with that kid. His talents are undeniable. We do a couple of bag drills here and there. He has no wasted motion. When his feet hit the ground, he is already coming back out. He is a bigger version, you know I hate comparing guys, but he reminds me so much of Wendell (Smallwood) and Charles (Sims). He has that same type of body structure that he can be an outside guy, he can be a backfield guy, and he’s smart. It’s refreshing to coach a kid that has a 4.0 (GPA). He doesn’t even need to write things down sometimes, because he remembers everything that we tell him. He’s eager, and it’s going to be fun coaching him for the next few years.
Assistant coach (defensive coordinator/linebackers) Tony Gibson
On inexperience of linebackers
It has been different to get them in there and right now we only get a couple of hours a week with them, watching film. We just have to start all over, (Redshirt junior linebacker) Al (Rasheed- Benton) played a bunch, (junior linebacker) Xavier (Preston) played in sub packages. (Redshirt linebacker Justin) Arndt has been a guy that has been around playing a bunch. David Long was a kid that I didn’t get to meet a lot with. We’ve just started all over, we’ve had three or four days of install, where we can watch film, talk about a little bit of stuff and then go out and work some individual drills. It’s been good for those guys, I am confident that they will be able to do what we want. Now production-wise, we will see where that’s at after spring ball if they can make the plays that Kwiat (Nick Kwiatkoski), (Jared) Barber, and Shaq (Pettaway) made.
On having to spend more time with the linebackers
Yeah, that’s something that we do every day. We fit the run on garbage cans and put two backs and a couple of live linemen. We give them power schemes, zone schemes. We did it every day with Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski), (Jared) Barber, and Shaq (Pettaway) and all those guys. We will continue to work on that. That is part of our individual stuff.
On preparation with linebackers from scratch
Same kind of install, we’ll just keep our installs exactly the same and make sure that we are repping up and working it. It’s good now to watch film, to watch the guys do it and get them ready for March 13th when we start this thing. From day one, we’ll have the pressure in and we will just keep adding as we go and if we need to pull back we can.
On vacant defensive coaching position
We’ve had some guys in for interviews, we will have a couple more in this week and hopefully by the weekend we know who that guy is going to be. They will have a week to learn what we do and get it tuned up. The good thing is the way our spring practices are scheduled is we have three days, and then we get spring break for a week so they can get caught up on some stuff and then get back into it for the last four weeks and get them ready. I’m confident that whoever we will hire will be able to do what we want them to do. I know everybody gets impatient but right now Mark Scott has been a guy that has worked with the secondary so he’s doing a great job of teaching and going through things right now with them. I’m not worried, heck I might have to break out and dust off the old DB stuff that I used to do with them as well.
Assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline
On pass protection conversations with Coach Ron Crook
First of all, I have a lot of respect for Ron Crook, he’s one of the best in the business. I like Ron, and I can say that because when you coach at one institution and you watch defensively what they are trying to get done and you watch other offensive line units perform they are doing the right stuff, and they have the right guys. To say that there is a freshman or a young guy or an injury, to say that there is another way to get something done to say we can ease this way or tweak that. We aren’t going to reinvent the wheel, we may have moved the spokes around, you know what I’m talking about, but we aren’t going to reinvent the wheel here. We can work on technique, fundamentals, reads, snap counts, cadences; we can help those guys. Coach Crook does a good job I think. Protection has been something that has been talked about, but I don’t see that there’s a problem.
On drinking sugar free Red Bull
No, that wasn’t part of the contract talks with Dana (Holgorsen). I think we cut the contract out as soon as the first flair pen hit a legal pad of paper. I just happened to have one here, I ran out of coffee in the back, and I just grabbed one because they’re available and I’m good about taking something for free.
On assessing players based on what he heard or starting on a clean slate
That’s a good question, I think too many times guys go in and listen to people maybe that have been here for a long time, and they make assessments and judgements on people, student- athletes, other coaches, people in the department, and they’re true judgements a lot of times. I truly believe sometimes I like to kind of act like I don’t know, find out and give everybody a chance. Let’s see what you are going to do from this point forward because whatever happened yesterday, we can’t change that, we can only change today on and whatever you have you have. We’ve recruited them, and we are responsible for them. They didn’t get here on mistake, so what can we do to get the most out of that ability and make them better and make us better. I don’t have any preconceived notions, there will be enough judgements and enough opinions once it starts.
On coaches asking him for advice on our tendencies after facing WVU last year
Well, Gibby (defensive coordinator Tony Gibson) has, and I’ve lied most of the time. I pretty much say what doesn’t really make any sense because we are actually going against each other this spring, and you can call it what you want, it’s all about winning even the drill. It’s about winning spring, it’s about getting touchdowns and first downs. I won’t be relating a whole lot about what I thought about West Virginia. Although, the fact of the matter is they have good players, they run a 3-3 defense, and they are good on defense. They are really good on defense, so I’m glad I’m on this side of the football. No, there are some things from an offensive standpoint that when you get in a three step-drop or when you do a zone play, play action or pass, how did you handle it if this happened. This is how we are going to do it. This is what we do. You’ll bleed in some things because obviously in the offense in this conference we’ve done enough good things where I’ve been that we can all help each other. That’s why I’m here.
Assistant coach (defense/special teams) Mark Scott
On Brian Mitchell leaving and the conversations about the added responsibilities
All fall, I was in that room every day with coach (Bryan) Mitchell. I was with him one-on-one, and we would talk back and forth what he saw and what I’m seeing, everything like that. It was basically like a, ‘hey you’ve been in the room, you know what we expect, and you need to get those guys ready until we have someone else in’. In the coaching profession, there’s things that change constantly. It’s just like anything else. It’s a less subtle move than going into last spring, taking on the special teams responsibilities. It’s a small move, but again one that I’m willing to take on to get our player, our defense and our team as ready as we can.
On who he expects to step up and be ready
(Redshirt senior cornerback) Nana Kyeremeh is a guy. He has game experience here. He is extremely smart. He’s kind of “steady eddy”. He played for us last year, some at corner. He’s been a special teams’ player for the last three years. He’s extremely intelligent. He knows the ins and outs of the defense. He has good speed. (Redshirt senior cornerback) Rasul Douglas is a guy that came in right before the season and really progressed as the season went on. If you look at, whether it be in the bowl game or later in the year, he really improved as far as technique and playing with the schemes of the defense. Athletically, he can do whatever he wants. Again, his athleticism, seeing a corner out there who’s 6-foot, 205-210 pounds, who moves like he can move, you don’t get that all of the time. (Redshirt senior cornerback) Antonio Crawford is going to be another one. He’s the graduate transfer from Miami. He’s not as big as some of the other guys that we have, but his agility, his quickness and his explosiveness is fantastic. With him there’s going to be a little more of a learning curve because through the fall he was getting our offense, our receivers prepared for that next week’s opponent. It’s really the first time he’s been able to throw himself completely in our defense. (Redshirt freshman cornerback) Jordan Adams is another one. He was on scout team all year last year, but he’s kind of in the middle of (redshirt senior cornerback) Rasul (Douglas) and (redshirt senior cornerback) Antonio (Crawford). He’s not as big, but he has great length, great athleticism. We saw it when he was out here at the beginning of camp, he has a twitch that we haven’t had at the corner position. He has to continue to grow up and learn how to be a college football player. He’s going through his first offseason, which can be a little taxing physically but he’s progressing nicely.
Assistant coach (defensive line) Bruce Tall
On high expectations for redshirt senior defensive lineman Noble Nwachukwu
I think he has taken great steps. He had a couple of sacks two years ago, and eight and a half sacks last year so the progression is going in the right direction. When he cleaned up his tackling throughout the season his sacks went up and his pressures on the quarterback all went up so you can really see the progressions that he made. I thought he played well in the bowl game, and I think that’s kind of your best gauge, where did you start and where did you finish at.
On the experience and depth of the defensive linemen
You can’t simulate experience. Anytime you have guys who have experience that gives you a benefit, you just have to try to get them to progress and get them to take the next step too. You have to kind of drive them and be great leaders and role models for the guys that you are trying to bring along too. Now they have a different responsibility, last year because we were the x-factor, no one really talked about the defensive line. They could just do their thing now they will have more eyes on them, so now they have to answer the call.
On what to evaluate in the spring
What we are going to try to see is how well they work collectively as a group and how they much they have been able to take from the offseason to the spring practice. I know (director or strength and conditioning Mike) coach Joseph and his staff have done a great job getting them prepared for the spring, and now we want to see how they can take the next step and get them ready for fall and progress there.
Associate head coach (receivers) Lonnie Galloway
On where he projects each guy to be or where he would like them to be when they lineup for the first game of the year
Position wise, (redshirt junior wide receiver) Shelton (Gibson) and (sophomore wide receiver) Gary (Jennings) play on the left side. They play the x. (Senior wide receiver) Daikiel (Shorts) plays either spot in inside and we use them down in the red zone. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jovon (Durante) and (redshirt junior wide receiver) K’aRaun (White) play in the z side. I think Marcus right now, we’ll have in at X. He could move. We could move him, just trying to figure out where to put him. (Redshirt senior wide receiver Devonte) Mathis who could play anywhere; It just depends where we need him. (Redshirt sophomore wide receiver) Ricky Rodgers is playing the Z, so this spring for me is going to be trying to develop where and if you’re playing 50 plays, those are the 50-fastest plays that we average already. If I’m playing 40 and the guy that’s the backup of who already starts is playing 40 and you’re playing 40 fast plays, that’s what I would like to have. That’s been one of the things. We never had that luxury too much with Kevin (White) and Mario (Alford). We never took them off the field. Even thought when they wanted to come off the field, we wouldn’t take them off. I wouldn’t. Just trying to keep people fresh until you can play 100 miles per hour all the time.
On if the sky is the limit with these wide receivers this year
I hope. I don’t want to put too much pressure on them. I expect a lot of them, and they know that. The thing from coach (Dana) Holgorsen to me, to them, is that we’re going to coach very hard. We coach very hard. I want them to be the best that they can be 100 percent of the time when they’re on the field. If it’s 10 plays in a row and you need to come out, come out because hopefully that guy that’s behind you that may be a fraction different on why you got to start and why he didn’t get to start. I always tell them that yes it’s good to start, but it’s better to finish. It’s better to finish the game. We’ll have some strong competition going into the spring season coming up, and they’ve all been working hard. I expect a lot out of them. I expect a lot out of these guys.
On if he thinks senior wide receiver Daikiel Shorts is underrated outside of the locker room and not getting as much credit as he deserves
The thing about (senior wider receiver) Daikiel (Shorts) is he always comes to work. He doesn’t say much. He observes a lot. He watches me. He watches to see what’s going on. He’s 100 percent dependable all the time. The thing for him is going to be to try to figure out how to lead on where I have to lead. That’s the next step for him because as soon as he got here he jumped into the fray and he started. He has continued to be a consistent player. For him things are going to be to just work on quickness and those types of things, because he has what you need, especially being able to work over the middle and then once you get down the score zone, down the 20, I use him outside because he runs good routes and moves his body
Assistant coach (offensive line) Ron Crook
On if it’s as easy as just plugging redshirt sophomore Yodny Cajuste into left tackle with what you had last year
I mean that’s the plan. I don’t know if there’s anything easy about it. Again, he’s a guy who’s still young and had some great experience last year. Can’t describe how much it’s going to help him to have that experience to draw back on, but he still started five or six games. He still has a lot to learn and get a lot stronger. He has to continue to develop his technique. Every aspect of his game he has to continue to improve on, but again having that experience is going to be a big help for him. As far as the other guys we have five guys who have started games and played throughout the course of the season, so we’re excited about that, but we still have to continue to build depth. As we saw last year, there’s going to be times where we’re going to have to slide someone out of there due to injuries. Someone have to be ready to go. We’re still building and still looking for guys to step up.
On if he feels comfortable going into the spring
I would have to say yes. Going into the spring, I’m excited where we are. Again, like you said you’re never fully happy about it and never fully where you want to be, even returners. Tyler has to get stuff. We see on film every day, you have to do a better job with this. Each and every one of them has things they need to work on. A lot of technique work, a lot of just continuing to develop their understanding of our offense and our communication schemes, which comes from being there and being around each other for going on four years now.
On having assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline with his offensive line background
The biggest thing that he does is just gives me someone I can talk to and ask questions about, ‘hey how have you done this, what’s your opinion on this’, and we’ll watch film together. Most of the time we see the same things and talk about the same things and have the same beliefs and ideals. But someone who says hey here’s what we’ve tried once, and it worked and maybe it can work into what you’re looking at.
Assistant coach (running backs) Ja’Juan Seider
On redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell’s improvements physically
He is working. He is definitely dedicating himself. I think he has a lot more focus in his life now. He doesn’t have any outside distractions to worry about with family or life, whatever it may be. He is focused. I told him, ‘this is it, and you have a lot of things you can improve on. You showed that you can be a good player. You haven’t rushed for 1,000 yards yet, you have a lot of goals that you can accomplish. There is no reason that this time next year that we shouldn’t be talking about you in the same breath that we talk about Wendell (Smallwood).
On redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell benefiting from being the guy
Well like I told the guys from day one, the three years that I’ve been here there has been a different guy start, so you have to earn what you get. No one is going to give you anything. I made it clear to (redshirt senior running back) Rushel (Shell) that I have high expectations for you to be the guy, but you also can get beat out if you don’t work. I think he took that message to heart.
On what the freshman running backs do well
It’s hard to say what they do well with until we get out there and physically get after it on the field. These questions right now are more strength related to the weight room. They can tell you more about the guys now. We get a couple minutes a week to work with them, and it’s just to clean up individual stuff and taking a lot of the question marks that they have in their head from last year to now understanding what are we trying to do on certain plays, what are we reading, what are our goals on this play. To get them a year older should help. At the end of the day you are handing them the ball as running backs, you should be able to run with the ball and vision that’s stuff you can’t coach as a coach.
On what early enrollee freshman running back Kennedy McKoy brings
I think that the Mountaineer Nation is going to be really happy with that kid. His talents are undeniable. We do a couple of bag drills here and there. He has no wasted motion. When his feet hit the ground, he is already coming back out. He is a bigger version, you know I hate comparing guys, but he reminds me so much of Wendell (Smallwood) and Charles (Sims). He has that same type of body structure that he can be an outside guy, he can be a backfield guy, and he’s smart. It’s refreshing to coach a kid that has a 4.0 (GPA). He doesn’t even need to write things down sometimes, because he remembers everything that we tell him. He’s eager, and it’s going to be fun coaching him for the next few years.
