MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (April 9, 2016) - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Saturday, April 9, at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility.
Opening Statement
Welcome everybody. It is practice nine. Obviously, we wanted to do a lot of scrimmaging outside, but we have some weather days that shove us inside. However, we can still get a bunch out of this. We just have uppers on. Everything will be controlled. There will be no situations. We are just working on some installation stuff. It will be limited special teams. We will do a lot of individual stuff. We will do some pass rush stuff, some blitz pickup and a bunch of one on one drills. Then we will do a bunch of scripted plays. We will do a tempo period. There won’t be anything live. Obviously, with going inside, we will be able to utilize this in controlled settings. We can’t utilize the indoor for live settings. We are nine practices into it, and that is what you are going to see. (Freshman wide receiver) Marcus Simms is at a funeral, and (freshman running back) Kennedy McKoy is at his prom. We let those guys go back to their prom. A couple of them were gone for their prom last week, and a couple of them will be gone for their prom this week. The deal I make with our early enrollee student-athletes is that they get to go home and do that. I make them bring back pictures. I want to know what their date looked like, and I want to know what they looked like.
On assistant coach (wide receivers) Tyron Carrier
I have a history with him. He was a great player at Houston. His numbers speak for themselves. He has been in this offense for four years, two years with myself and two years with (Kliff) Kingsbury. He took over for me at Houston, so he has a lot of familiarity with this offense. We had a lot of interest in this job. The one thing that didn’t make sense to me was bringing a guy in that didn’t have familiarity with what we are doing. We have some experienced receivers, and we have some guys that are continuing to develop. We don’t have to teach them the offense, but he can teach them a lot of nuances. The technique aspect of things. He is a fierce competitor. He’s a fiery guy. He is going to bring some knowledge from playing experience that I think will be extremely helpful.
On pursuing transfer quarterback Will Grier
He is a really good football player. Anytime we have opportunities to bring in really good football players, then we are going to do just that. Our job is to coach up the guys that we have first and foremost, but we have to continue to recruit guys that are going to help us in the future.
On the success with Mountaineer alum Clint Trickett, and if he helped bring in transfer quarterback Will Grier to West Virginia
It is a funny story. Those two guys were able to get to know each other on an airplane. They were randomly sitting next to each other on a flight to New York. They just kind of looked at each other and recognized who each other was, and they started talking. They had a prior relationship. Clint’s (Trickett) time here was very valuable. It was a great experience for him, and he will be the first to let you know that. Whether he had any impact on him (Will Grier) coming here, I don’t know.
On the program’s success with transfer student-athletes such as Shaq Riddick, Clint Trickett, etc.
Charles Sims was pretty good too. Those guys with limited eligibility left, they fit needs. First and foremost, you have to make decisions based on what your needs are. You have to want to come here, because their time is not going to be extensive here. They have to fill a role, and they have to want to be here. I think that we have done just that. We have said no to some guys, and we have missed out on some guys.
On what he likes and doesn’t like in practice
Overall, I like the attitude and the effort from the team. You always deal with spring practice and not being able to get a whole lot done. We haven’t hit that, and hopefully, we don’t see it today. The guys are motivated, and they want to come out and practice. They like playing the game. I like their attitude. They show up, and they are ready to work every day. I think we are getting better every day.
On the new recruiting territories
We are working through that now. (Director of Player Personnel Ryan) Dorchester is working through that now, because recruiting is on the horizon. Primarily, we are going to put (assistant coach/cornerbacks) Blue (Adams) in Georgia. We will be able to hit North Carolina. We will be able to get (assistant coach/defensive line) coach (Bruce) Tall involved with North Carolina a little bit, just because he has the familiarity of being there. Then it’s basically just Virginia and Maryland with what we have to do. We will probably end up hitting that by committee. It will be silly not to have (assistant coach/wide receivers) coach (Tyron) Carrier in Houston a little bit. He grew up there, and he has a lot of resources there. He has a lot of familiarity and relationships with the high schools based on his past. We will probably get into Houston a little bit as well.
On the impact new wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier will have, helping with special teams
He has an impact.This guy leads the country in kickoff returns. He has a wealth of knowledge with that. I’m going to turn them off to him, and let him coach the kick returners and punt returners. We will see how it goes.
On learning more about the wide receivers while coaching in the spring
They didn’t teach me anything. I coached them before this. It was fun to get back in there and coach them up. I am always meeting with a lot of these guys in groups, but there were some one-on-one sessions that never hurt. That’s what (assistant coach/wide receivers) coach (Tyron) Carrier will do. He will be able to get a lot of one-on-one stuff with these guys. I will continue to oversee that aspect of it, not just from the quarterbacks, but from the offensive skill set in general.
Opening Statement
Welcome everybody. It is practice nine. Obviously, we wanted to do a lot of scrimmaging outside, but we have some weather days that shove us inside. However, we can still get a bunch out of this. We just have uppers on. Everything will be controlled. There will be no situations. We are just working on some installation stuff. It will be limited special teams. We will do a lot of individual stuff. We will do some pass rush stuff, some blitz pickup and a bunch of one on one drills. Then we will do a bunch of scripted plays. We will do a tempo period. There won’t be anything live. Obviously, with going inside, we will be able to utilize this in controlled settings. We can’t utilize the indoor for live settings. We are nine practices into it, and that is what you are going to see. (Freshman wide receiver) Marcus Simms is at a funeral, and (freshman running back) Kennedy McKoy is at his prom. We let those guys go back to their prom. A couple of them were gone for their prom last week, and a couple of them will be gone for their prom this week. The deal I make with our early enrollee student-athletes is that they get to go home and do that. I make them bring back pictures. I want to know what their date looked like, and I want to know what they looked like.
On assistant coach (wide receivers) Tyron Carrier
I have a history with him. He was a great player at Houston. His numbers speak for themselves. He has been in this offense for four years, two years with myself and two years with (Kliff) Kingsbury. He took over for me at Houston, so he has a lot of familiarity with this offense. We had a lot of interest in this job. The one thing that didn’t make sense to me was bringing a guy in that didn’t have familiarity with what we are doing. We have some experienced receivers, and we have some guys that are continuing to develop. We don’t have to teach them the offense, but he can teach them a lot of nuances. The technique aspect of things. He is a fierce competitor. He’s a fiery guy. He is going to bring some knowledge from playing experience that I think will be extremely helpful.
On pursuing transfer quarterback Will Grier
He is a really good football player. Anytime we have opportunities to bring in really good football players, then we are going to do just that. Our job is to coach up the guys that we have first and foremost, but we have to continue to recruit guys that are going to help us in the future.
On the success with Mountaineer alum Clint Trickett, and if he helped bring in transfer quarterback Will Grier to West Virginia
It is a funny story. Those two guys were able to get to know each other on an airplane. They were randomly sitting next to each other on a flight to New York. They just kind of looked at each other and recognized who each other was, and they started talking. They had a prior relationship. Clint’s (Trickett) time here was very valuable. It was a great experience for him, and he will be the first to let you know that. Whether he had any impact on him (Will Grier) coming here, I don’t know.
On the program’s success with transfer student-athletes such as Shaq Riddick, Clint Trickett, etc.
Charles Sims was pretty good too. Those guys with limited eligibility left, they fit needs. First and foremost, you have to make decisions based on what your needs are. You have to want to come here, because their time is not going to be extensive here. They have to fill a role, and they have to want to be here. I think that we have done just that. We have said no to some guys, and we have missed out on some guys.
On what he likes and doesn’t like in practice
Overall, I like the attitude and the effort from the team. You always deal with spring practice and not being able to get a whole lot done. We haven’t hit that, and hopefully, we don’t see it today. The guys are motivated, and they want to come out and practice. They like playing the game. I like their attitude. They show up, and they are ready to work every day. I think we are getting better every day.
On the new recruiting territories
We are working through that now. (Director of Player Personnel Ryan) Dorchester is working through that now, because recruiting is on the horizon. Primarily, we are going to put (assistant coach/cornerbacks) Blue (Adams) in Georgia. We will be able to hit North Carolina. We will be able to get (assistant coach/defensive line) coach (Bruce) Tall involved with North Carolina a little bit, just because he has the familiarity of being there. Then it’s basically just Virginia and Maryland with what we have to do. We will probably end up hitting that by committee. It will be silly not to have (assistant coach/wide receivers) coach (Tyron) Carrier in Houston a little bit. He grew up there, and he has a lot of resources there. He has a lot of familiarity and relationships with the high schools based on his past. We will probably get into Houston a little bit as well.
On the impact new wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier will have, helping with special teams
He has an impact.This guy leads the country in kickoff returns. He has a wealth of knowledge with that. I’m going to turn them off to him, and let him coach the kick returners and punt returners. We will see how it goes.
On learning more about the wide receivers while coaching in the spring
They didn’t teach me anything. I coached them before this. It was fun to get back in there and coach them up. I am always meeting with a lot of these guys in groups, but there were some one-on-one sessions that never hurt. That’s what (assistant coach/wide receivers) coach (Tyron) Carrier will do. He will be able to get a lot of one-on-one stuff with these guys. I will continue to oversee that aspect of it, not just from the quarterbacks, but from the offensive skill set in general.
