MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia donned pads Saturday for the first time in spring football in what marked the Mountaineers’ third practice.
“Some good, some bad,” head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “You can teach a lot more when you go full pads. We only did 10 or 15 minutes live, but a lot of good evaluation coming out of it and as I told the team, I saw some pretty good moments where it looked like we were competitive and playing with an edge, and I saw too many periods of softness. We’ll have to get that fixed.”
Rodriguez felt there was plenty to clean up regarding a form of contact effectively known as thud that is used to replace full tackling and certain techniques often applied in games, but not practice.
“A lot of times in pads you’re doing thud, and our guys have to learn how to do a thud and attack practice, especially if they want to get to the next level and go on to the NFL,” Rodriguez said. “Thud is staying up high, but not taking guys to the ground. We don’t cut tackle or cut block. We’re not doing any blow up or cheap shots. I didn’t see any of that today, so that was good, but we still have to learn when we’re doing thud, it’s not half speed.
“When you don’t go live, sometimes you don’t go full speed like you need to. The key is to teach our guys to go full speed, but not yet always tackle. That’s going to probably take three or four practices.”
Rodriguez has stressed that above all else, the Mountaineers need to have a hard edge, a concept the coach often utilizes that focuses on his team gaining an advantage by being mentally and physically tougher than opponents.
“Sometimes they don’t even know it or realize it, and you have to show them, this is a guy that’s playing with a hard edge and this is a guy that’s not,” he said.
With limited film now available for contact evaluations, Rodriguez can use the next few days to get a better idea of what was and wasn’t at an acceptable level before the Mountaineers conduct a fourth spring practice Tuesday.
Becoming more consistent will certainly be a priority in the near future.
“I see moments that I think it’s there, but if you’re soft mentally and physically, you’re not going to make it,” Rodriguez said. “You’ll stand out amongst your teammates and stand out in the program and it’s not going to be the place for you. It’s pretty simple. Sometimes they may not even know what our definition is of being soft. That goes back to us coaches teaching them we think that’s soft, and then we have to explain why, and then hopefully they get it.”
Rodriguez noted football is “a game of big people trying to move other big people against their will,” but desires for players of all positions to display hard edge.
He cited several examples of what it can look like what’s not occurring.
“You’re supposed to, in football terms, punch a guy and knock him off balance and instead you just kind of lean into him,” Rodriguez said. “Or instead of driving a guy down the field, you just kind of bear hug him. Instead of going to thud a guy and legally hit head in front of the waist and knock him backwards, you just kind of jog and tag him.
“As coaches, we have to explain what that is and I’ll probably need to remind my coaches. They may not know what our version of being soft is. We have to teach them. I wasn’t really happy with all the things I had to yell at today, but I didn’t see anything that couldn’t be corrected. It starts with the coaches.”
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Running back Jahiem White is perhaps the most notable holdover of players still with the Mountaineers after Rodriguez replaced Neal Brown as head coach.
White has rushed for 842 and 845 yards, respectively, over his first two seasons of college football, while managing 11 rushing touchdowns in the process. As a freshman in 2023, White averaged an astounding 7.7 yards per carry.
The speedster with 247 receiving yards and three touchdown catches in college has made a strong early impression on his new head coach.
“We know he’s a proven guy and I think he’s going to have a great year,” Rodriguez said. “He has a great skill set for what we do, too, so excited about him.”
Rodriguez referenced redshirt freshman Diore Hubbard, 237-pound transfer Tye Edwards and Division II transfer LJ Turner Jr. as other potential impact tailbacks, but remains open to adding another player at that position.
“I like to have three guys that I know are ready to roll,” he said. “I think there’s some talent in there and we may have it, but we also may need to bring another guy in as well.”