Rich Rodriguez Virginia Press Conference

Go, Greg. All right. Rich, start with a couple of positions after two games. Give me your thoughts on the offensive line. Give me analysis on it. Let's start there. Yeah. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is a lot of new starters up front. You know, Nick Cray is the only returning guy that's starting, and he's at a different position. But, you know, I think they've played pretty well for the most part. It's a hard-working group. And I thought before the season that we might have a chance. You always want to have at least eight, you know, that we consider starters, a backup guard, backup center, backup tackle. But we thought we had 10, maybe 11 guys that we'd feel comfortable with. And after two games, I think we're getting closer to having 10, 11 guys that we feel comfortable with at any time during a game to play. So, they're going to keep getting better. You did the battle. You haven't really rotated much with that starting five. Would you like to do so, or do you have a point you can? Not really. I don't think there's any particular plan. Coach Trickett has – usually has a little bit of an idea or kind of a feel for the way it's going when somebody needs a little break or something like that. But we're – you know, we've gotten some tempo plays off. But, you know, because we didn't get a lot of three and outs or turnovers in the last couple games, we weren't really able to use tempo and get our guys – more guys playing in the flow offensively. You know, not just at O-line, but at wide out and other skill positions. And we like to roll a lot more guys in offensively. We played a lot of people in the last game, of course, but the score indicated that. But we like to do that on a normal rotation. You see for Virginia, it looks like a continuation of last year, strong defense, good running game. Yeah, I mean, so I don't know the stats of it, but it might be the most veteran team that has been in college football in a long time. And there won't be nearly as many veteran teams like this in the future because of the five-for-five rule, right? But I mean, you're talking about, what, two seventh-year guys, two sixth-year guys, a fifth-year guy on the hill line. It's amazing. They've done a great job of getting their guys in and retaining them and developing. And now they're playing a bunch of grown men. And it shows on film on both sides. I mean, they're an experienced team that doesn't make a lot – any mistakes. And they're going to be where they're supposed to be and they play good football. I remember Tony Elling as a player. You were with him? Yeah, Coach. Coach, Tony, I was at Clemson. Tony was a walk-on wide receiver. And I can remember he was a good player, tough guy, really smart. I can remember saying, this guy's going to be a good coach if he wants to be a coach someday. You know, he just kind of had that and really proud of him. He's done a great job at UVA. They don't make any mistakes. I saw a quote from Michael Vick after they played them that said, you know, when they make you earn every blade of grass that you get, you know, with their defense, the way they're – how disciplined they are. And they are. They're very well coached. You know, they'll be in the right spot where they're supposed to be all the time. Very rarely do you see something bust out for a big play or anything like that because they're a pretty experienced group that knows how to play. Walk us through Scottie Vogt for people. A tough quarterback, very mobile, very good with his legs. How do you force him into passing? Like what kind of game plan do you see? Well, you definitely got to account for – you got to account for all 11, right? They're going to play with 11 with him. And he's a, you know, a big physical runner. He's got experience. And so I don't know if you're going to trick him or anything like that. I think part of the biggest key may be just in simple terms getting off blocks, which is, you know, you might be in the right position to make a play, but you got to get off a block. And you got good guys blocking you. And then you got to be able to tackle. And so schematically, I think a lot of it is too much is probably made out of that. It's usually defensively is when you're really good where you're in position, but you're getting off blocks and getting people down on the ground. And that's going to be the key with tackling him and those running backs they got. We're happy with the defense Saturday. So what do you emphasize this week to try to create that? Yeah, we got to clean up some of the mistakes. There were some, you know, some I don't want to say simple busts that we had, but there were some things that we've got to get corrected in a hurry. And our defensive coaches have a good plan. And our guys are really conscientious. So, you know, you get away with them against UT Martin, you're not going to get away with it against Virginia. You're entering a new world now. You got a night game. You're on the road playing a top 25 team. Is it different around here this week, you know, feeling so far? You know, that's a good question, Bob. I would like to think it's going to be the same every week. You know, how we practice Tuesday, Wednesday, how we focus on Thursday, you know, that should never change week to week no matter who we play. And I told the team the other day, our Tuesdays and Wednesday practices have, you know, I don't know if it's really unique, but we have to be different in how the intensity is and how we go about doing it regardless of who we play. Well, the reality is our players know when there's a challenge. You know, when you're playing a top 25 team and you're an underdog and it's in a different environment. I hope it gets them excited because, you know, everybody always should play and coach with the thought that they have something to prove. And if they don't, then I've got the wrong guys and I've got the wrong staff. So, I think every week we feel like we have something to prove. But you have a better opportunity to show something when you go against a ranked team. And so, hopefully we'll have a great – we should have a great week of practice. You did a lot and kind of made a lot of statements for the old Big East Conference. Now being the Big 12 a couple years, do you at all look at this as an opportunity to make a statement for the Big 12 and you now being part of the Big 12? You know, I – Not really. I mean, I don't know if I'm unique in that part. You know, I want – the Big 12 is a great conference and a lot of really good programs and it's well-run, well-structured and all that. But I really don't worry about anybody at West Virginia. I mean, I don't. I don't – I mean, I don't like, oh, that's a great win for the Big 12. And, you know, I'm sure the Big 12 administrators think that way. I think like what's good for West Virginia is me just – I worry about West Virginia. Do you have a date on Chris Daly or Ja'Corey Thomas? No, Ja'Corey's got – I think his hearing has been moved to Thursday. The venue has been changed to Indiana. I think it was going to be somewhere in another state. So, supposedly we may know something about him on Thursday. Tally's still out. He may be back in a week, maybe two weeks before he's ready to go. Coach, in regards to third down, last year you guys struggled in third down, but it seems like you have had some success this season thus far. What's changed at all in your perspective? Well, you know, I don't – you know, some of it, third down success is usually who you're playing against and what the third down is, whether it's short or long. I think we've done better in short yardage third down than we've done in long yardage short down. It seems like we've long ordered short third down the last couple games. We haven't been as good, you know, with giving up some plays there. And we haven't got, you know, a lot of three and outs. And it's going to be tough to get three and outs in this game. But, you know, we – if you get five or six three and outs, then obviously your offense gets that back out there quicker and make them play, you know, that much faster on defense. So, I think we – you know, we've got a pretty extensive third down packages. But we've – I think we can play a lot better on third down and we will need to going forward. Prince, how do the offensive team plays this weekend? Well, we're hopeful he can play. You know, he's a big physical guy. You know, he's got him and Jaden and Nider are two guys that are 6-2 or over 6-2 that are physical presence. And Prince is the biggest of all the wide outs. So he's – and he was having a really good camp. So, we're hoping he'll have a good week of practice. He may have a little rust in there once in a while. But if we can get him in the game Saturday and he's ready to go, it gives us a big body on the outside. You were saying there was short yards and long yards. Is that just more of just personnel or what they're showing defensively? Why do you think that's different? Well, we've had some success. Well, the first game we didn't – we lost contain a few times, so that killed us on third and long. And in the last game it was just one or two guys maybe having a minor bust or something that allowed that to happen. Again, try not to judge too much on the second half of the last game. But this is a game where, you know, first off you got to give them a third down. You know, and they're going to – you know, we know they're going to be able to try to run the ball and use the quarterback run game as well. I think the biggest part for our guys is they've been pretty aware. You know, I always say this to our guys, everything we do in practice is down in distance and situation oriented. So we don't run a play against a scout team or good on good without it being a down in distance. So I think our guys are aware of the down in distance. So it's not like they're going to not be aware of third and four or third and ten. But the more experience they get played in the defense, the more they'll know or expect what kind of call is coming next on the defensive side of the ball. On those lines, your success on offense on third down this year, how much of that is, like you said, the first two games? And how much of it is just being better or having better ideas or players this year? Well, I think some of it is probably – I don't know, again, the numbers of how much of it is third and short and how much third and long. It's probably been a lot more third and shorts in the first two games. You know, you like to avoid third downs as much as possible. You know, you like to get first and second down. But this is going to be a game that probably is one of the keys of this game is that our success on third down. Because they do not give up a lot of big plays. They're going to make you earn every bit of what you do, like I said earlier. So we'll be in third down situations and we got to be highly productive if we want a chance to win this game. Statistically, you guys are pretty similar. Do you do it the same way or a little bit differently? A little bit differently. I think everybody's unique in their own way offensively. You know, their quarterback run game is not like ours. Ours is a little bit unique in a lot of respects. But there are some similarities in that they want to start off with a big physical offensive line coming downhill. And if you don't stop them running the ball, they'll keep running the ball. And that's, you know, that's kind of a general philosophy that a lot of teams will base it on. And we're kind of the same way. If we can run the ball, we'll just run the ball. But, you know, we know this game is going to be a little bit different challenge than doing that. And defensively, if we let them just keep running the ball and getting four or five yards a chunk and getting first downs and having possessions, it's going to be hard to win the game. You mentioned running the ball. You've had success actually against running the ball so far this year. But how do you feel about the secondary and the pass defense? Because that's… Ours or theirs? Yours. You know, it's been okay. You know, it's not like it's been like, oh, my gosh, the secondary is not doing well. You know, some of the big plays we've given up, again, were containment issues or something like that. But it hasn't been that bad. I thought we've played, you know, same way defensively. It's like my expectations are always going to be high. And our defense did have a shutout. It's just we didn't play as well against that team as I think we're capable. But our guys also know that they've got to play better to win this one. And I think they'll respond well. Rich, as you said, you've played a lot of people. Watching film, any of the young guys that's jumped out at you in particular? I don't know. Yeah, I don't think anybody in particular. I thought all the running backs played pretty hard. The young offensive lineman, LaMarcus Dillard, who got in there for the first time is a true freshman. You know, he got a lot of reps. I thought he played pretty well. Defensively, I'm trying to think who was some of those young guys, young linebackers I thought took another step to get in. But like I said, it's hard to judge. You know, it's UT Martin and it's a team that we should beat. But this is a good game. You know, as the season goes along and all those young guys are going to get more and more reps, you know, I expect their play to continue to get better. Because as I told the coach this morning, that's where our Tuesday and Wednesday practices have to take hold. We have to have a certain level of intensity on Tuesday and Wednesday that almost matches the games. And it's not going to be exactly like the game, of course, but that to me is who we are. Our Tuesdays and Wednesdays are ultra intense and competitive and that's got to be who we are to help us get better. You've had your quarterback pretty much on a pitch count so far. What happens in a game if you have to go open? I mean, if you fall behind or if there's – Yeah, you've got to do whatever you've got to do to win the game. And we haven't thrown much because we didn't need to throw much. But if they force you to throw and you've got to throw it 40, 50 times a game, I got confidence that we can do that. I mean, Mike can make all the throws. Scotty can make all the throws. So we got quarterbacks that can throw. That's a good part about it. Like we've got things that if we've got to do it to move the ball, whatever we've got to do to move the ball, there's not anything that we can't say, well, Mike can't do this or Scotty can't do this or our receivers can't handle this or our O-line can't handle that. It's just a matter of what execution goes. And so we work out during the week, during practice, we work a whole lot of plays that we know inevitably have not called. You know? And so hopefully Saturday the plays that we think are going to work will work decently so we don't have to break out new plays. Do you have an emphasis this week on starting early, starting quicker, just to get points up on the board? No, I've never had a game where I said, let's start off slow and then let's pick it up later. I mean, like when the game starts, let's play as good as we can from the jump. You know what I mean? Like other than hoping that happens, there's not really a magic formula. When did you realize how smart Mike Hawkins was? Smart? I mean, I thought he was pretty sharp when we first met and back then when I talked to him on the phone. And then you get to know him a little bit through spring. Yeah, I said there were moments in the spring when he was still learning and he's still learning the system that he was really, really decisive on some of the pass plays that we were doing. I'm like, this is – I said, that gave you a nice comfortable feeling that hey, we didn't have to hold back. You don't have to hold back what we're doing because Mike is a sharp guy and is decisive. But, you know, he's a quieter guy too, so he's not going to be a real vocal guy that, you know, hey coach, I need to have a better understanding of what this is or that is. I mean, you tell – if you run a play, Mike's going to feel confident he can run that play. You know what I mean? So there's not a – I don't know any quarterbacks that we have or have ever had that said, well coach, I don't think I can run that play. Every quarterback believes they can run every play. And that's a good thing. But inevitably, you don't want to overload them with a bunch of different stuff. As our season goes along, and as our guys' careers go along, you'll be able to add more and more and be comfortable with everything. And that's going to be a neat place to be at. What have you said? Coach Vick's comment about Virginia making you earn every blade of grass. Is this a game where maybe limiting mistakes will mean more to the outcome than Vick plays? Always, 100%. You know, you've got no negative yardage plays and no turnovers, you win 100% of the time. So we can't turn the ball over and, you know, we can't have negative yardage plays, whether it's pre-snap penalties or, you know, losses, you know, sacks, whatever the case may be. You know, you can't afford to beat a good team with those kind of mistakes that you control, you know, the turnovers and the mental errors. So we control that. And then on the flip side on defense, you've got to get some of those. You know, if we get no turnovers, this will be hard to win the game. If we don't force Virginia into any negative yardage plays, it's going to be hard to win the game. So, I mean, that's just kind of coach talk, you know, simplistically you're saying. No, no kidding. Well, that's the obvious, stating the obvious. I know you released a statement. Do you have any other comments or thoughts on the Noah Devine situation? No, we had a statement out. Coach, Ashton Woods, Ben Cutter, two veterans in your defense. What kind of expectations do you have of them this week going into such a big game, knowing that they have been on this defense? Yeah, I think, you know, we're rotating four or five linebackers in there. And, you know, they've done okay. They're all getting experience. Ashton and Ben have the most experience in our defense, and so you'd expect them to be in the right spot. But, you know, they're going to play a big role this week because, you know, the recognition of what UVA is going to do and the challenge of the quarterback run game adds more to what they've got to be doing. But they're pretty sharp guys, and they've done a good job so far. You talked a little bit about the times, old days when you were coaching, and Pat and Coach Henry were going at it in practice. What were those practices like and those confrontations like? Yeah, I think part of the thing I've always felt like that helped us get ready is that our practices were always so ultra-competitive on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And you don't do a lot of good on good, but when you do, it's, you know, you want the type of mindset that you always have something to prove. You know, I said this before to you guys, I think. I always worry about the athlete or the coach that says, well, I don't have anything else to prove. I've already proven it. No, if they're keeping score, we've got something to prove. You know, and every coach and every player and every person in this program, every time we play, we have something to prove. And the best players always play that way. And Pat was like that, and Chris was like that. And I think we have a lot of guys on our team now like that. But that's my challenge to them this week, is that it doesn't matter who we're playing on Tuesday, Wednesday practices, you've got to practice like you've got something to prove. And that's got to be what our program is all about. When you go into a week, say Tuesday, do you add during the week or subtract as you get closer to the game? Both. I think you have a tendency to add too much because if you watch more film, you'll watch right in the middle of it right now. You're like, boss, we've got to do this and then do this. And all of a sudden you can't make all these calls. You have 100 and something plays on offense, but you're only going to have 70 calls during the game and some of them are repeated. So you don't have time to practice at all. And that's part of my job as a head coach. And I obviously do that more offensively than defensively. It's like these all are great ideas, but how are we going to practice it? You know, let's hone it on on the ones that we know we need to have and then just be really good at executing. As I said it, and I'll say it again a thousand times, it ain't what you call, it's what you can execute. So there's a lot of neat stuff to call, but if you can't execute it then you're wasting your time. To Bob's question, you've been coaching so long and had so many great players, do you ever catch yourself thinking like, well that player can be my Pac-Man Jones or that player can be like my guy? Or do you have to not do that? No, recruiting, yeah, you're looking for that guy that, hey, like Pac was, he was raw when he got it because he played wingback in a wing tee offense and you didn't sure how he was going to play corner. But he was so athletic and competitive that he would have played whatever position you put him at. He was going to be good at it. And him and Chris Slim was the same way. Slim was such a talented guy. Those two, they're one-on-ones and every day in practice were epic. They'd jump the line and make sure they went against each other all the time. And they had that kind of like, you know, attitude of, hey, I want to prove myself. And they did it and wanted to prove themselves every day. And I think we have – we try to identify that in recruiting guys. We try to identify that in getting guys out of the portal. And inevitably you find out when you're in your program. But we try to foster that environment. There's no like stuff that's given. Oh, this guy is it. You know, when we talk about earned success, I truly believe that's the foundation of our program. Okay.