West Virginia’s quarterback room has been solid through the first week and a half of fall camp, but Rich Rodriguez says there’s still one area that needs cleaning up: the group has to get faster at reading the field and stop getting stuck on its own receivers.
At his Monday press conference, Rodriguez said the quarterbacks have had stretches that were uneven, mostly because they’re holding the ball too long or not seeing things quickly enough.
“Yeah, it’s been okay. There’s been times where it’s uneven, with the quarterbacks holding onto the ball too long or not seeing the field quick enough.
They’re still learning to quit looking at our guys and start looking at their guys more often. But it’s been a pretty solid group.”
The issue isn’t just about staring down a target. Rodriguez’s point is that a quarterback has to know where his receivers should be and spend more of his time identifying the defense and the open space it leaves behind.
He didn’t single out any one player, and he didn’t say whether the problem is more common with the younger quarterbacks or the veterans. But it’s the kind of thing that can show up early in camp, especially when players are processing the offense live again after months away from it. Four of the seven quarterbacks are in their first year in this system, while the other three have only one year of experience in it.
As camp moves along, Rodriguez expects the operation to sharpen up. He also doesn’t sound like a coach eager to put his quarterbacks in harm’s way just to test them. He said he plans to use live periods and scrimmages, but not necessarily much contact for the quarterbacks unless he feels they need it for ball security and discipline.
“We’ll have some live, physical times, and we’ll go live during some scrimmages, but I’m not sure I’m going to have the quarterbacks get hit unless it looks like maybe they need that to make sure they’re doing the proper ball security stuff and playing with the right type of discipline. I don’t think we need to beat our quarterbacks up to prove their toughness. I like the toughness that we have from our quarterbacks.”
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