WVU’s quarterback plan for fall camp says plenty without anyone needing to announce a depth chart.
When Rich Rodriguez opened camp and talked about how he’ll handle the quarterbacks, he made clear this won’t be a daily live-fire situation. The staff is trying to be physical enough to get work done, but not reckless enough to needlessly expose the position.
“They probably won’t be as live much," Rodriguez said when asked about how he'll handle the quarterbacks. "We probably won’t go as live much as a team because we’ve had a lot of these guys here throughout spring ball.
Now, we’ll have a couple of scrimmages, so you got to tackle a little bit. I know a lot of NFL teams, they don’t go live during camp, but they have preseason games.
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.”
That approach matters because it doesn’t sound like a true open battle. Last fall, WVU went live a lot more often with five quarterbacks in the mix.
This year is different. The staff already knows what Scotty Fox Jr. can do, and it has only 15 spring practices to evaluate Mike Hawkins Jr. in this system.
If there were still a real competition to sort through, those reps would look a lot more intense. Instead, the setup points to a staff that already has a clear idea of who gives it the best chance to win.
That also explains why there’s no reason to put the starter, or even the No. 2 quarterback, in harm’s way more than necessary. The backup has to stay healthy, stay sharp, and stay ready, because he’s always one snap from being forced into action.
Hawkins has been the target from the start. WVU’s staff and front office identified him early in the process, even though there were other quarterbacks on the board.
There was already familiarity there, too. GM Chuck Lillie, defensive coordinator Zac Alley, and nickels/sams coach Henry Weinreich all knew Hawkins from Oklahoma and had watched him work every day as a true freshman.
So far, he’s matched the expectation. In fact, he’s done more than that. He’s been everything they thought he would be and then some.
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