November 9th, 2009
Rich Rodriguez Monday Press Conference Notes
Injuries coming out of the game:
- Brandon Minor – Shoulder Bruise
- Junior Hemingway – Back Issues
- Tay Odoms – Day-to-day – not recovering as quickly as they had thought.
Notes:
- Tate was solid but had a few reads he’d like to have back
- Felt comfortable offensively – need to do a better job of finishing off drives
- On Woolfolk’s comments about being confused out there – “That’s disheartening”…goes on to say that the team isn’t good enough to overcome those mental mistakes
- On playing bad in the 2nd half – no real trends, just a matter of playing better.
- Asked if the players are out of shape – RR: “Do we look outta shape?” “No”
- Onside kick was executed very well – ball is live once it hits the ground and they did a good job of taking out our player
- On halftime adjustments – you only have 5 or 6 minutes with coaches and the same with the players to talk about adjustments
- J.B. Fitzgerald played ok, but “no player on defense had a championship performance”
- On the 4th & 10 – RR: “biggest concern was that we were not stopping them”
- RR on LB’s: “Been ok, but have had some moments of disappointment” “want to eliminate the biggest mistakes”
- RR has been to play at Wisconsin during his first year of coaching at West Virginia – said they have a great atmosphere
- On playing Wisconsin: “Great challenge but also a great opportunity”
- On Defensive Coordinator change: “I really like the chemistry of our staff and the players have bought in, but the production isn’t where we would like it to be” “Our guys are trying as hard as they can and there isn’t just one reason that we aren’t having success”
- RR on players resiliency: “It’s a good group of guys” “Guys aren’t happy when we get beat, but we want the players to be able to bounce back come Monday and Tuesday of the next week”
- “The best way to feel better after a loss is to move and do what you can to win the next one”
- The university as well as RR’s staff isn’t used to losing and it’s not a fun process, but the staff isn’t daunted by the challenge
- Brandon Smith is somewhat caught between two positions – was recruited as safety but will probably eventually play at the linebacker position
- On recruiting services and paying attention to the star ratings – RR: “you have to use your own judgment” …and goes on to say that you can’t dismiss a guy because he may only be a 2 star
- RR mentions guys like Jeremy Gallon – who else has forgot about that name?? I sure did…
- RR on bowl opportunities – “They know a bowl game is in sight, it should give some motivation”
- The players on the scout teams know that they are always being evaluated. You can tell throughout the course of the season who is going to contribute in the near future
- RR on Denard: “I talked to him today about not getting him in the game” ..he has a great attitude and that Denard is very understanding and is a team player
- Denard’s running play could have been huge if it wasn’t for a missed assignment
- RR on Tate since Notre Dame: “He’s had more positive moments than negative moments – Still very much a work in progress and has to learn a whole lot” “I told him last week that he must act, play, and behave older than he his:”
- RR on playing at Camp Randall: “We’ll do more this week on crowd noise and get our guys ready for that” “Communication is the biggest thing on not only offense but on defense too”
- RR: “if you do the right job in recruiting, two and three years from now you won’t see many freshman playing” “that’s the way you build a program and that’s the process that we are in”
- RR on scheduling Boise State: “4 or 5 years down the road we are open to a lot of things” “we haven’t heard from them”
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