Post by rainman on Oct 2, 2007 5:53:37 GMT -5
Word on QB White is now encouraging
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— The word on Patrick White was encouraging Monday.
“Pat’s better today than he was Sunday,” Coach Rich Rodriguez said of West Virginia’s ailing No. 1 quarterback.
“It’s still day-to-day (on his thigh bruise). But according to the trainers, he’s got better motion and feels a lot better (Monday).”
White, who missed the entire second half of last Friday night’s 21-13 upset loss at South Florida, is hopeful that he’ll be able to play against Syracuse on Saturday in the noisy Carrier Dome.
“(Monday) is a day off, so we’ll see how he feels before Tuesday’s practice,” Rodriguez said on the Big East’s weekly media teleconference.
While West Virginia, now 4-1 and ranked 13th, probably is out of the national championship picture, it remains in the wide-open Big East title race.
“Every year our first goal is to win the Big East championship and play West Virginia football every week,” Rodriguez said. “We want to compete for championships.
“We’re behind in the Big East championship run. But there are a lot of league games left. This is a very, very competitive conference.”
However, the veteran coach said he’s mostly concerned right now about his team getting better today and trying to get better each day.
Asked about Steve Slaton’s cramping up, he explained that the All-America tailback was given an IV at halftime of the USF game and also received a lot of Gatorade and water.
“I don’t know how much you can do (about the cramping),” Rodriguez said. ‘He’s 190 pounds of muscle, and sometimes in hot, humid conditions you can’t replace fluids fast enough.”
Slaton, who has had a similar problem previously, carried the ball just 13 times for a net 54 yards against the Bulls.
“He didn’t have his best game,” Rodriguez acknowledged. “But no one on offense played exceptionally well.
“It will be warm in the Carrier Dome (at Syracuse) this week. But I’m not concerned at all.”
Rodriguez said freshman tailback Noel Devine got plenty of playing time at USF and that he will continue to get reps in future games.
He doesn’t think the injury to White was the reason that WVU lost. “We weren’t doing well offensively before that,” he noted. “Pat’s a guy that’s got the ability to make big plays throughout an entire game.
“(Backup) Jarrett Brown has a lot of ability, too. But he made a couple of mistakes and didn’t play as well as he has in the past.
“There are a lot of things that we can get corrected. But that certainly wasn’t the main reason we didn’t win the game.
“It was just a very, very poor day of execution, offensively. It was like a nightmare. Fumbled snaps and turnovers and missed assignments — things that we had been really good at (averting).
“So it’s never one guy. Pat certainly is an explosive player. But Jarrett is pretty explosive himself.
“No matter who’s in there, we’re running the same offense. So it’s a combination of things.
“Hopefully, we’ll learn from it, have a good week of practice, trying to get things corrected, and get ready for another challenge on the road up at Syracuse.”
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— The word on Patrick White was encouraging Monday.
“Pat’s better today than he was Sunday,” Coach Rich Rodriguez said of West Virginia’s ailing No. 1 quarterback.
“It’s still day-to-day (on his thigh bruise). But according to the trainers, he’s got better motion and feels a lot better (Monday).”
White, who missed the entire second half of last Friday night’s 21-13 upset loss at South Florida, is hopeful that he’ll be able to play against Syracuse on Saturday in the noisy Carrier Dome.
“(Monday) is a day off, so we’ll see how he feels before Tuesday’s practice,” Rodriguez said on the Big East’s weekly media teleconference.
While West Virginia, now 4-1 and ranked 13th, probably is out of the national championship picture, it remains in the wide-open Big East title race.
“Every year our first goal is to win the Big East championship and play West Virginia football every week,” Rodriguez said. “We want to compete for championships.
“We’re behind in the Big East championship run. But there are a lot of league games left. This is a very, very competitive conference.”
However, the veteran coach said he’s mostly concerned right now about his team getting better today and trying to get better each day.
Asked about Steve Slaton’s cramping up, he explained that the All-America tailback was given an IV at halftime of the USF game and also received a lot of Gatorade and water.
“I don’t know how much you can do (about the cramping),” Rodriguez said. ‘He’s 190 pounds of muscle, and sometimes in hot, humid conditions you can’t replace fluids fast enough.”
Slaton, who has had a similar problem previously, carried the ball just 13 times for a net 54 yards against the Bulls.
“He didn’t have his best game,” Rodriguez acknowledged. “But no one on offense played exceptionally well.
“It will be warm in the Carrier Dome (at Syracuse) this week. But I’m not concerned at all.”
Rodriguez said freshman tailback Noel Devine got plenty of playing time at USF and that he will continue to get reps in future games.
He doesn’t think the injury to White was the reason that WVU lost. “We weren’t doing well offensively before that,” he noted. “Pat’s a guy that’s got the ability to make big plays throughout an entire game.
“(Backup) Jarrett Brown has a lot of ability, too. But he made a couple of mistakes and didn’t play as well as he has in the past.
“There are a lot of things that we can get corrected. But that certainly wasn’t the main reason we didn’t win the game.
“It was just a very, very poor day of execution, offensively. It was like a nightmare. Fumbled snaps and turnovers and missed assignments — things that we had been really good at (averting).
“So it’s never one guy. Pat certainly is an explosive player. But Jarrett is pretty explosive himself.
“No matter who’s in there, we’re running the same offense. So it’s a combination of things.
“Hopefully, we’ll learn from it, have a good week of practice, trying to get things corrected, and get ready for another challenge on the road up at Syracuse.”
