by Joseph Smith
MORGANTOWN, W. VA — On Saturday, West Virginia football capped their first set of spring practices under the second tenure of Rich Rodriguez as the program’s head football coach.
The festivities were advertised as a “Spring Showcase” instead of the more traditional “Spring Game.” In reality, it looked more like a combination of both.
Rodriguez didn’t divide his roster into separate teams for a true game -- but the offense and defense did scrimmage, and quite a bit. The fans in attendance were shown about an hour and a half of action, totaling around 80 total plays.
There was also a segment dedicated to field goal kicking and a segment dedicated to two-point conversion plays -- during the latter segment, Rodriguez took to the stands at Milan Puskar Stadium to allow fans to choose the play call.
The action did tell you some things about the state of the program, if you paid close enough attention to it. But Rodriguez doesn’t want anyone to form much of an expectation based on what they saw.
“It’s not big coach speak, but I wouldn’t take a whole lot into anything happening today,” Rodriguez said.
“Some of it’s like, this guy looked great, well, he’s going against a true freshman that’s supposed to be getting ready to ask his girlfriend to go to prom this weekend. You know what I mean, so does that really count? We have to take all those factors into consideration.”
What you could glean from the action was a team that appears very much to still be a work in progress. That’s to be expected, of course. Rodriguez had to piece together much of his roster from existing walk-ons that stuck around and pieces from the transfer portal -- he’s been on the job for less than four months, and you can’t build a winner that quickly.
The good stuff we saw looks promising. The offense isn’t quite a finely-tuned machine yet, but was traditional Rich Rodriguez football. The run game looked as strong as it has the past two seasons when the Mountaineers averaged 210 rushing yards per game over 26 outings.
Returning offensive line depth pieces Nick Krahe and Landen Livingston appeared with the first lineup on the field and looked like they could seamlessly fit into a starting role as anticipated under the previous regime.
A pair of running backs -- incoming transfer senior Tye Edwards and redshirt freshman returner Diore Hubbard -- each found the endzone multiple times, with Edwards scoring twice and Hubbard three times. Running back Trae’von Hubbard also scored a touchdown.
“The offensive line here needs to be the definition of hard edge. There's no excuse for us not to have that mentality every play," WVU offensive lineman Landen Livingston said.
"Our offense is super simple, and it allows us to play fast...I love running the ball being an offensive lineman, and we're kind of hoping to continue that [WVU] offensive line tradition from the past couple years.”
Returning quarterback junior Nicco Marchiol -- 3-0 as a starter for WVU -- took the field for the first reps at quarterback. He dialed in a 40-yard bomb to Jacksonville State transfer wideout Cam Vaughn, and later squeezed a pass in a tight window to wide receiver Jarel Williams as he tiptoed the sideline to haul in the catch. Transfer quarterback Max Brown impressed with his dynamic running ability, and added a rushing touchdown himself.
Defensively, an early and limited look at the schemes Defensive Coordinator Zac Alley can dial up proved exciting, and a unit that was amongst the worst in the country in 2024 held its own against an up-tempo Rich Rodriguez offense.
Transfer cornerback Jason Chambers came up with an interception. Sophomore safety Israel Boyce made a big hit to blow up a play in the backfield and was active all day -- Alley said Boyce had an “amazing spring” and perhaps the “best of anyone” on the defense.
“He’s going to make a major impact for us back there,” Alley added.
But reasons for concern were present as well. The team was called for a number of penalties offensively, mostly false starts that repeatedly plagued the team. A personal foul also made its way into the mix at the end of one play where things seemed, for a flash of a second, a bit scrappy. The defense failed to capitalize on multiple loose fumbles, and quarterback Jaylen Henderson did lob a pass up that ended up intercepted.
And what was missing altogether was also telling. Tight end transfer Johnny Pascuzzi is no longer on the roster, indicating some players have already started to filter out. Key roster members, like star running back Jahiem White on offense and highly touted transfers like Michael Coates Jr. and Jimmori Robinson on defense, saw little-to-no action. How those players factor into the team remains to be seen.
On that matter, Rodriguez also said he’ll talk about his players’ strengths and weaknesses if the NCAA spring portal window changes. Until then?
“I ain’t saying squat,” Rich Rodriguez said.
But at the beginning of the offseason, Rodriguez and Alley talked about working to instill the ‘hard edge’ culture and mentality he’s known for. The team's spring practice sessions and Spring Showcase have shown that in doing that, Rodriguez and his staff seems to have succeeded in many aspects. And now, the team has a clear mentality, and a clear message for their opponents they’re working to carry into this fall.
“I would say you got to have a hard edge, you got to be willing to dominate your opponent, and play harder than your opponent every play,” WVU Defensive Lineman Hammond Russell IV said. “We’re going to attack you -- we’re going to attack you every play, no matter what.”