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By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com

	Rich Rodriguez

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It was back to work for the Mountaineer football team Monday afternoon and the team practiced like it had the week off, says WVU coach Rich Rodriguez.

“We’re going to practice again tomorrow just to shake that spring break off of them and practice again Wednesday and hopefully this weekend they will have a little better idea of what we’re going to do,” Rodriguez said Monday evening.

“A lot of coaches don’t want to do a practice right after spring break but to me the best way to get back into the flow of things is to get back into the flow of things and practice,” Rodriguez said.

The coach mapped out the remainder of the schedule for spring drills heading up to the annual Gold-Blue scrimmage on Saturday.

“Tomorrow is going to be a different practice. Seventy five percent of it will be evaluations: one on ones, two on twos, three on threes – get a lot of film of our guys competing against each other to really evaluate them,” Rodriguez said. “Wednesday will be a normal practice and then the spring game on Saturday. It will be really watered down and more of a scrimmage for us.”

Injuries to the offensive line and a lack of depth will necessitate a shorter spring game this year.

“We only had nine linemen practicing today and five of those are walk-ons. That’s a position that we’re the thinnest at right now,” Rodriguez said. “(Ryan) Stanchek had a concussion today so we’re really, really thin there and that’s hampering everything. This will be the shortest spring scrimmage that we’ve ever had. We’ve got to sell our popcorn quick.”

As for Monday’s work, Rodriguez said that were some things that he liked.

“We threw the ball pretty well and I thought the receivers made a couple of nice plays today,” he said. “But we’re not coming off the ball with a whole lot of intensity on either side, particularly on the O-line. I know we’ve got a lot of offensive linemen hurt but that gives opportunities to some of those other guys and those walk-ons are getting a chance to prove themselves.”

Consequently, Rodriguez doesn’t believe he will be able to determine a two-deep after Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I was hoping but I don’t think I will,” Rodriguez said. “Based on what we’ve seen so far; some of the guys that are injured and the freshmen coming in are going to have an opportunity to crack the two-deep. That’s a little concerning with our schedule playing 12 games you’ve got to have more depth than what it appears we have at this point.”

Briefly:

Rodriguez introduced what appeared to be a couple of new formations Monday but the coach said those have been in the playbook for several years now. “Most of the formations we’ve done are things we’ve done in the past so it’s not totally new,” he explained. “We only have a couple of days to see it live. In fairness to our offense and our defense, they’re seeing unconventional looks so we’re probably not getting a real good gauge on it. You’re trying to get your best 11 on the field and sometimes certain formations allow you to do that.” Last week, Rodriguez took some members of his coaching staff to Clemson and Virginia Tech to observe practice and evaluate their facilities. He said the trip was beneficial. “It was two-fold: we wanted to watch some other folks practice and see what they did with their practice tempo and their drills. We also wanted to take a look at a lot of facilities,” Rodriguez said. “We have an opportunity to enhance our facilities – our academic center and our locker room – we took a lot of pictures and got a lot of ideas and I thought it was very productive.” Rodriguez announced last Friday that Noel Devine of Fort Myers, Fla., signed his letter-of-intent to attend West Virginia University. Devine, a 5-foot-8-inch, 175-pounder who played at North Fort Myers High School, was one of the most coveted prep prospects in the country this year rushing for 2,148 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns his senior season. “We’ve added Noel to the class. He’s a guy we’ve recruited for quite some time,” Rodriguez said. “He’s still got some work to do with the test and his core classes but he’s on track. His staff at his high school is monitoring that and now that he’s signed we can more closely monitor it ourselves.” Here is the scoring system that will be implemented for Saturday’s Gold-Blue Spring Game: Offense: Touchdown - 6 points Extra Point - 1 point Field Goal - 3 points First Down - 1 point Defense: Touchdown - 6 points Turnover - 3 points Drive Stop - 2 points 3 and out - 3 points CSTV All-Access subscribers will have the opportunity to listen to WAJR’s coverage of the spring game live on the Internet. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s been a difficult spring for All-American running back Steve Slaton, still on the mend after undergoing successful off-season wrist surgery. He has been relegated to the sidelines in a green jersey, taking part in conditioning drills but little else. Steve Slaton accounted for 37 percent of West Virginia's offense last year as a sophomore. Bill Amatucci photo “It definitely is frustrating watching other guys out there running around and I’m just standing around watching them. I would like to be out there with them,” Slaton said. Yet at the same time Slaton realizes the importance of having his wrist healed properly so that he doesn’t have to go through this again sometime later in his career. “I don’t want to rush into things. I want to give my rehab the full time it needs to heal so I can be back soon,” he admitted. “It’s not 100 percent yet but it’s doing better.” Do you remember as a kid telling someone that you could beat them with one hand tied behind your back? Well, that’s essentially what Slaton did last year for West Virginia as a sophomore. The Levittown, Pa., resident accounted for 37 percent of the Mountaineers’ offense in 2006, rushing for 1,744 yards and catching 27 passes for 360 yards and two touchdowns. He did so with an injured right wrist that he first hurt against Connecticut as a freshman and eventually required off-season surgery to correct. If that weren’t enough, Slaton also injured his other wrist during the Louisville game but still managed to run for 156 yards and a touchdown. It was only after the Pitt victory when he ran for 215 yards and two touchdowns that injuries really begin to take its toll. In his final three games against South Florida, Rutgers and Georgia Tech Slaton ran 44 times for a very un-Slaton-like 166 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged only 3.8 yards per carry. “It was frustrating but you get around it,” Slaton said of playing with the bad wrist. “I practiced with it during fall camp and I got used to it before I went out during the season.” Yet Slaton admits it would have been nice having both arms to wrap around the football or to use to catch passes coming out of the backfield. “You are so much more effective with two hands than one,” he said. Slaton was by no means overused last year. His 248 carries wasn’t an inordinate amount for a featured back (four runners had more than 300 attempts last year including 335 by Rutgers’ Ray Rice), but doesn’t have any qualms whatsoever sharing the same backfield with Florida prep sensation Noel Devine, who signed with the Mountaineers last Friday. “We’re going to have a lot of offensive weapons and we just need to take advantage of all of them,” Slaton said. Slaton has seen some of Devine’s highlight clips on You Tube and is impressed with his raw breakaway speed and cutting ability. “He is respected by a lot of people and he has a lot of talent and hopefully he comes in and learns the system and can help out,” Slaton said. “He really hasn’t shown too much of a negative or anything to critique about. Everything he does is positive.” Some have already mentioned that with the addition of Devine West Virginia will now have college football’s fastest backfield. Slaton disagrees. “I think we already have the fastest backfield,” he said. “(Devine) just adds another piece to it.” Slaton believes Devine’s ability to get north and south and cut quickly makes him a perfect fit for Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense. “College is a lot faster than high school but he does what he needs to do to get positive yards,” Slaton said. Is there a formation Rodriguez could use to take advantage of all of the talented runners West Virginia has? “I don’t know,” Slaton remarked. “You’d have to take some time to look that up. Maybe split me and Noel out at receiver. We’ve got other talented backs that we are able to use, too.” For now, Slaton is spending most of his time trying to get a more complete picture of the offense. “I really haven’t gotten to do too much and just watching things has been real helpful,” Slaton said. “I’m getting a better comprehension of the stuff that we’re already doing in the offense. “I’m just getting bigger pieces of the whole concept.” Slaton says a firm time table for his complete return hasn’t been established, but he plans on being full-go by the time two-a-days roll around in August. “I’m going to talk to the doctors and see how it is when that comes up. You can’t really evaluate that. Some people take a certain amount of time (to heal),” he said, adding that he plans on erring on the side of caution. pring Practice Report By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – He may not feel this way today, tomorrow or even next week, but the perfectionist in Rich Rodriguez can’t let one bad spring practice slip by without getting things corrected – immediately. Rich Rodriguez looks on at a practice inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility earlier this spring. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks “Our defense can walk off the field and it would take us more than 10 plays to score,” said the coach Wednesday evening. “We may not be able to score in 10 plays against air. We can’t block, we can’t throw, we can’t catch; we can’t run. Other than that it’s all right. I’m not sure our defense was any better. “Right now we’re not a very good football team,” he continued. “I hope we get better in one more practice which I doubt will happen. They better have a great summer because we’re not ready to win any games.” What exactly went wrong Wednesday? “The execution wasn’t good; I didn’t think the intensity wasn’t any good on offense. I don’t know if I’ve got any wide receivers that are ready. I don’t know if I’ve got any running backs … I don’t know if I’ve got five linemen. “How much time do you have?” Rodriguez is the first coach in WVU history to lead the Mountaineers’ to back-to-back New Year’s Day bowl victories and consecutive Top 10 finishes. He understands that just one off game can derail some of his program’s biggest goals. “To me every day is a day to compete. It’s a day to get better,” he explained. “If we had a practice tomorrow and we had a good day my attitude would completely change. You can’t have an off day and I think our guys understand that. We don’t play that many games. You play 12 and hope to play 13. You have an off day in one of those 12 and then all of the sudden you lose one of those goals. If you have a couple off days you lose a lot of your goals. “Our guys are going to understand that because we don’t play enough games to have off days.” Particularly irking Coach Rod has been the inconsistent play of his wide receiver corps. Before spring began Rodriguez moved quarterback Nate Sowers to slot receiver to provide more athletic ability and speed. His next option may be to crash-course the five receivers he signed in February. “I’m going to figure something out because if Coach Magee and I are going to call the plays we’ve got to have some viable pass receiving options,” Rodriguez said. Darius Reynaud is one proven performer, catching 39 passes for 520 yards and scoring two touchdowns in 2006. After that there isn’t a returning receiver that caught more than seven passes last season. “We’ve got Darius Reynaud who I think is going to be pretty solid out there,” Rodriguez said. “Nate Sowers has shown some things. Tito Gonzales has been hot and cold. Dorrell Jalloh has been hot and cold. We’ll find enough to play with. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.” Rodriguez is also hopeful that talented 6-foot-8-inch sophomore Wes Lyons is ready to assume a more prominent role this fall. “Wes has been OK. Everybody wants us to throw the ball to him all of the time last year. Last time I checked the rules if we did the passes would be incomplete because he was standing next to me half the time on the sidelines,” Rodriguez said. “Wes has got some talent and it’s important to him but it’s time for Wes to take the next step.” Lyons has shown glimpses this spring that he can be a reliable player. Rodriguez wants him to do it every day on every snap. “Just because you’re tall doesn’t mean you’re ready. He’s got to work harder to get ready and hopefully he’ll do that this summer,” Rodriguez said. “His ball skills are OK. I think Wes is still kind of growing into his body. He may be taller now than when we signed him and he is still physically catching up to that,” Rodriguez said. “That takes a lot of work. He’s not been here a full summer yet. You tend to forget that this is his first spring like a lot of those other freshmen.” Overall, Rodriguez wants his entire team to become more consistent. “Maybe in a different program it is acceptable but in any good program you want a level of consistency with your veterans and the guys you’re planning on winning with every day. Right now we’re not getting that,” he said. Briefly: Fans are encouraged to bring your Mountaineer football memorabilia to the stadium on Saturday to have it photographed for a new kiosk at the new Donald J. Brohard Hall of Traditions. Your items can be photographed between 10:30 am and noon prior to the 12:30 kickoff for the Gold-Blue Spring Game. Enter the West Canopy of the Puskar Center with your football items. Rodriguez indicated Wednesday that Saturday’s scrimmage will be an abbreviated one. “The colder it is the shorter the scrimmage. If it’s snowing we may not come out after halftime,” he said. “I don’t want our fans to have to sit out there too long and watch a miserable scrimmage in miserable weather.” Rodriguez is not going to go into the crowd this year and let fans call plays as he has done in the past. “I wasn’t going to do that anyways because we’ve got three new coaches and we’ve got so many young guys that we have to teach,” he explained. “I had a lot of fun with that but this year it’s going to be pretty quick.”