March 23, 2007
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| Patrick White | |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Quarterbacks Patrick White and Adam Bednarik threw a pair of touchdown passes and fullback Owen Schmitt ran for another offensive score during West Virginia’s third scrimmage of the spring Thursday afternoon.
White completed 8 of his last 10 passes of the scrimmage and finished 9 of 18 for 130 yards. The junior found Darius Reynaud twice for TD passes of 44 and 17 yards. Another 42-yard White-to-Reynaud hookup was wiped out by a holding call, and pretty 25-yard White pass to Tito Gonzales in the back of the end zone was also called back.
“He made a couple of nice passes and earlier in the scrimmage he had a couple that he would have liked to have back,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “The defense can’t tackle Pat, Jarrett or Adam and it also hurts those guys. Part of the strength of their game is actually making someone not tag them but tackle them. There were a couple of times we were blowing the whistle when I’m not sure Pat was actually tackled.”
Bednarik was also impressive, completing 7 of 9 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns with the second group. Bednarik’s TD passes covered 20 yards to Wes Lyons and three yards to tight end Sam Morrone.
WVU’s four quarterbacks finished the scrimmage a combined 18 of 37 for 238 yards and four touchdowns. The lone interception was thrown by Jarrett Brown and it was returned by Greg Davis 23 yards for a touchdown.
Reynaud was the scrimmage’s leading receiver, catching five passes for 83 yards. Carmen Connolly had three catches for 51 yards and Lyons had three receptions for 38 yards.
Jetavious Best carried seven times for 28 yards and Owen Schmitt carried three times for 26 yards including an 11-yard TD run. Schmitt also caught two passes for 35 yards. His final catch of the scrimmage got the offensive players excited when he ran over four defenders for a 13-yard gain.
The defense produced a pair of safeties and recovered two fumbles, one each by Ovid Goulbourne and Justin Blankenship. Sacks were recorded by James Ingram (two), Johnny Dingle and Tom Contraguerro.
Pat McAfee booted a 44-yard field goal.
“I don’t think it was overly spectacular execution wise,” Rodriguez said. “I saw a couple of good things. It was pretty physical – there were some good hits and some good plays and I’ll judge better after I watch the film. I don’t think it was the best scrimmage we could have but that doesn’t mean it can’t get fixed.”
Rodriguez chose to get an early start on live special teams work with bad weather in the area.
“We sped things up because I thought it was going to rain so we did our kicking early and sped practice up a little bit with the anticipation of going inside but it held off,” he said.
“We did field goals, punting, kickoff and kickoff return. With them changing the rule and moving the kickoff back to the 30 you’re going to get more returns and you’re going to have to cover more kicks,” said Rodriguez. “We’ll do more of that before the spring is over.”
The coach gave the team Friday off and they will have all of next week off for spring break. The next scheduled practice is Monday, April; 2. The Mountaineers will have four practices remaining before the Gold-Blue Spring Game on Saturday, April 7.
“They got excited before because I told them if there was decent intensity and moving around that we would not practice (Friday),” Rodriguez said. “I was kind of leaning that way anyway. But they know there are four practices when they come back.”
Rodriguez spent a good amount of time after practice warning his team to use good judgment and be careful during spring break.
“I’m not naïve,” he said. “I want them to reacquaint themselves with their families, do a little studying if they’ve got some schoolwork to make up, and think about football a little bit. I don’t want them to rush to get home and rush to get back. I told our guys there are a lot of guys that are a long way from home. I want them to take their time getting there and I want them to take their time getting back.”
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