May 23, 2006
Dave Hickman
MORGANTOWN - There are a couple of reasons Rich Rodriguez isn't going to lose a lot of sleep over the next few months about his latest bump in the road.
One, there's nothing he can do about it right now.
And two, well, he's been there before and it worked out pretty well that time.
Still, the idea of going into West Virginia's August football practice with nothing but a pair of wholly untested, redshirt freshmen quarterbacks as the only backups to Pat White isn't exactly comforting.
"Yeah, but we went in last year with no experience. You talk about scary, that was it," Rodriguez said. "But we've got the talent. We can do it."
Rodriguez and the Mountaineers find themselves in this position because Adam Bednarik is done. Last year's starting quarterback at the beginning of the season and the insurance policy against an injury to White is no longer an option. He had season-ending shoulder surgery this month, something Rodriguez found out officially - not the surgery, but the season-ending part - only in the past few days.
"I talked to him about a week ago, but I wanted to wait to get a doctor's opinion," Rodriguez said Monday. "His doctor who did the surgery isn't our doctor and he wasn't communicating anything with [WVU trainer] Dave Kerns to let him know anything. But the bottom line is that the surgery went well, but he won't be able to play this year. Hopefully, he'll be able to rehab and play next year."
What that means is that the spring battle for the No. 3 quarterback job between Nate Sowers and Jarrett Brown was really for the No. 2 job. That's not a huge surprise given that Bednarik sat out the spring and the coaches knew all too well that he might be sitting out the fall, too.
The problem with that spring battle is that it went unresolved. Both Sowers and Brown missed valuable reps in the spring, thanks to their own bumps and bruises, leaving Rodriguez and his staff with essentially the same big question mark standing there behind White.
Now, though, there is no spring ball left and very little the coaches can do between now and the start of camp to either teach or evaluate the two newbies. Both will remain in Morgantown this summer to work out - along with virtually every other scholarship player on the roster - but until August they are hands-off to the coaching staff.
"It gives us a little sense of urgency to get those guys ready, obviously," Rodriguez said. "And it probably gives them more a sense of urgency to get themselves ready. But for us, we can?t do anything until August. They've got to do a lot of work on their own this summer."
Rodriguez says the two will go into camp on an even plane.
"Coming out of spring it was kind of hard to evaluate because they both were kind of banged up," Rodriguez said. "It's neck-and-neck right now."
Just for the record, there will be no darkhorse candidates lurking in the shadows, either. West Virginia didn't sign any quarterbacks in this year's class and J.R. House isn't giving up baseball again. T.J. Mitchell, the third of the redshirt freshmen who had a chance to compete in the fall, fell out of the mix by the end of the spring and then decided to transfer, something Rodriguez supported.
"For a guy like T.J., not only with Nate and Jarrett back but with Pat being so young, in order for him to play several years his best option was probably to look at another school," Rodriguez said. "I think it?s going to work out well for him."
Mitchell, by the way, seems to be headed to Division I-AA Hampton University in Virginia, where his coach at Landstown High School, Chris Beatty, is the new offensive coordinator.
As for Bednarik, the shoulder surgery is quite likely to cost him a year he won't get back. He has already used up his redshirt season and doesn't seem a strong candidate to be able to successfully petition for NCAA for a sixth year. Those are usually reserved for players who have had catastrophic injuries or other similarly extenuating circumstances.
If he recovers from the surgery - his second in as many years - he could return for his senior season in 2007.
"He seems fine," Rodriguez said. "Obviously he wants to play, but it's like he told us before, it really didn?t feel right all [last] year. He just never felt he had the arm strength or the zip on the ball. He wanted to check it out again and see if he could get it right. You can?t blame him for that."
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman send e-mail to
http://mailto:dphickman1@aol.com or call (304) 348-1734.
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Number 2 QB Spot Still Wide Open
