WVU quarterbacks working on ball security, decision-making early this fall
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MORGANTOWN -- It was almost a year ago when Rich Rodriguez made his debut back at West Virginia against Robert Morris. By looking at the boxscore, you'd think the FCS school from up the road was no match for the Mountaineers, but that was only the case in the second half.
WVU was up 10-3 against the Colonials heading into the locker room. In the second quarter, the Mountaineers had the ball five times. The outcomes? Field goal, fumble, fumble, fumble and punt. This was against an FCS pay-to-win school as well. WVU finished the game with four turnovers.
Rodriguez has been a head coach for almost 30 years, and has never seen anything like that second quarter.
"That was really embarrassing," Rodriguez said.
The biggest problem was holding onto the football. Three straight fumbles isn't a recipe for success. In fall camp, Rodriguez is making sure there's extra emphasis on ball security, especially for the quarterbacks.
A quarterback in Rodriguez's offense is expected to carry the ball a lot. Rodriguez is known as the father of the read option, which is the quarterback handing the ball off or taking off and running. Quarterback Pat White really took off in Rodriguez's offense. White had over 1,000 yards in two of four years at WVU.
This year's quarterbacks can carry the ball. Scotty Fox Jr.'s first big moment was a big touchdown run against Robert Morris, and Oklahoma transfer quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. took off against Auburn in 2024 for a long touchdown. Youngster Jyron Hughley even had a big touchdown run on his first play in the spring game.
Ball security and flashbacks of that turnover-filled first game are the only reason Rodriguez plans to have the quarterbacks "go live," meaning tacklable, this fall.
"Everybody’s punching the ball out," Rodriguez said. "Quarterbacks got to learn to carry it, so there are going to be times where they got to get banged around, see if they can have the proper ball security."
Going against WVU's defense in practice helps. The Mountaineers forced the third most fumbles in the Big 12 last season. The only problem was WVU didn't jump on a lot of them.
Rodriguez doesn't want the quarterbacks to be live this fall for a couple of reasons.
The first is the risk of injury. The injury bug bit WVU's quarterback room hard last season, losing Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson, Khalil Wilkins and Max Brown to injury at some point. There was a point when Fox was the only scholarship quarterback left to start.
The other is because Rodriguez knows the quarterback room pretty well at this point. He knows how they handle getting tackled.
"I don’t think we need to beat our quarterbacks up to prove their toughness," Rodriguez said. "I like the toughness that we have from our quarterbacks."
Instead, the quarterbacks will wear touch jerseys, working more on their decision-making. Fox struggled at times deciding where to go with the ball last year, but that's expected as a true freshman. He threw six interceptions in 2025. Hawkins is a bit more careful with the football in his time with the Sooners. But, against South Carolina, where he threw three passes, he had two of them picked off.
From the spring until now, after the first practice, the decision-making for the quarterbacks is coming along.
"Scotty and Max have been in it now," Rodriguez said. "This is the first year for Mike, and so he’s still learning the decision-making process of it and all that. But he’s a smart guy, so I feel good where they’re at with that."