WVU football focuses on getting healthy, negotiating contracts, recruiting during the bye
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football's bye has passed. The open date Rich Rodriguez had long waited for is in the rearview window. The Mountaineers finally had a break after eight straight games to start the season, which was one of the most in the country.
Rodriguez was very busy during the bye. Halloween was over the bye, but it wasn't part of Rodriguez's schedule. Rodriguez hasn't trick-or-treated since he was eight years old when his mother dressed him up as a bush, and he got lost in the bushes for a while.
"I’ve been traumatized, and I’ve never been a Halloween person," Rodriguez said.
But to take some pressure off the coaching staff and give them a break, WVU held a little Halloween event for the coaches' children and involved the players.
"That’s one thing this profession does. It takes a lot of your time," Rodriguez said. "Everybody preaches a family atmosphere, but it’s hard to have all the families over there as much time as we spend. But it was good to have them over for Halloween."
Other than that night, it was all business for the coaching staff and players. The most important thing during the open date was to get some rest and get healthier.
WVU had key players, defensive back Jason Chambers and defensive lineman Corey McIntyre Jr., ruled out for TCU. Two players WVU would like to have back for Texas Tech this weekend.
Rodriguez said Chambers, McIntyre Jr. and corner Nick Taylor will be limited in practice Tuesday and go from there. If they look good enough, they'll play this weekend. McIntyre said he'll be back for Saturday, though.
Rest was also another big advantage of the week off. Rodriguez said after the TCU game that he felt the team played a little tired, especially on offense. WVU scored the fewest amount of points this season in the win over the Horned Frogs, and had just 265 yards of offense.
Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. threw for a season-low 79 passing yards.
"We didn’t have guys loafing, but I didn’t see the same kind of pop and snap off the line of scrimmage up front,” Rodriguez said. “O-line has been pretty consistent all year, and they played hard, but it wasn’t the same snap coming off the ball."
The coaching staff has been really busy this weekend recruiting. WVU's position coaches travel around the country trying to bring in the next wave of Mountaineers because the bye is the only real time during the season they get the chance. Early National Signing Day is rapidly approaching, coming up on December 2.
Another bye week matter in this new era of college football is contract negotiations. Rodriguez said during the bye that his staff would sign multiple impact players to long-term deals to make sure they won't transfer in the offseason.
Rodriguez said the negotiations are still "ongoing, and he wants to have a majority of players, like Hawkins, signed before the Early National Signing Day on December 3. Players like Hawkins help massively in recruiting, drawing in players.
"I’m hoping to get most of them done by then," Rodriguez said.
The bye week is over now, and it's back into game preparation. WVU has four games left after starting the first eight games, 5-3 and 2-3 in the Big 12. The Mountaineers have a challenging schedule ahead, starting this weekend against No. 13 Texas Tech, who is 7-1 on the year. After the trip to the Red Raiders, WVU plays No. 17 Houston and No. 3 Utah in two of the final three games.
WVU has a tough road ahead and is hoping the time off will provide a boost in the final games, with a bowl game in reach.
"We needed last week," Rodriguez said. "I think to recover a little bit. We had gone for a while. I hope they feel refreshed because we got a big stretch obviously coming up."