Redshirt senior, Reid Carrico, was the first rostered player to be interviewed during spring practice for the Mountaineers. The linebacker discussed the key differences in the defensive schemes this year compared to last year under head coach, Neal Brown.
Carrico started off by highlighting his experience in college football and the different schemes he has run in the past.
“I’ve played in like four or five different schemes since I have been in college,” said Carrico, “but they all kind of have their similarities and their differences.” Between cover-three or cover-four defense, there is not a lot that a coach can do to make it different from the original model. “As far as cover three and cover four goes, there are only so many different ways you can do it,” Carrico explained. Drastically altering the zone defenses runs the risk of moving players into sectors of the field that would drastically raise the risk of blown coverage.
While the way the defense is drawn up is not drastically different between coaches, the terminology is. “The main thing is learning the new terminology,” said Carrico. “Every coach has their own way of doing and saying things and categorizing things so that’s probably been the biggest adjustment.”
A reporter asked Carrico if the new terminology gets boggled and Carrico responded saying “Yeah sometimes.” However, Carrico believes that the chips will slowly start to fall into place and Coach Rodriguez’s terminology will start to be understood not by just himself, but by the rest of the team as well. “I think it usually takes for me personally about a month or two,” said Carrico, “then I kind of start dialing into what the current staff calls things.”
West Virginia defensive coordinator Zac Alley has his defense in good hands and has a proven track record of being able to create smart and strong defenses. As the Mountaineers are closing in on the end of spring practice, Coach Rodriguez and Coach Alley are hoping that the new terminology has had time to marinate with their players and hope that the players understand it to start piecing it together with the play calls.
