West Virginia University football players may wear just one helmet during the spring practice season, but coach Rich Rodriguez said many of them will likely need to learn how to wear multiple hats.
New NCAA roster limits in effect for this season are cutting into the numbers Football Bowl Subdivision coaches have previously been able to gather for their teams. Because of that, some position groups won’t have the luxury of specializing in playing one spot. Players in those rooms will need to broaden their horizons and learn several roles.
Starting this season, the NCAA will allow a maximum of 105 players on college football rosters. Triple-digits may sound like a lot, Rodriguez said, but FBS rosters usually keep around 120 players between scholarship athletes and walk-ons.
Rodriguez said that could lead to some tough decisions for coaching staffs at the end of the spring and through the summer.
“That’s going to be a really hard deal, because there’s going to be a lot of guys that have worked hard enough to earn a spot, and we’re just not going to be able to have them,” he said. “So that it’s going to make it competitive, I think, until that time comes. But I hope that’s not the case. I hope they grandfather the returning players in and so those kids don’t get screwed.”
Rodriguez also noted that seven to eight of those roster members are specialists – kickers, punters and long snappers. That cuts even further into the other numbers, and makes accounting for in-season injuries even more difficult.
“Everybody says, well, the NFL only has 53 (players on their rosters),” Rodriguez said. “But as soon as somebody gets hurt, they’ve got somebody on a practice squad to pull up. They can get somebody off the street in free agency to pull up. We can’t do that.
“So it’s a different challenge,” he added. “We’ll manage it like everybody else.”
With that in mind, Rodriguez said it will be a necessity for many players – especially offensive linemen and wide receivers – to learn multiple positions. Linemen need to know how to play guard and tackle. Wideouts should be comfortable playing both inside and outside.
That, Rodriguez said, may be more involved for some compared to others.
“The guard/tackle stuff for us, there’s not as much difference,” he said. “Our system is a little different. You could probably hide a guy that’s less athletic at guard (easier) than you can at tackle. That’d be the only difference.”
WVU’s receivers will need to diversify their skill sets, Rodriguez said, and the coaches must make sure that happens starting in the spring. The veteran head coach admits he has been guilty in the past of sticking a receiver in just one spot – a taller guy joins the outside receivers, a shorter guy stays inside – and not broadening his abilities.
That’s a luxury WVU can no longer afford.
“You kind of mark a guy as an outside guy, and you don’t give him reps on the inside, and that’s a mistake,” Rodriguez said. “I want all our wideouts to learn all our four wideout positions, and that will take probably through the summer before that can happen.
“I think we make a mistake not teaching them all the spots,” he added. “So that’s what we’ll do this spring and summer.”
Those won’t be the only position rooms affected, Rodriguez said. Other position players – well, quarterbacks will be able to focus on one role – will have to learn multiple tasks in order to counteract the shrinking roster numbers. It’s yet another new wrinkle in the sport as it evolves at light speed, a wrinkle Rodriguez said no team will be able to avoid.
“You hopefully get a running back that can play in the slot and play in the backfield,” he said. “Your O-linemen … you might usually carry 20 and maybe 16 or 17 on scholarship. That number may stay the same, but you’re going to have more guys that have got to be able to play center, defensive tackles being able to play defensive end.”
Story by Derek Redd
