The worst part of West Virginia’s football team, last season was the secondary, and it was quite evident to just about everyone.
The Mountaineers ranked near the bottom of quite a few defensive categories nationally, and a lot of it had to do with the team’s horrid pass defense anchored by a secondary which failed to find any sort of consistency throughout the season.
But according to new head coach Rich Rodriguez and new cornerbacks coach Rod West during a press conference following spring practice on Thursday, it doesn’t seem that the job at refining the secondary is going as well as hoped.
According to Rodriguez, the team might have to go back into the portal during the spring transfer window and get “a half-dozen or so more” players at the cornerback position alone. It's not necessarily a good sign of how the rebuild in the secondary is working out, especially considering the team added four senior cornerbacks and two senior nickelbacks in the winter portal window.
West is also not pulling any punches when it comes to making expectations clear. He told the media that he expects a certain level of “violence” in football and that Rodriguez has made quite clear what he feels is ‘too soft’ and what needs to be corrected, particularly with an area of the team that struggled last year.
West also disclosed he’s not using film evaluation from last season for the returning members of the secondary, indicating he is basing his judgement of his group on their performance in spring practice and, eventually, fall camp. And it appears that he and Rodriguez aren’t too enthusiastic about what they’ve seen so far.