Bill Stewart press conference - 9/22/09 (w/ video and full transcript)

By Colin Dunlap | 3:55 p.m. Tuesday

Here is what Bill Stewart had to say at his weekly news gathering in Morgantown.

Pay special attention to the Reed Williams/Scooter Berry/Jarrett Brown injury updates he shares right out of the box:

 

 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Opening Statements
I was very proud of our football team this past weekend down in Auburn,
Ala. I thought we played Mountaineer football in its true form. We were
aggressive offensively, defensively and on special teams.

I thought we had some very fine performances by several people and we
had a heck of a game plan. I was really proud of the coaches and the way
we attacked.  But in football, the ball doesn't always bounce your way
and we got bit at the end with turnovers and not taking control of the
game when we thought we had a chance to. I compliment those who played
down there. It was neat to play that game and it was fun to adjust to
the rain and the whole deal.

On injuries
Jarrett (Brown) has a contusion underneath the shoulder. I guess it
would be determined as a bruise/sprain from what I have been told by the
medical people. He has been getting treatment pretty much non-stop.

Scooter (Berry) has shown some good signs of mobility. I was in the
training room with those guys on Sunday and his range of motion is
getting better. Reed (Williams) is making great headway. I think he
would have been ready this week and now that we have that extra time, I
don't foresee any problems with him.

On coaching after a loss
I relate coaching to parenting. If I was the kind of parent that
continued to harp and point fingers and blame, then I would probably
lose that child because I would turn them away. If I was a lackadaisical
parent, I probably wouldn't get much out of them either. What we have
to do is try to be as constructive and as truthful as we can be, and
figure out what happened good, bad and indifferent. There are 11 guys on
offense, 11 on defense and 11 guys on special teams that could have all
played better at some time during the course of the game. That is just
the fact, but no one guy lost this game for us.

You have to look at the total picture. What did you do well? I really
don't care who we are playing this week. All I care about is, ‘what
can we do to become as good as we can possibly be.' We look at the
positives, the negatives and the things that are 50-50.

On changing play calling
We are throwing deep. We are throwing the ball down the middle and we
are going to make them defend the field. We are not backing off in our
play calling. I thought it was exciting. Offensively and defensively we
had them on their heels, just look at the stats. The bottom line is we
didn't win the game. That is the biggest stat.

With play calling, you just have to figure out what you do best in
crucial times. I didn't want to leave any bullets in the holster. I
want to be aggressive. However, if you have injured players like we did
at Syracuse last year. Then you are going to have to hand the ball off
and work the clock. We are going to be aggressive in all three phases of
the game.

On kickoff coverage
It was better than it's been. It wasn't like it was three or four
years ago when I put this in. It looks like we are headed back in that
direction.

Robert Sands was in there, Jordan Roberts was in, Matt Lindamood was in
and Trippe Hale was back. He was an explosion. He was in on three big
hits. He is a homeboy down there and when I put him in that lineup, it
was the best thing I did. It was fun to see him get back in the swing of
things.

On earning a starting position
If I see someone practice well, they will play. Guys that don't
practice as well as other guys in their position will still play, they
just won't start. It is not anything against one person.

On being aggressive and dealing with turnovers
I don't want ever to have a quarterback be reckless, but I hope they
have the same attitude that Jarrett Brown has and the John Elway kind of
guys have. Those guys I can put in there and they make the throw.
Jarrett is an aggressive. He likes to pitch it and catch it and he
attack defenses, and he has done a pretty good job. It was his fifth
start and his first road start and I thought he did really well.

When Geno (Smith) went in, he came open, had a beautiful read, then he
stepped on a lineman's foot and the sack got him. That tells you that
it is coming. They know where to go with the ball and when to get in
there.

On Geno Smith
I think he is going to say that he got to play in one of the so-called
"nice venues" of college football in his first time on the road. I
also think he will grow and learn from that experience. His reads were
right on. He got hit one time and stepped on a foot when he was stepping
up to make a throw. It is good to see a youngster who came from high
school last year step up. It was very impressive.

On Jarrett Brown
I learned that he is a tough guy, he is a leader and he wants to win so
badly that he maybe he tried just a little too hard. Understand, he had
some guys chasing him out there though.

If we had a game this week, Jarrett would be starting if the soreness
was out. It is just a sore bruise, kind of like Syracuse last year, but
it is his non-throwing arm. As tough as Jarrett Brown is, he would play
if we had a game this weekend. That is just how he is and that is why I
love him.

On Auburn's passing game
I thought they made some nice catches. I don't know if they threw the
ball well, but the completions turned out well for them.

On Colorado's passing game
First of all, we are going work on what we do. Today, we are going to
go out and work on special teams. We are going to do about three periods
of that, and then we are going to do three periods of skelly and four
periods of team and just correct our things.

Tomorrow, we are going to do an inside drill against each other, we are
going one-on-one and we are going to play Mountaineer football for two
days. I don't care who we play, we are going to get better at blocking
and tackling. That is the main priority on Wednesday and Thursday. Then
on Friday, we will do more special teams, back to two-minute drills and
get ready for Colorado.

On Noel Devine's size and toughness
We talked about this earlier in the year, but I would like to see him
carry the ball about 20 or 25 times a game. I would like to get the ball
in his hands passing about three to eight times. The problem is when you
run the option and Jarrett pulls the ball, Noel's number is called. We
can't tell you what that defense is going to do. That is why we have
to find ways to get the ball in No. 7's hand like we did on that first
touchdown.

The other night, seven flat out ran over two or three guys. He is a
tough man.

I think if you spread the defense out and give the ball to seven, there
are lanes and creases and he can hit them. I am so impressed with his
burst. When the ball touches his hands, watch how fast his feet turn.

Number nine (Jock Sanders), when we get the ball to him, he is
exploding, too. These guys are playing with great explosion and that is
telling me that what Mike Joseph is doing is paying off. They are fresh
and they are strong.

On Jock Sanders
We are trying to spread the wealth. We are trying to spread the defense
and Jock has an innate ability to get open and make catches, and he
doesn't drop the ball very often. When he catches the ball, Jock
Sanders explodes out of his cut.

On Bradley Starks
That catch he made was outstanding. Bradley Starks has just given us
such great vertical stretch. Bradley and Alric Arnett give the team
great vertical stretch and that has an effect against defenses.

We would like to put him in a wildcat. Starks can pass the ball.

On Coach Mullen's progress as a offensive coordinator
 I think he is very comfortable. We call just about the same plays as
last yera; they just work better this year.

I know our sill level is pretty good. Look at Bradley Starks, Alric
Arnett, Wes Lyons and Jock Sanders out there on the flank and two tight
ends with Will Johnson and Tyler Urban. Then you have Noel and Jarrett
in the back field being able to run that ball that is a lot of talent.
Now are we ready to be kingpins of football? No, we are still a work in
progress. I really like what we are doing and I like the aggressiveness.
We are not going to back off. I want to take the ball and stretch the
field vertically as well as horizontally. We have always done a good job
at stretching the field horizontally, but never that well vertically,
and that is what we are doing.

On Colorado
I see a lot of talent from this Colorado team. A lot of misfiring, but
a lot of talent and it was shown this week against a very tough Wyoming
team. They played very hard against Colorado State and Toledo, but they
were just misfiring. So I see a talented group of people that beat us
last year. They have good running backs, quarterback and receivers.

On playing on National Television
It helps us greatly with recruiting. Some people have called us the
Thursday night special, because people love to watch the Old Gold and
Blue play. We have had great success on Thursday night games.  It speaks
volumes about where our program is and what the BIG EAST and national
people think of us.