Rich Rodriguez press conference summary: 9-8

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez met with the media for his weekly press conference ahead of the UT Martin game and here is a summary of what was said. –Rodriguez said that the guys looked ready to play emotionally and physically played a pretty good first half but the second half made some mistakes and let Coastal Carolina off the hook when they could have ended the game. He didn't see anything that they can't fix with the mistakes. In the second half on defense, there would be one guy out of position at different times and it hurt them. The effort was good all day and they made enough mistakes to make it close but enough good things to win. –Rodriguez said that sometimes he has to remind himself that it was the first game for a lot of guys but the more they play in games the more the communication will get better and get used to playing with each other. One mistake makes the entire secondary or offensive line looks bad when really it's just one mistake that makes things look bad. –There's some new staff members but he felt the coaches handled the operation well. From a players standpoint it was the first time they were out there without coaches behind them. –Rodriguez felt that Michael Hawkins has some options on certain plays and sometimes you have the ability to take off. It was his first game and he will get more comfortable but his decision-making was pretty good. The second half was a little different because they had limited possessions, but he'll get better as will everybody else. –Offensive line played hard but for the first game together it was a pretty solid effort. Rodriguez said they wanted to try to get more offensive linemen in the game and they need to play a lot more people. They have to get a lot of guys ready at all positions. —UT Martin is a really good FCS program and played Oklahoma State really solid last year. They do a lot of RPOs and they are very well coached. Coach Simpson has been there 20-years so his program is entrenched. –Rodriguez was yelling containment for three quarters and some of it was the angles or lack of awareness and some of it was him making plays. They're going to play some mobile quarterbacks. –Rodriguez said there are a couple of times in the second half they had opportunities to take a shot and he should have done that. They played it too close to the vest with that lead and he wanted to calm them down and give the defense a rest. The offense could have been more aggressive in the second half. –Rodriguez has never thought about any game in terms of holding back plays for later in the season. If they're being ultra conservative it's because they're trying to win the game and help the defense. –This was the first start for Hawkins and he is very aware and learns from everything that happens. He was pretty composed out there and Rodriguez has confidence they can do more moving forward. –Rodriguez said he doesn't know how to fix the issue of fumbling the ball out the back of the end zone which results in a touchback but it's a harsh result for it occurring. –Rodriguez said imagine if you're an NFL franchise and all 53 of your players were under contract every year. In college that is basically what you have so you pick the right guys, you want them to have their whole college career here and try to lock them down with a two-year deal or three-year deal. They got a plan when the portal comes open to have the guys locked down to stay Mountaineers. –The focus is to get most of the team locked up before the transfer portal opens because it's hard to develop a guy for one year. West Virginia is always going to be a large developmental program. –Hopefully Prince Strachan will be back for the Virginia game. They're still waiting on the ruling with Jason Chambers before moving forward there. JaCorey Thomas still has some things to get through as well and just arrived yesterday. —Tobi Haastrup and Jeremiah Johnson will have the opportunity to carve out a role with the injury to Darius Wiley. —Kevin Brown played well in the opener and his competitiveness is there. Brown is a good player now but because he loves football and he's so competitive he'll get better every year. –Rodriguez said inevitably they'll have to play more than just the two running backs. Hopefully it's not like last year where they have to play five or six due to injuries. Rodriguez doesn't keep too much on carries. —Chris Talley was going to be the next guy in to get some reps but tweaked his hamstring in warmups. It's week to week with a hamstring. –For Thomas it had to be somebody that you could get into school and there won't be a question on whether he is eligible. It has a chance to be approved by all parties involved. Thomas can play all three safety spots depending on how much he can learn. —Matt Sieg is just a good football player and while there are freshmen moments he just makes plays. Rodriguez is excited for him in the future. Wondering what other WVU fans are saying? Head to The Blue Lot and jump into the discussion → Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan Like us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok