Photo by: Raquel Rodriguez/Mountaineer Football
Mountaineers To Begin On-Field Work This Saturday
March 03, 2026 06:04 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When Rich Rodriguez was much younger and just getting established at Glenville State, Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden once explained to him the four phases in the development of new football coach.
In Phase One, you lose big.
In Phase Two, you lose close.
In Phase Three, you win close and, in Phase Four, you win big.
That may have applied 29 years ago when Rodriguez was first getting started, but coaches today often don't have the luxury of getting beyond the losing big and losing close phases.
Rodriguez, mindful of that, went to work assembling one of the strongest West Virginia recruiting classes of the Internet era. His massive group of high school and junior college players was rated 20th-best in the country by On3 and 23rd by ESPN.com.
Then, he jumped into the portal and added a transfer class that is rated 20th-best in the nation by On3, which provides the majority of the 101 players available for the first spring practice beginning this Saturday.
Rodriguez, meeting with media earlier today in the Team Room, said four players will not be available as they recover from offseason surgeries: junior linebacker Ashton Woods (shoulder), Bixby, Oklahoma, freshman safety Emory Snyder (hip), Palm Beach Central (Fla.) freshman linebacker Antoine Sharp Jr. (knee) and Alabama transfer place kicker Peter Notaro (foot).
"Everybody else should be good to go for this Saturday," he said.
And that includes Oklahoma transfer quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., one of West Virginia's top transfer targets when the portal opened in January.
Hawkins played in seven games during his freshman season two years ago, passing for 783 yards and three touchdowns, and in two games last year, throwing for 167 yards and three scores.
That was enough of a sample size to move him up to the top of West Virginia's recruiting board for quarterbacks.
"We knew about him from watching him a little bit, and obviously, we have some guys who were at Oklahoma that saw him in person and (knew) who he was as an athlete and who he was as a person," Rodriguez explained. "We wanted somebody who could come in and compete with Scotty (Fox) and Max (Brown) for the job and somebody who has the skillset we thought could be special, and Mike has that.
"He's shown that so far," Rodriguez added. "He's a smart guy; (football) is really important to him and he works hard. He, Scotty and Max have really done a good job of taking another step, but Mike has only been here a couple of months, so this spring is going to be really important to him."
As it will be for numerous others. Rodriguez said the goal by the end of the spring is to develop at least two players per position good enough to win with, and if they can come up with three per position "even better."
The plan is to have four spring practices before spring break with the remaining 11 coming afterward, including a fan-oriented showcase to conclude the spring.
The three new on-field coaching additions this year includes an old name familiar to Mountaineer football fans – offensive line coach Rick Trickett, making his third stop in Morgantown during a highly decorated 52-year coaching career.
Trickett helped jump-start Mountaineer football's resurgence under Rodriguez in the early 2000s before leaving to assume the same role at Florida State. His 51st season last year was spent at Jacksonville State where he worked on the offensive staff that included his son Clint as its offensive coordinator.
The Tricketts on staff this year also include Travis (senior offensive assistant) and longtime NFL scout Chance (director of player evaluation). Rodriguez said Chance has already revamped WVU's player evaluation program to more closely resemble the pros.
The two other on-field additions also have Power Conference experience in running backs coach Jay Boulware (Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, Iowa State, Utah, Stanford and Arizona) and defensive ends coach Deke Adams (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Ole Miss).
The three new on-field coaches have a combined 111 years of experience.
Rodriguez indicted 13 players are still finishing up high school or junior college and will join the team after the spring.
He also said a couple of roster spots have been intentionally left open for any good players who might become available at the end of the spring.
"We had a little better feel for our high school recruiting, and we had a little bit more from an NIL standpoint through the rev share than we had last year, so we thought we would be able to enhance the roster a little bit better than we did a year ago," Rodriguez noted.
"A year ago, it was everything; we knew last year it was going to be a little bit hectic, and we thought we were going to be deeper than what we were, and we weren't as deep as we wanted to be. The injury part probably exposed that a little bit.
"But I think we have a better football team now than we did a year ago at this time. I like what I've seen so far," he concluded.
In Phase One, you lose big.
In Phase Two, you lose close.
In Phase Three, you win close and, in Phase Four, you win big.
That may have applied 29 years ago when Rodriguez was first getting started, but coaches today often don't have the luxury of getting beyond the losing big and losing close phases.
Rodriguez, mindful of that, went to work assembling one of the strongest West Virginia recruiting classes of the Internet era. His massive group of high school and junior college players was rated 20th-best in the country by On3 and 23rd by ESPN.com.
Then, he jumped into the portal and added a transfer class that is rated 20th-best in the nation by On3, which provides the majority of the 101 players available for the first spring practice beginning this Saturday.
Rodriguez, meeting with media earlier today in the Team Room, said four players will not be available as they recover from offseason surgeries: junior linebacker Ashton Woods (shoulder), Bixby, Oklahoma, freshman safety Emory Snyder (hip), Palm Beach Central (Fla.) freshman linebacker Antoine Sharp Jr. (knee) and Alabama transfer place kicker Peter Notaro (foot).
"Everybody else should be good to go for this Saturday," he said.
And that includes Oklahoma transfer quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., one of West Virginia's top transfer targets when the portal opened in January.
Hawkins played in seven games during his freshman season two years ago, passing for 783 yards and three touchdowns, and in two games last year, throwing for 167 yards and three scores.
That was enough of a sample size to move him up to the top of West Virginia's recruiting board for quarterbacks.
"We knew about him from watching him a little bit, and obviously, we have some guys who were at Oklahoma that saw him in person and (knew) who he was as an athlete and who he was as a person," Rodriguez explained. "We wanted somebody who could come in and compete with Scotty (Fox) and Max (Brown) for the job and somebody who has the skillset we thought could be special, and Mike has that.
"He's shown that so far," Rodriguez added. "He's a smart guy; (football) is really important to him and he works hard. He, Scotty and Max have really done a good job of taking another step, but Mike has only been here a couple of months, so this spring is going to be really important to him."
As it will be for numerous others. Rodriguez said the goal by the end of the spring is to develop at least two players per position good enough to win with, and if they can come up with three per position "even better."
The plan is to have four spring practices before spring break with the remaining 11 coming afterward, including a fan-oriented showcase to conclude the spring.
The three new on-field coaching additions this year includes an old name familiar to Mountaineer football fans – offensive line coach Rick Trickett, making his third stop in Morgantown during a highly decorated 52-year coaching career.
Trickett helped jump-start Mountaineer football's resurgence under Rodriguez in the early 2000s before leaving to assume the same role at Florida State. His 51st season last year was spent at Jacksonville State where he worked on the offensive staff that included his son Clint as its offensive coordinator.
The Tricketts on staff this year also include Travis (senior offensive assistant) and longtime NFL scout Chance (director of player evaluation). Rodriguez said Chance has already revamped WVU's player evaluation program to more closely resemble the pros.
The two other on-field additions also have Power Conference experience in running backs coach Jay Boulware (Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, Iowa State, Utah, Stanford and Arizona) and defensive ends coach Deke Adams (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Ole Miss).
The three new on-field coaches have a combined 111 years of experience.
Rodriguez indicted 13 players are still finishing up high school or junior college and will join the team after the spring.
He also said a couple of roster spots have been intentionally left open for any good players who might become available at the end of the spring.
"We had a little better feel for our high school recruiting, and we had a little bit more from an NIL standpoint through the rev share than we had last year, so we thought we would be able to enhance the roster a little bit better than we did a year ago," Rodriguez noted.
"A year ago, it was everything; we knew last year it was going to be a little bit hectic, and we thought we were going to be deeper than what we were, and we weren't as deep as we wanted to be. The injury part probably exposed that a little bit.
"But I think we have a better football team now than we did a year ago at this time. I like what I've seen so far," he concluded.
Players Mentioned
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