The Dan Patrick Show with Coach Rod Transcript
11:22am EDT. - 11:30am EDT.
Repeated at 12:00pm EDT. - 3:00pm EDT. on DirecTV Channel 101
Dan Patrick: He is the head football coach at Michigan Wolverines with three starting quarterbacks he is Rich Rodriguez join us.
Coach when are you going to narrow this down?
Coach Rod: “Good question Dan. I think a lot of folks want to know that. Hopefully we can narrow it down by game week next week, but I have a sneaky feeling that all three will get their moments and have an opportunity next Saturday”.
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Dan Patrick: You know this does not work in reality. In theory three starting quarterbacks the potential boy that is a great luxury, but you want to have one guy?
Coach Rod: “Well you would like to say that if somebody was so good that separates themselves so you can do everything in your offense with that one guy and that is a perfect situation, but if not that what is the alternative and for us maybe it is different packages and what they can do”.
“I would be a little nervous about it because they need quality reps in practices and the way we structure our practices we have gotten all those guys quality reps, plays in practice”.
“The two freshmen you kind of worry about because they have not played at all, but we will probably play it out and until we play a game we won’t really know for sure exactly how it will play out”.
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Dan Patrick: You look at your quarterback situation with your offense. You had the luxury of having Pat White and one of the great people who has played college football and great quarterback who played that position. Not getting Terrell Pryor how much did that hurt you or set you back in getting that guy who could be there for at least three years?
Coach Rod: “Well I think in recruiting you wish you could get them all, everybody you wanted, but in reality you never get them all most of the time and you have to adjust accordingly”.
“Terrell is doing well at Ohio State and he is a great athlete, but even after that did not happen we said okay we will get some in the next class and we feel good about the guys we got in this class. Very, very good matter of fact and we feel good about the guys in the future so you just adjust accordingly. There should never be one guy that either makes or breaks a entire program even though at the quarterback position and any coach will tell you that is the key guy in any offense let alone a spread offense”.
“We was fortunate at West Virginia not only to have Pate as you mentioned as one of the greatest to ever played, but even before him Rasheed Marshall who was a great player. I think we got those type of abilities and the guys we got and the guys we can recruit”.
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Dan Patrick: Tell me what is like when you have your recruiters go out and then all of a sudden do you get a call and close this recruit out how does that work for you at Michigan?
Coach Rod: “Well normally like every other place in the country the assistants do most of the leg work, most of the evaluating, the contacts, and then the head coach tries to close the deal later in the recruiting process”.
“What is happening now Dan as your probably a where of so many of these kids are committing so much earlier before their senior year and the summer before their last campaign that if your not in the game early you might be left out. So there is more and more young men and families taking unofficial visits in the summer and spring time visiting campus so you get to know them a little bit there, but you make sure you evaluate them a whole lot earlier then sometimes you want too. That has forced a different dynamic in college football with all these early commitments and we have had to get into the game like the rest of them”.
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Dan Patrick: What are the questions you get from parent opposed to what you would get from a kid?
Coach Rod: “Well normally the parents the first and foremost they want to know about your education and when your at a place like Michigan with the academic reputation is second to none and a worldwide known university they know coming in a lot of it, but even if they do we are going to sell it when they come here”.
“So they want to know that, the campus environment, the quality of life, the safety issues, and all the things off the field. Then you have some parents that want to know what kind of chance he has to come join your program and the people he will be around. So you want to make sure they understand all that”.
“The players, some of them talk about academics first, but in reality a lot of them want to know about what is going on in football and seeing me fitting in”.
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Dan Patrick: He is Rich Rodriguez, Michigan head coach, joining us on the Dan Patrick show. I know you got Western Michigan and then Notre Dame. When your dealing with a 18 or 19 year old and say keep focus on that first game, but you know they will be thinking about Notre Dame. So as a coach how do you get them to stay focused on that first game and not worry about the second game.
Coach Rod: “Well for us it should be a lot easier just based on the kind of season we came off of and the reputation we are trying to restore. Our players know that and I haven’t heard a player and I know they wouldn’t do it openly, but not be excited about playing Western Michigan especially the first game particular us it has been a long off-season and we are so excited to get out there”.
“Until you play a game everybody wants to refer about the past and we do not want to talk about the past. Our guys have been totally focused. The first two weeks of camp Dan we have just worked on us and the next several days and until next Saturday we will start working on Western Michigan”.
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Dan Patrick: I didn’t know if you would wear a t-shirt with remember Appalachian State, remember Utah just to say guys stay focused on the first game and I am being serious here coach?
Coach Rod: “Well I think our guys are that way and you have to appeal to their competitiveness and what your program should be all about. Just like last year in the Utah game I thought our guys were really focused on that game, we did not win, but as it turned out Utah was pretty good. We lost by a couple of points and it was not like we were thinking our guys were looking ahead. I think our guys are completely focused Western Michigan. I have said this for years in college division football 1-A (I still call it that) we are the only game that every game is so much importance because we do not have a playoffs, so our first playoff is the first game”.
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Dan Patrick: Have you been back to West Virginia?
Coach Rod: “I have been back a few times. My wife and kids have been back a few more times working on the house and we are trying to sell that, but I have been back twice this summer and saw the family and seen some folks. Everybody has been real nice I know there was some hard feelings and a lot of things said when we first left, but it is a wonderful state, good people and a whole lot of friends still there”.
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Dan Patrick: Good to visit with you. So you haven’t sold the house yet?
Coach Rod: “No we are still working on it and have done a lot of renovations the last several years so hopefully the wife and the realtor can get that done”.
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Dan Patrick: Why don’t you get Pat White to buy it with his rookie money from the Dolphins?
Coach Rod: “Yea, Pat is doing well. I don’t know if he has much time to go back to West Virginia, but he was a lot of fun to watch and was just super”.
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Dan Patrick: Good to visit with you coach and good luck this next weekend?
Coach Rod: “Thanks Dan and keep in touch”.
Written by ErocWolverine
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