Rodriguez Making a Big Change to Fall Camp to Find His Starting Quarterback

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 7:57 AM ET

In his final year at Jacksonville State, Rich Rodriguez broke camp believing he had a good idea as to what he had in the quarterback room. Logan Smothers and Zion Turner were a part of the battle, but Tyler Huff was the guy who ultimately emerged and led the Gamecocks to a Conference USA championship.

Despite feeling good at camp's end a year ago, Rodriguez admitted he should have done more live work to truly understand what he had in that QB room. Jax State began the year 0-3, including a blowout 55-27 loss to Coastal Carolina in Week 1. All three quarterbacks saw game action in the first two weeks of the season before Rodriguez went all in on Huff.

He's not making that same mistake in 2025.

“Last year at Jax State, I think we had over 60 new guys, and I don’t think we did a great job, myself included, of evaluation during camp. Some of it was the quarterbacks weren’t live and all that, so there’s some lessons we had to learn from that. We’ve got to be ready the first game, so there’s going to be periods of practice that I typically wouldn’t go live, but we will do that simply because we got to know.”

Most players perform better in a live setting, but it also comes at a risk for the coaching staff. This year, it's something Rodriguez is willing to roll the dice on, and truthfully, he has no choice but to.

“Did we really know what we had with Pat White until it was live? Probably not," Rodriguez said. "We can’t be so worried about them getting hurt in practice that we don’t get a chance to have them show their true self. Our quarterbacks will be more live, all five, in camp more than maybe I’m used to because we’ve got to get a good, hard evaluation.”

Fortunately, the Mountaineers aren't opening the season with a Power Four opponent like they have over the last several years, be it Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, etc. Having the opener against an FCS opponent should bring some relief to Rodriguez if there isn't much separation, knowing that the quarterback battle doesn't have to be settled by the end of August. It allows him and the staff the opportunity to truly evaluate both or possibly all three of the veterans in a real game, one they should have no problem winning.