Rich Rod Explains What West Virginia's Offense Will Look Like in 2025

Same Rich, same offense in Morgantown? Not quite.

WVU Athletics Communication

The last time Rich Rodriguez was the head football coach at West Virginia, the Mountaineers had one of the most and perhaps the most electrifying offenses in the country. Pat White, Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, and Co. ran rampant on opposing teams on a weekly basis, putting up videogame-like numbers.

Seventeen years have gone by, and Rodriguez is still considered one of the best offensive minds in the game. He has a major challenge ahead of him: trying to completely rebuild an offensive unit that lost a bunch of starters and key reserves. There will be a true quarterback battle for the first time in years, five new starters along the offensive line, a reshaped wide receiver room, and some new faces populating the running back and tight end rooms.

Things aren't expected to go without a hitch in year one, but the offense, as it was seventeen years ago, will have an added jolt to it.

In a recent appearance on 3 Guys Before the Game, Rodriguez explained the differences in his offense and what he plans on running.

“We’re still going tempo and in fact, we’re probably going faster now than we have. There are things that you think are unique that gives you a little bit of an edge. The tempo part, I’m thoroughly convinced that is one of the unique things that we do that we won’t sacrifice on. We won’t huddle much because who wants to watch a bunch of fat guys hold hands? But when we do huddle, you won’t know when we break the huddle. And the tempo of when we snap the ball is always going to be unique for us. I think that’s one thing that you can control offensively. And then scheme-wise, we’re using more 11 personnel with a tight end than we ever have. Probably 75% of the time we’re 11 personnel and then we’ll use some 12 and 13 personnel with two and three tight ends. The run game is very similar - we’re still going to play with 11. Our quarterback might not run it 30 times, but he’s going to have the ability to run it 30 times if we have to to win the game.”

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