There's no question that the hiring of Rich Rodriguez has sparked enthusiasm among many of his former players at West Virginia, and you can count Adam "Pacman" Jones among them. From his Dec. 10 post on X supporting his return to various interactions since the hiring of Rodriguez was made official, the first team all-Big East and honorable mention All-American has been front and center in pushing what he believes will be a return to some of the heights of Mountaineer football in the early 2000s.
“Love it. Country Rooooaaadddds. We back! West Virginia football is back, baby. I’m so excited,” Jones said to Kyle Odegard on an interview with SportsCasting.com.
Jones has consistently praised the toughness and "hard edge" that he sees Rodriguez, who was at the WVU helm during his career from 2002-04, reestablishing.
"I definitely think he can," said Jones, who came to WVU from Westlake High School in Atlanta to become one of the most dynamic defensive backs in Mountaineer history. "I was just talking to him (recently), and I said, ‘Coach, what kind of guys do we want?’ He said, ‘Tough and physical. No softies.’ So I think with the (defensive coordinator) we just got in, Zac Alley, who was at Oklahoma, he’s a pretty good coordinator. And we got a couple old heads in there too. (Defensive assistant Jeff) Casteel is going to be around. So I’m eager to see how good we’re going to be."
It is, of course, a different day in terms of building and rebuilding teams, but Jones, who racked up 205 tackles and eight interceptions over his three-year career, is confident that his former coach's approach will work.
"I know Rod, though. Rod is going to do a great job of getting guys that are worried about not just getting paid, but playing to get paid. A lot of these kids are worried about getting paid, and not playing to get paid. But, yeah, I’m excited. WVU football is back. Give us one year. It’ll only take Rod a year.”
WVU's football team has begun a series of winter workouts known as Tour of Duty, and will have an early start to its spring practice season in Rodriguez' second year back, culminating with the Gold-Blue Spring Game on April 5.
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