One of the biggest tasks for the West Virginia coaching staff has been rebuilding the offensive line.
The Mountaineers lost the top six options on the offensive front and a combined 4,598 snaps from just just last season alone to graduation and the transfer portal. If you go by career snaps, that combined total is 12,275 meaning that a whole lot of experience walked out the door.
That left just a combined 116 snaps at the position split between three players that saw the field in center Laden Livingston, offensive tackle Xavier Bausley and offensive guard Nick Krahe.
So, naturally finding some options out of the transfer portal was a top priority for head coach Rich Rodriguez and his coaching staff after inheriting the football program.
West Virginia added five transfer portal offensive linemen to the program in the winter window in Tulsa offensive guard Walter Young Bear, LSU offensive guard Kimo Makane'ole, N.C. State offensive lineman Robby Martin, Arkansas offensive tackle Ty’kieast Crawford and Youngstown State offensive lineman Wyatt Minor.
That group is a solid mixture of both potential and experience but in the case of West Virginia, the program simply needed capable bodies to round out the position room for the spring and the season to come.
Young Bear is the most experienced with 1,116 snaps and he started the final 14 games of his time with the Tulsa football program. A former walk-on, Young Bear is going to be asked to step into a starting role at one of the guard positions based on his experience alone.
Makane’ole was with the Tigers for four seasons but after spending his first three years on the offensive line was moved to the defensive side of the ball in his fourth. He will move back to offense in Morgantown and look to make the most of his final season there.
Martin is the youngest of the group and only spent one season with the Wolfpack before entering the transfer portal and returning home to West Virginia. The Huntington native has all four years remaining and is an athletic interior lineman that will have a chance to compete for time.
Crawford has experience at both Arkansas and Charlotte seeing action in 39 games over the course of his career and a total of 9 starts. The former four-star prospect only played 10 snaps in 2024 after he elected to redshirt in order to preserve a season of eligibility but over his career has played 643 snaps on the offensive line primarily at right tackle.
Finally, Minor is a former in-state native that has only appeared in one game over his two seasons with the Penguins but can give the Mountaineers another capable body there as the coaching staff looks to rebuild the room.
Then the Mountaineers then used the portal to add six more in the spring window in Mississippi State offensive lineman Carson Lee, North Alabama offensive tackle Mickel Clay, Austin Peay offensive lineman Donovan Haslam, Texas offensive lineman Malik Agbo, Tennessee offensive lineman Ayden Bussell and Oklahoma offensive lineman Josh Aisosa.
Lee, 6-foot-3, 320-pounds, was considered one of the top options available in the transfer market along the offensive line. Prior to his stint at Mississippi State, Lee was at Eastern Michigan where he made starts at center, right guard and left guard for the Eagles. He started 10 games in 2024 with starts at all three interior spots.
During the 2023 campaign, Lee made six starts at center and appeared in seven total games. Lee initially was at Colorado where he played in five games over two seasons.
Over his time at the college level, Lee has appeared across 1,124 snaps as a blocker. He has one season of eligibility remaining.
Clay, 6-foot-5, 278-pounds, started his career at the junior college level but has spent the past three seasons with the Lions where he appeared in a total of 29 games and finished his time there strong.
The Cincinnati native played in nine games during his first year, before playing in eight games in his second where he started three of those. But last season, Clay started all 12 games at right tackle and played a total of 792 snaps at right tackle.
Haslam, 6-foot-4, 332-pounds, played 622 snaps last season and started a total of nine games at left tackle which was his most extensive playing time of his career. He played in two games at left guard the year before and spent time at both tackle spots across seven games in 2022 in his three seasons on the field with the Governors.
Haslam has two years of eligibility remaining in his college career and has the ability to play multiple spots on the offensive line.
Agbo, 6-foot-4, 300-pounds, spent three years with the Longhorns and was a highly recruited offensive lineman out of Washington as a high school prospect.
Agbo gives the Mountaineers a versatile offensive line option that has played in 20 games as a blocker over his three seasons with the Longhorns. He has spent time as a jumbo tight end, offensive tackle and guard during his time on the field for Texas.
He is likely slotted for a much larger role in Morgantown.
Bussell, 6-foot-5, 315-pounds, entered the transfer portal April 22 after spending two seasons with the Volunteers. The Tennessee native redshirted in his first year before playing in three games at right guard this past season.
Over his career, Bussell played a total of 62 snaps for Tennessee and becomes another option for the Mountaineers as the coaching staff looks to rebuild the offensive line that is oozing with upside after impressing in the spring.
Aisosa, 6-foot-3, 323-pounds, spent only one season with the Sooners after enrolling in January of 2024 and did not see the field. Aisosa was named the 2023 Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year and 6A-1 District 2 Offensive Lineman of the Year during his senior season and has all four years left.
West Virginia now has a nice blend of offensive line options to add to what was already in the mix in order to give the coaching staff some options to try to build this offensive line in year one with all of the pieces now in place.
Now, even with these eleven transfer portal players in the mix there could still be a need for more help up front although numbers are getting tight.
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