This offseason has seen numerous changes within the West Virginia Mountaineers football program.

Of course there’s the new coaching staff led by head coach Neal Brown, new faces in quarterback Austin Kendall (Oklahoma), wide receiver Sean Ryan (Temple) and among others as well as departures such as safeties Kenny Robinson and Derrek Pitts (Marshall) and wide receiver Marcus Simms (Jacksonville Jaguars).

But something else that has undergone a transformation is the chemistry and camaraderie amongst the team’s offensive line.

Once the new staff got settled in, co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Matt Moore wanted to see the group spend more time together off the field, according to redshirt junior Josh Sills, and the unit has done just that which has led to the offensive linemen developing better personal relationships with one another.

“Our chemistry I think personally has been night and day from the other years that I’ve been here,” Sills said. “We’ve done a lot more off the field stuff this year.”

Among those off the field activities include the group spending time together at center Adam Stilley’s family’s lakehouse, cooking out at tackle Kelby Wickline’s house and bowling.

These activities off the field are beneficial to the group in two ways.

The first one being a chance for the offensive line to of course get to know one another and have a good time, but the second benefit is the group building more trust with their teammates on the line which can lead to improved communication on the field--something that is vital for the offensive line to have success.

“We didn’t really do that in year’s past, so you do that stuff off the field, get to know each other a little better,” Sills said. “Not only that, everybody’s having a good time, so you build that chemistry to where before maybe you’d wonder what somebody was thinking or you’d second guess him because you didn’t really know him well as a person other than you were just here every day with him at football.”

Attention to detail and building personal relationships are among the values that Brown has instilled in the program since he arrived in Morgantown in January.

Inviting each position group over at his house during evenings and holding a career day for the team are among the activities that have occurred since Brown took over with the goals of himself and the team getting to know each other and develop chemistry as well as provide them with more direction and guidance for their lives after football in the workforce.

The values mentioned above are the same he instilled during his time at Troy where he managed to lead the Trojans to three consecutive 10-win seasons as well as three straight bowl victories.

Whether all this helps lead West Virginia to success on the field remains to be seen and the same goes for the offensive line.

This group faces a lot of questions heading into the 2019 campaign and some moves have taken place recently amongst the unit, one of those being Sills making the move to center and Chase Behrndt, who had been working at center since the spring, taking more reps at guard, a position he played last season.

Fifth-year senior Colton McKivitz, like Sills, also believes the line’s chemistry has improved and has also placed a heavy emphasis on keeping his teammates accountable.

This was put on display after the team’s Friday scrimmage last week when Behrndt got moved from center as McKivitz and Sills challenged him and stressed the importance he could have on the offensive line. Since then, McKivitz believes Behnrdt has responded positively to the adversity.

“I think that he kinda took that to heart and he’s definitely come back and responded well,” McKivitz said.

According to Brown and Moore, the team has figured out its top four offensive linemen who’ll start come Aug. 31 against James Madison but is still in search of the fifth and final slot.

Regardless, more production will be needed from the offensive line this season for the offensive to have any sort of success but the chemistry, communication and camaraderie that has formed amongst the group this offseason could go a long way in helping the unit to overcome the odds.

“This summer we were the closest group by far and I think it has been key and I think even some of the guys who have gone from one’s to two’s to three’s and vice versa,” McKivitz said.

“We’re keeping guys accountable and they know that we care about them and we’re not just going to yell at them to yell at them. We’re yelling at them to make them better and they need to know that they’re going to be responsible for how they play, but at the end of the day, we’re going to be there for them.”

West Virginia fans we're offering our best promo to get all the coverage you need!

Sign up for a new annual subscription to WVSports.com at 25-percent off the normal cost and you'll get a $75 eCard to the Adidas Store and we'll throw in THREE EXTRA MONTHS FREE! rvls.co/2GIpcqX

----------

• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.

• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.

• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel

• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @PatrickKotnik

•Like us on Facebook