Tight ends coach Michael Nysewander wants his group to be competitive.
So far that has been the case.
“I’m looking for guys to separate and they’re making it hard on me because they’re all really competing really well and mixing in there with different groups,” he said.
Nysewander has been pleased with the approach and effort out of the tight end room especially with how much the Mountaineers expect out of the position in the offense.
At tight end players are required to not only line up as a wide receiver in the slot at times, but line up in the core to block as well as the perimeter. West Virginia already had several players on the roster but the program then added two more to the room from the transfer portal in Jacob Barrick from Jacksonville State and Johnny Pascuzzi from Iowa.
While it’s new for many of them, outside of Barrick, who played for Nysewander last season, they still have shown the right amount of buy-in.
“I haven't seen any of them that can't do anything we're asking them to do so it's been good. You know, we ask those guys to be jack-of-all-trades and they've really done a good job,” he said.
The Mountaineers want to use the tight end position as a way to help with their tempo as those players can handle multiple roles and the offense won’t need to substitute to give the defense a chance to match. That means the ideal candidate for that spot is somebody who can get in and add an extra hat in the run game as well as being athletic enough to run vertically down the field.
Rich Rodriguez has continued to incorporate more of the tight end into his offense and even used 13-personnel at times with three on the field at the same time. That started with the slot receiver position evolving over time into those versatile tight end body types.
“If we got guys that are capable and can do it, Coach is gonna put the best 11 on the field, which has really been nice to work with,” Nysewander said.
Nysewander, who had a background in being a fullback, has had to learn more of the route running portion of the job after inheriting the position room. But the opportunity to work with Rodriguez was too good to pass up as Nysewander, who grew up in Alabama and played collegiately at the school, admitted that during his interview process at Jacksonville State he made that clear.
“The first time he was here, I remember when I was like 11 years old, I'd go to bed, I'd say my Hail Mary's, and then I'd pray Rich Rodriguez would be the head coach in Alabama next,” he said.
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