West Virginia football looking at changes to the offensive line

The group has struggled especially in run blocking, to say the least, as the Mountaineers have managed only 1.14 yards per carry on the ground and has yet to record a ten yard run.

Those type of results force change.

“You’d like to keep fighting through with the guys you’ve got but the performance is so poor you can’t do it. If you were average or mediocre you could say we’re going to keep getting better at this spot but when you perform as poorly as we have two weeks in a row you’ve got to start making changes and the continuity has just got to come later,” offensive coordinator Matt Moore said.

In the opener West Virginia was aligned properly but simply wasn’t coming off the ball in order to move the opposition. After coaching that effort for a week in practice it wasn’t an issue but instead it boiled down to the linemen losing their technique by almost going too hard at times.

Because the offensive line was not playing with their eyes up, when they were coming off the ball the defensive line as simply moving and taking advantage of those miscues.

“You can’t do that. People aren’t going to sit still,” Moore said.

Redshirt junior offensive lineman Josh Sills believes that those things can be corrected but it’s going to require an overhaul with technique and fundamentals up front. Ultimately it comes down to playing with an edge but doing what they’re coached to do each play.

The deficiencies were on display for all to watch once the group sat down and watched the film together earlier this week. That experience left a lot to be desired when it comes to improvement.

Playing physical but under control is the focus.

Now, the task of the coaches is trying to find a happy medium between the two. But that could mean that the coaches could use some new players to uncover it. The plan this week is to get multiple players reps leading up to the game including John Holmes, Briason Mays and James Gmiter in order to determine which group of players give the Mountaineers the best chance to have success.

Essentially, the coaching staff wants to work in some extra bodies to see how they handle those good-on-good situations in order to make some determinations moving forward.

“You’ve got to get people in there that can make the blocks you need made and can play the way you want them to play,” Moore said.

That means Moore, as well as the rest of the offensive coaches, will have their hands full as they attempt to sort through the list of plyers in order to make some determinations on who will enter the starting lineup. Mays, a redshirt freshman, is one of those players that has seen significant improvement in his snapping at the center spot which could lead to an avenue for playing time for him.

Something had to change so the coaches are looking at a number of options to fix it. How that settles in and what happens could be key factors in how the rest of the season plays out under the new coaching regime.

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