West Virginia football makes switch at center spot

Matt Moore hasn’t had many past instances where he is still searching for the right combination on his offensive line this late in the season but his first year at West Virginia has been different.

There’s been several contributing factors such as youth, injuries and general inconsistency but the veteran offensive line coach has still been looking for the right fit.

Against Kansas State, that involved some shifting directly in the middle of the group.

Redshirt freshman center Briason Mays had started the past seven games at center after taking over the job against North Carolina State. He was elevated there due to struggles at the position but has dealt with his own challenges aided largely by what could best be described as a murder’s row of three-man fronts with experienced opposing nose guards lined up over top of him.

It’s not uncommon for a young offensive lineman to have difficulty adjusting in that type of situation especially with the caliber of nose guards that populate the Big 12 Conference.

“He just struggled from the standpoint of not being strong enough yet. He knows that and he battled. How hard he works and how bad he wants to play is not an issue but he’s just not ready yet,” Moore said. “I hate we had to put him in that situation but we had to.”

Part of the reason for that has been a nagging shoulder injury to the other center that had been competing for the job in redshirt junior Chase Behrndt. It was Behrndt who was originally set to man the position until giving way to Josh Sills and eventually Mays.

During the season he had moved to guard, but after battling back from injury he was ready to compete at the center spot again.

“It says a lot about him and how much he cares about this team. He knows what he’s got and he knows what the deal is with it,” Moore said.

So Moore elected to go back to Behrndt and with Kansas State using a traditional four-down front the Mountaineers had their most productive day on the ground since the Kansas game with 85-yards. Not eye-popping numbers, but still an effective day considering the struggles of the group there.

“You got to try to get the best five out there. You can’t just keep putting the same thing out there and expect a different result,” Moore said. “We had to change some things up and obviously it showed. And we played much better and now we just have to continue.”

That isn’t an inditement on the future of Mays with the program as the coaches believe that he is only going to improve and get stronger with time, but in the short term the switch seems to be one that the coaches plan to stick with at the center spot.

“He’s going to be a good player for us. He’s just got to work on his flexibility and strength,” head coach Neal Brown said.

The plan will be to keep him in the rotation down the stretch run, but Brown was pleasantly surprised with Behrndt’s angles in the run game as well as his communication up front.

This weekend against Oklahoma State will present many of the same challenges with a three-man front, but after a more physical effort a week ago the Mountaineers are hoping that will carry over. Especially with how the unit stayed on blocks and were targeted up correctly.

“I thought (Chase) did a nice job communicating,” Brown said.

Now, the challenge is duplicating the effort for the group.

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