West Virginia hoping to reload, not rebuild up front
West Virginia offensive line coach Matt Moore isn’t looking at this upcoming season as a rebuild. No, instead the veteran assistant is treating it more like a reload.
Yes, the Mountaineers lost two key pieces from last season’s offensive line with center Zach Frazier and right tackle Doug Nester moving on, but Moore returns the other five players in the seven-man rotation. And that’s a rotation that ranked atop power five programs and fourth nationally in rushing offense at 228.9 yards per game, while also permitting just 10 sacks on the season.
“We’re still a veteran group as far as knowing what to do,” he said.
West Virginia welcomes back left tackle Wyatt Milum, left guard Tomas Rimac, center Brandon Yates, right guard Ja’Quay Hubbard and right tackle Nick Malone in terms of veteran experience. That’s well over 3,000 returning snaps between them as a nice foundation for Moore to mold this year’s unit.
“I expect it to be a reload. That’s the way I talk to them. I expect the level of play to stay what it is, maybe a little different style of play but I expect the level to stay where it is,” Moore said.
Replacing stalwarts like Frazier and Nester is admittedly no easy task especially when you consider the former was the leader on the field and set the example for the room, while Nester was the vocal leader. But that’s where those who have been in the program have been challenged to fill those vacancies.
And so far, that’s exactly what has happened as those holdovers have set the standard not only in the weight room but on the practice field for the rest of the linemen to follow.
“These guys are doing a really good job of stepping up,” Moore said.
Yates has the biggest shoes to fill moving from his backup role to the starter in an attempt to replace Frazier. But West Virginia isn’t looking to compare the two and understands that Yates brings a different skill set to the table in his athleticism while it isn’t fair to expect anybody to slide right in for Frazier.
“He’s like most of my guys he just wants to play. He just wants to play ball; he wants to win and wants to compete,” Moore said of Yates.
On top of the veterans, Moore also has a number of young players and newcomers to work with across the board to round out the depth of the group.
Jacksonville State transfer Xavier Bausley has been working at right tackle, while an injury to Rimac this spring has opened the door for both Sully Weidman and Mo Hamilton to soak up reps at guard.
“Sully is a guy that can do it he just has to continue to get reps and settle down and play within himself,” Moore said.
Redshirt freshman Johnny Williams has continued to develop at tackle and has started to develop his body to where he can compete, while fellow redshirt freshman Nick Krahe has the ability to move to either tackle or guard as well as possibly seeing time as an extra tight end.
At center, Moore has been repping a combination of Laden Livingston, Cooper Young and even getting snaps for others such as Milum just to prepare them in case there would be an injury in the middle.
It’s a much different situation than West Virginia found itself just a few short years ago and starts with the effort that Moore and company have put into building things up front. The offensive line is the key, and the coaching staff is well aware of its importance to the success of the offense as a whole.
“It needs to if you’re going to have success,” head coach Neal Brown said.
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