West Virginia OL Yates finds home close to where it started
West Virginia hasn’t gone into Las Vegas often over the years for recruits but offensive tackle Brandon Yates was an exception to that rule.
But in many ways Yates is a special case considering that he spent most of his life in Delaware. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound, lineman was born and raised in the neighboring state but after his sophomore season in high school his family wanted something new.
Yates lobbied to move to Texas, but after a discussion his mother decided on Sin City and the trip was planned for the August prior to his junior season.
So, that meant packing up all of their belongings in a Chrysler minivan and drove 3,000 miles across the country. It was a trip that took three days with stops in Ohio, Kansas and Colorado but the family was ready to start anew on the other side of the country.
“Just wanted a change, something different. Being in Las Vegas is a lot different from being in Delaware, there’s a lot of things to do,” Yates said.
Yates would enroll at Liberty Baptist Academy and helped lead the team to an 11-2 record and a spot in the state semifinals. He started to collect scholarship offers from teams on that side of the country as well and seemed as if he would play his college football there as well. Until one things changed the plan.
The offensive tackle was convinced by his uncle to attend the final one-day summer camp prior to his senior year at West Virginia so he boarded a plane and put his best foot forward. At the time, head coach Dana Holgorsen was still atop the football program and his efforts during the event earned him the attention of the coaching staff. A few days after that, it also earned him a scholarship offer.
Yates fell in love with Morgantown during his time on campus and while he believed he wanted something new by moving out west, the call of something familiar was too hard to pass up. Yates would commit to the Mountaineers in September of his senior season and plan a return to his roots.
“It just felt like home,” he said.
It wasn’t all that difficult of a decision though, as Yates also received the blessing of his mother, who remains in Vegas, but accompanied him on a visit to campus.
Other offers from USC and more would come in, but ultimately he elected to keep his pledge with West Virginia even through a coaching change that saw the ones that offered him leave. That home feeling proved critical as Yates felt as if he could attend school in Morgantown even if he wasn’t an athlete.
“It’s a lot different here I can go see mountains. Being here was a lot more different but it felt a lot more like a place I should be at,” he said.
After a redshirt season, Yates has started 13 games for the Mountaineers at left tackle and while he’s still admittedly finding his footing in some areas he continues to find ways to improve. A former basketball player, Yates has adjusted well to going against quicker defenders but is still finding ways to improve against the size that he sees on a weekly basis in the Big 12.
Offensive line takes time, something Yates understands, but he does believe that it’s coming together.
“You have a very small margin of error playing my position. It’s really hard to play my position not a lot of people can do it. When you do mess up, you have to keep playing. You can’t forget what you’re trained to do before that,” he said.
Yates has allowed only one sack through 299 snaps, but has permitted 10 total pressures. It’s something that he has continued to try to find ways to become better on the field as he has found a home in Morgantown, a place far away from where he thought he’d be at this point in life.
But a place that has brought him close to his roots.
“Just a next play mentality,” he said.
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