West Virginia offensive line coach Jack Bicknell places an emphasis on versatility up front.
The veteran position coach wants to have the ability to cross-train his options up front with tackles playing guard and vice versa, as well as having multiple centers snapping the ball. That is something that will only continue to grow throughout the course of spring practice.
“We’ll start moving people around a little bit so that we have some flexibility as we continue to learn who those guys are,” Bicknell said.
Now, that isn’t the case for everybody as experience is something that typically makes it easier for players to move around up front. Often, newcomers are kept in one spot to learn that position, while some players simply struggle with trying to do more than one thing up front.
“But even with the left and the right thing. You know, I can’t have a guy that says, well, I’m only a left guard. No, you’re going to be a right guard too if somebody gets hurt,” Bicknell said.
Because West Virginia utilizes the shotgun, there isn’t necessarily the need to place players at certain spots due to their ability to do certain things on the field. That’s because the Mountaineers want everybody to be able to move and pull both left and right at both tackle and guard.
And Bicknell believes that he has players that can fit that bill, which will only become more apparent throughout the course of spring practice.
“Like I tell them all the time, I don’t set the depth chart – you guys do,” he said. “So, don’t blame me because by the time you’re done with this spring and then certainly the fall, everybody in the room knows who should be the starters. And that’s why they set the depth chart.”
Center is another spot where West Virginia wants to have multiple players that can snap the football. In practice, Bicknell will often have seven to eight players snapping the football in order to trim that down even further to determine who the top options are that can handle the role.
That means that potentially even a starting left tackle could serve as a backup center depending on the options available on the roster. But the goal is to have three centers, three tackles, and three guards.
“If you can get that then you’re in pretty good shape,” Bicknell said.
On top of versatility, West Virginia also wants their players to be athletic and can run and press the tempo, given the fact that the Mountaineers will ask their players to pull.
On the mental side of things, the Mountaineers also want to challenge their players up front, which is aided by going against what the defensive side of the ball can present with so many different options.
“We've got to communicate. We've got to, you know, it challenges us in that way. That way, once we get to the game, it almost seems like it's boring, you know,” he said.
Thus far Bicknell has noticed that his group is willing and that is a start as he looks to sort out his group.
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