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If West Virginia is going to be a good football team this season it has to get better up front not only with the starting group but when it comes to developing quality depth as well.

Neal Brown already realizes that he inherited a pair of potential all-conference players up front with left tackle Colton McKivitz and right guard Josh Sills. Those two played up to their potential all spring, outside of some time that Sills was sidelined with an injury.

“We’ve got two guys that I think are high end Big 12 players and have played at a high level,” he said.

There’s also been some encouraging signs of improvement from others with left guard Mike Brown emerging as one of the true surprises of the spring.

The junior college product played sparingly in his first year with the program seeing only 10 snaps spread across three different games but started to make some positive strides on the field toward the back end of the practices.

What makes his story even more interesting is that Brown never played high school football and only started playing at the junior college level after he had gone on a Mormon mission.

“Tremendous improvement,” Brown said.

Redshirt junior Chase Behrndt also fits under that category as he made the switch to center this past spring and embraced the position to the point that Brown believes he has a chance to be capable there. The next player on that list is redshirt senior Kelby Wickline, who challenged for one of the most improved players on the entire football team this spring with his efforts at right tackle.

And while steady improvement is good, the next step is the consistency that you’ve seen from the top end players on the line. That comes with time and work.

Depth has been a concern however, as redshirt freshman Briason Mays has developed into the sixth man of the unit but there is a need for more players to emerge.

Offensive line coach Matt Moore has made it clear that he prefers at least three players on each side of the line and two centers, as well as at least four players that can snap at any given moment.

As the numbers suggest, there is still some serious work that needs to be done in order for the offensive line position as a whole to be where Brown wants it once the season begins.

That’s where a pair of scholarships held over from the 2019 class could come into play as the Mountaineers could elect to add one or even two more players up front after using one of those remaining tenders to add Temple transfer Sean Ryan to the mix.

“We’ve got to continue to add depth. Maybe add one or two bodies as we go through the summer here at that position,” he said. “The guys that have played I feel really good about and the guys that haven’t have to continue to develop.”

That will be a key if the Mountaineers want to take that next step.

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