MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The tight end spot has always had a bit of mythos to West Virginia’s offense, regardless of the head coach.
Every year, the tight end is “finally!” going to be a part of the offense, but every year goes by with many wondering, “What happened to so-and-so?”
The outlier was last year with Trevon Wesco, who caught 26 passes for 366 yards and a touchdown, and was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL draft by the New York Jets. However, what made Wesco a hot commodity at the pro level was his ability to block.
Jovani Haskins was his backup, but the former 4-star recruit is better known for his athletic and pass-catching ability. Mike O’Laughlin, a red shirt freshman, caught nearly 100 passes in his last two seasons of high school.
But through seven games this season, neither Haskins or O’Laughlin are putting up much in the stats column. Haskins was supposed to be a breakout performer, but has three catches for 13 yards. O’Laughlin has five for 22.
Coach Neal Brown admitted that Haskins has been banged up most of the year, which limited his participation in practice and hampered him during games. Haskins also had a shoulder injury during fall camp that kept him in a green no-contact jersey for a few weeks.
O’Laughlin was 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds when he got to Morgantown just over a year ago, so he needed to bulk up if he wanted to play tight end at this level. Now, 60 pounds later at 250, he has the body to do it, but needs to figure the rest out.
“Mike’s got to understand some of the technicalities at this level of being able to separate and use your size,” Brown said. “I think they still see themselves as 190-pound guys and now they’re 250-pound guys,” Brown said.
The coaching staff wants the tight ends to use their size to their advantage, but that’s where the issue lies, especially for O’Laughlin, who has never been this big in his life.
The next step is gaining the trust of quarterback Austin Kendall, which is slowly but surely coming along for O’Laughlin — four of his five catches have come in the last two games.
“It’s a trust thing. If you’re not trusted to do it, they can’t put you out there and make plays for you,” O’Laughlin said. “A lot of that comes with time as the team matures and as the relationship between Austin and the tight ends improves.”
A perfect example was last week at Oklahoma — O’Laughlin made his lone catch against the Sooners in the first quarter, and to anyone at home, it looked like a normal play. Instead O’Laughlin ran a bad route in the flat.
“I was kind of far away from the line,” he said. “I turned for the ball and drifted backwards, so I kind of set myself back three yards. I saw a little bit of green grass that I would have hit if I would have stayed on my path.”
Instead, it was just a 3-yard gain as O’Laughlin stumbled forward.
With his added weight, learning to play the position is the next step in the evolution for O’Laughlin.
“You can slow down and see things open up a little more, so you can craft your own game,” he said. “Once you get comfortable with it, you can make it your own. I think that is the next step.”
