MORGANTOWN — After dominating at Spring Valley along the Timberwolves’ offensive line, Doug Nester was getting attention from major schools in border states, including Penn State, Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
But there was little-to-no communication from West Virginia’s flagship university, WVU, during his junior and senior years, despite being an in-state, 4-star, U.S. Army All-American honoree.
“I never got communication from that previous coaching staff (under Dana Holgorsen),” Nester said Monday. “Whenever Neal Brown and this staff got here, their first stop was to me and Darnell (Wright) back in Huntington.”
At the time, it was too little, too late for both Wright and Nester, as Wright signed with Tennessee, and Nester chose to head to Blacksburg and play at Virginia Tech as part of the class of 2019.
After two years of playing for the Hokies, and with rocky ground under head coach Justin Fuente, Nester started to fall out of favor with the VT coaching staff. He played in 19 games the last two seasons, including 17 starts, but personnel decisions were quickly wearing on Nester as his career went on.
“There were a lot of factors, but mostly, my relationship with the coaching staff was not very well,” Nester said. “With playing time, I was being rotated a lot without ever really being told a reason for why. That ultimately led me to transferring.”
Brown putting on a full-court press Bob Huggins would be proud of to get Wright and Nester back in 2019 eventually paid dividends, as Nester chose to return to his home state to play for the Mountaineers. High school friends Graeson Malashevich and Wyatt Milum also played a part in getting Nester to come to WVU.
Malashevich is entering his third season with WVU after walking on in 2019 — a former West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year. He and Nester have been best friends since they were 6 years old, playing football together every year until they originally went their separate ways in college.
“We’ve played football together ever since we could play football,” Nester said. “His dad (Billy) was my head coach all through youth league and helped coach at the high school, so his family is basically my family.”
Now reunited in college, Nester is roommates with Malashevich in a house right next to Milan Puskar Stadium, along with fellow West Virginia native Zach Frazier and quarterback Jarret Doege.
Milum is the most-recent highly touted offensive line product to come from the Huntington area, and it was a big coup for Brown and staff when he decided to stay in-state at WVU, with offers from the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame.
Nester and Milum played together at Spring Valley for two seasons, and while Nester was already getting serious attention from colleges everywhere, he tried to help Milum along the way, knowing he was going to face the same thing.
“Before our first game at Spring Valley together (in 2017), I told him he could be a guy just like I was,” Nester said. “Right after that game, he started getting Division I offers.”
At VT, Nester played as a true freshman in 2019, and Milum could do the same this season with the Mountaineers.
“He definitely has the attributes for it,” Nester said. “It’s just about getting the finer details down for him. I think he’s a very capable player if he puts his mind to it.”
As for Nester, he bounced around from guard and tackle this spring, but seems to have settled at guard as fall camp continues, which he said he definitely favors. According to the depth chart WVU released prior to camp last week, Nester is listed at right guard.
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