MORGANTOWN — For the second season in a row, WVU is returning one of the most-experienced offensive lines in the country. The Mountaineers’ top six linemen this spring are all multiple-game starters and their top five have all made double-digit starts.
Leading the way is senior Doug Nester, who has made 41 college starts. Following him are juniors Zach Frazier (33 starts), Brandon Yates (21), Wyatt Milum (12) and Ja’Quay Hubbard (11). Even sophomore guard Tomas Rimac returns after starting the final five games last season.
“We all have high expectations for us,” Nester said last week. “We talk about it a lot how we have to come in and be the leaders of this offense because we have that experience. Just to bring it every day because the team’s going to rely on us.”
With all that experience comes a sense of cohesion along the line. Something that only comes from playing game after game together.
“It’s huge,” Hubbard said Tuesday. “Our chemistry is through the roof, we all know each other down to a ‘T.’ … Every single day we have to work on not being complacent and wanting to get better, wanting to still iron out our technique. Having someone like Zack Frazier and Doug in the middle, their work speaks for itself. We all want to be that anchor for the team, so we’re trying to make it so the team can lean on us.”
That experience also brings opportunity. Because WVU’s linemen don’t have to spend this spring learning their positions or how to play with one another, they’re spending time trying out other positions along the line. Yates, a right tackle last year, has been working at center while Hubbard and Nester have flipped playing tackle and guard, with Nester moving outside and Hubbard sliding inside.
“It’s a long season, you never know what’s going to happen,” Hubbard said. “A guy could go down or two guys could go down and I could be forced into a position I haven’t had a lot of reps at. That’s why we use spring to really develop that comfort so when I do get in that high-pressure situation, it’s just natural.”
“We’ve got to find the best five,” head coach Neal Brown explained last week. “Let’s find the best five and we’ll fit them in there.”
The only players who are entrenched in their current spots are Milum at left tackle and Frazier at center, who is limited this spring with an injury, just because they already play those positions so well.
With all four of WVU’s productive running backs from last season also back and a pair of athletic quarterbacks competing for the starting job in Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol, the expectations for WVU’s offense are high this spring.
“I’m very excited about what we’re going to be able to do both upfront and with all the talent we have in the backfield,” Nester said. “We have four or five running backs that can do anything you want and we also have Garrett and Nicco who can make athletic plays whenever they need to.”
“It’s like, pick your poison,” Hubbard added. “If you want to load the box up, we’ve got you. If you want to spread it out, we’re coming right down the middle. It’ll be interesting to see how people react to that.”
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