MORGANTOWN — The Mountaineer football team has made some promising moves over the last two weeks of bringing in players from the transfer portal, but the biggest move WVU might make this offseason is keeping one of its own. Offensive guard Doug Nester announced on social media Thursday that he will return to the team for his final season of eligibility in 2023.
Nester has been a two-year starter up front for the Mountaineers since transferring from Virginia Tech ahead of the 2021 season. The 2019 Spring Valley graduate started all 13 games for WVU in 2021 and 11 of 12 games in 2022. Like many others, Nester had one year of eligibility remaining thanks to the blanket waiver the NCAA gave out during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Last last season, Nester said he was undecided about coming back for a final season. With former AD Shane Lyons fired and head coach Neal Brown’s job status up in the air, Nester hinted at the time that he was waiting to see how the situation would play out. We now know that new AD Wren Baker committed to keeping Brown and now Nester is back, too.
Nester has helped anchor a WVU offensive line that developed into one of the best in the Big 12 in 2022. The Mountaineers ran for over 2,000 rushing yards this season using a combination of four different running back, while allowing only 20 sacks, the third-best mark in the conference.
WVU should now return its entire offensive line from last season with Nester, center Zach Frazier and left tackle Wyatt Milum. There’s also guard Tomas Rimac, who took over a starting spot midway through the year, as well as Ja’Quay Hubbard and Brandon Yates, who split time at right tackle.
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