MORGANTOWN — West Virginia has one of the most experienced offensive lines in the country heading into the 2023 season. From that experience comes stability and confidence in those players to perform well.
The one thing that experience does not provide, however, is playing time for younger guys. Four spots on WVU’s offensive line will be filled by incumbent returners from 2022 and the last spot, right guard, is currently a battle between upperclassmen Ja’Quay Hubbard and Brandon Yates, both of whom have started double-digit games in their careers.
Where does that leave underclassmen such as Maurice Hamilton, Charlie Katarincic and Sullivan Weidman, who might be good enough to play, but are left competing for backup jobs this fall?
Left guard Tomas Rimac was in the same position last year before becoming a starter midway through 2022 and said the best way to handle it was to act like you’re going to play even if you’re not.
“I always tell them to practice like you’re going to play,” Rimac said Tuesday. “That’s what I did and you never know when it’s going to be your shot.”
Rimac, a redshirt-sophomore, started the final five games of 2022 as an injury replacement and seems to have the starting job at left guard locked up this fall.
“With the offensive linemen, you always feel a part of the group,” Rimac said. “It’s not necessarily if you’re not starting you don’t feel a part of the group. We all do everything together. When I did become a starter it was just more responsibility.”
Even when he wasn’t playing in the first half of last season, Rimac said he still felt like he was contributing to the team.
“I always looked at it like I’m competing against the person in front of me to hopefully make him better,” Rimac said. “While I’m competing, it’s going to make me better so when you get that opportunity, you can step right in and take over.”
There are even linemen behind Weidman, Katarincic and Hamilton, all redshirt-freshmen, who might end up deserving bigger roles than are available.
“Those guys are developing and that’s what you’ve got to do here, you’ve got to get these guys here, develop them and teach them,” offensive line coach Matt Moore said Monday. “I’m really fired up about my young guys.”
Moore said the true freshman class of Nick Krahe, Johnny Williams and Cooper Young have all impressed him. But when you add guys like backup center Landon Livingston and in-state products Nick Malone and Bryce Briggs, the roster crunch might relegate the freshmen to scout team duties to begin the year.
“When I came in I was a third-string getting limited reps in my first fall camp,’ Rimac recalled. “Even going into my freshman season I knew I was contributing to the team as a scout team offensive lineman because I was helping the defense get better.”
This log jam won’t clear up after this year either as only one starter, Doug Nester, will be out of college eligibility, although center Zach Frazier will surely draw NFL interest.
“I feel good about the future,” Moore said. “If we can keep everybody here and continue to build this thing, I feel like we’re going in the right direction.”
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