MORGANTOWN — West Virginia football’s offensive line in 2025 was one of the many reasons the team went 4-8. The line lacked the size and execution that was required from an offensive line under Rich Rodriguez. It’s hard to run the ball when there’s no push or holes from those men up front.
It was very evident in the last game of the season against Texas Tech, who had one of the top defenses in the country. The Red Raiders’ defense had four sacks and nine tackles for loss. WVU was shut out and had 180 yards of total offense.
Over the course of the season, WVU’s offensive line helped the running backs rush for a third-worst average of 3.7 yards per carry in the Big 12 and allowed 31 sacks, which was the second-most.
“Obviously, we weren’t very good up front for most of the year,” Rodriguez said.
Out of all the position groups, the offensive line has arguably received the most change in the offseason.
WVU didn’t renew offensive line coach Jack Bicknell’s contract this offseason and replaced him with great O-line coach Rick Trickett. Rodriguez spent the majority of the budget bringing in new offensive linemen in the transfer portal, who all have some size, and then landed one of the top offensive linemen and 4-star recruits, Kevin Brown, for the 2026 high school recruiting class.
WVU has 10 offensive linemen over 300 pounds. Brown is also listed at 280, but he’s a true freshman, so he should fill out his 6-foot-6 frame with time.
Now, WVU has completed 15 spring practices, so Rodriguez saw a glimpse of whether the line improved from last year. He thinks all the changes have worked so far, and he said there is “better competition” this year.
Competition is always welcome. Iron sharpens iron. But, it’s even better for the fact that before last season, Rodriguez talked about in a dream scenario, he’d have two offensive lines that he could rotate with ease. It’s hard to sub out linemen in a tempo offense because that’ll allow the defense to sub, which defeats the purpose.
If there’s more competition, WVU will have more options.
“You don’t want to have just five or six offensive linemen,” Rodriguez said. “You want to have nine or 10 or 11 that can compete. I think we have 9, 10 or 11 guys that played some football somewhere, have some experience.”
It’s not easy being an offensive lineman in Rodriguez’s offense. There’s no time to rest because of the tempo. WVU also runs the ball a lot. The Mountaineers ran the ball 523 times, the fourth-most in the conference.
“We’re pretty demanding,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the most unselfish position in sports. That group has to be special mentally, in my opinion. They have to be the ultimate team guy.”
Rodriguez talked about how last season’s team didn’t have a bad attitude either. The offensive line tried to play with a hard edge, but they just didn’t have the size and execution to be successful.
“We just did not play as well as they needed to play at times,” Rodriguez said. “But it wasn’t just their fault.”
Rodriguez hopes this year will be different, especially with the mounting pressure of improving on the 4-8 record. It starts with the big guys up front. Rodriguez has a lot of investment in the group. The room is bigger and should be more talented, attempting to improve the line from last year.
“But now it’s a different group totally,” Rodriguez said. “From the way they look, the way they’re approaching it, our expectations of them and all that group.”
