MORGANTOWN — Rich Rodriguez and offensive line coach Rick Trickett are starting to beef up West Virginia football’s offensive line for the future.
The Mountaineers received a commitment from 2027 3-star offensive lineman Tristan Hardin-Roberts, according to his social media. He is now the fourth lineman in the class.
Nicknamed the “Big Ticket,” Hardin-Roberts is a big offensive lineman at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, according to 247Sports, as a junior. For his big stature and playing offensive tackle, Hardin-Roberts ranked as the 99th-ranked tackle in the class and 48th-ranked player in Alabama. With his size, Hardin-Roberts had numerous Power Four offers and picked the Mountaineers over finalists Oklahoma State and Tulane.
He took an official visit to Morgantown on May 29th and picked WVU after taking an official visit to Oklahoma State on June 11.
Hardin-Roberts joins the offensive line class as the third-highest-rated lineman, sitting behind Ethan Lawson and Ryan Moore. Rodriguez and Trickett clearly have a focus for their recruiting this cycle. They want tall offensive linemen who can fill out if they haven’t already in college. The shortest lineman is Jajuan Graham at 6-foot-3. Almost all four of them are 300 pounds going into their senior year.
The Mountaineers struggled last year up front, and part of that wasn’t having enough size. Rodriguez picked up a lot of big and productive linemen in the portal to help win now, and it’s clearly trickling into the high school recruiting.
WVU has 24 recruits for 2027 and is rated 36th in the composite rankings, one spot behind rival Pitt. The Mountaineers have the fourth-best in the Big 12, having recently passed by Colorado.
