West Virginia offensive line and assistant head coach Matt Moore was on the Big 12 Conference coaches call on Monday in place of head coach Neal Brown, who was unavailable.
The Mountaineers are entering their first bye week after a run of five games in five weeks that represented the longest such stretch of any team in the Big 12.
Perhaps no positional group had a more grueling stretch than the offensive and defensive lines, so Moore’s perspective on the status of the team’s offensive front and its prospects moving forward was a welcome one.
On Monday, Moore discussed tight ends, tackles and the increased role of redshirt freshman tackle Parker Moorer during the team’s 24-6 win over TCU on Saturday. Moorer saw significant time, specifically in the second half, at right tackle in place of John Hughes and Briason Mays, both of whom are dealing with injury woes.
“He has been improving tremendously,” Moore said of Moorer. “He’s been getting better, getting better and getting more comfortable at his position. I just felt like this week he was ready and with John Hughes being dinged up and not at full speed, he got a chance to step in there in the second half and played really well. He had a couple of knock-downs and played with a lot of passion and played really hard.
“He really came out of his shell and showed what he can be, so I’m really excited about him down the road and continuing to improve as the season goes on.”
The WVU offensive line is anchored by senior interior linemen Michael Brown and Chase Behrndt. Hughes is a junior, but outside of those three, the rest of the players seeing significant time along the line are sophomores and freshmen.
That now includes Moorer, starting interior lineman Zach Frazier and starting left tackle Brandon Yates, who are all freshmen.
“It’s really exciting to see some of the youth we have at [tackle], but also, with our recruiting class we have coming in, we’re going to get even better at that position,” Moore said.
Moore also raved about Yates, who has made an impact in his first season after redshirting a year ago.
“Brandon Yates is really coming along and he continues to play, and as a redshirt freshman he’s getting better every week,” Moore said. “He’s challenged every week, he’s stepping up to the challenge and he works really hard. He works really hard in the film room, he watches a lot of film. He’s a very athletic player and is just continuing to get stronger. Really excited about him.”
As happy as Moore is with the progress of his youngsters, he admitted that adding depth will be paramount moving forward, especially at the tackle positions. It’s a problem that’s already being addressed.
Two players among the 15 who are committed to WVU in the 2021 recruiting class are listed as offensive tackles, including Spring Valley High School’s Wyatt Milum, who is graded as a four-star prospect and as the WVU’s top recruit so far according to 247sports.com.
That class also includes three-star tight end Victor Wikstrom of Sweden, who will be joining a group that is continuing to make a bigger and bigger impact on WVU’s offense.
Sophomore Mike O’Laughlin made two more catches against the Horned Frogs to bring his season total up to 12, and along with fellow sophomore T.J. Banks, the two have been a key in a revitalized rushing attack led by junior running back Leddie Brown.
“They have to know all of the running-game concepts and all of the pass concepts,” Moore said. “[Tight ends coach Travis Trickett] has done a really nice job teaching those guys fundamentals and those guys have become more physical players for us. We use them a lot in our motion packages and our shift stuff and they’ve gotten better each week.
“That’s been a huge part of our run game is using those guys. We keep expanding each week on how we use them, trying to get them the ball, trying to get them the ball down field.
“Those guys are kind of the unsung heroes in our offense.”
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WVU football: Offensive line carrying large load through home stretch of season - Charleston Gazette-Mail
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