MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Curiosity led Tyler Orlosky to seek an NFL draft grade last December, and feedback for West Virginia’s junior center went mostly as he anticipated.
Mostly.
But Orlosky was surprised when NFL evaluators emphasized a technique flaw in one area Orlosky “thought I did better than they said I did.”
No sense in debating the point, however.
“They’re the experts and they’re the ones that pay you a million dollars to play, so I guess they know a little bit better than I do,” he said.
While West Virginia absorbed two big blows when running back Wendell Smallwood and cornerback Daryl Worley departed early, Orlosky didn’t seriously consider skipping his senior year. Even after 37 college games, 29 starts, and chatter that he has developed into one of the Big 12’s top centers, Orlosky carried no delusions about his draft status.
Rather, he wanted to take advantage of the draft scouting process to see how he’s perceived and to learn what areas of his game need shoring up.
“I pretty much had the same view as they had. We probably agreed on 95 to 98 percent of it,” he said. “They told me that in their opinion I should stay in school, and I shared the same opinion. I had no intention of leaving.”
Now the Cleveland native is back in Morgantown, joking about the drudgery of another spring practice.
“They all feel the same—I feel like I’ve been here for 10 years,” he said. “It’s difficult going through the same actions over and over again, lifting every day over and over again, listening to Mike Joseph yell at you over and over again.”
Orlosky is more invested than his kidding indicates. When a backup center flubbed a shotgun snap during Saturday’s scrimmage session, Orlosky’s scathing criticism from the sideline resonated as loudly as the coaches. He’s dialed in despite the same-old, same-old grind of practicing football when real games are six months away. So goes the responsibility of commanding an offensive line that returns six players who started in 2015.
And it’s not all drudgery. Orlosky is clearly enjoying the personality infusion from new offensive coordinator Joe Wickline, who’s meshing with the steady Ron Crook.
“Spend 25 minutes with Wickline and you’ll probably be laughing for 23 of those,” he said.
Why not enjoy it? The weather’s cool, there’s plush new turf on the practice field, and that fifth and final season will be here before he knows it. After that, perhaps he’ll be NFL-ready.
“I’ve got to get better at technique,” Orlosky said. “Obviously I don’t know everything—if I did I would’ve left and wouldn’t have been here now.”