MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s unexpected bye week as a result of Hurricane Florence may prove beneficial as the Mountaineers assess one position battle that has spilled over from training camp into the regular season.
Two players have started at right guard in WVU’s first two games – junior Joe Brown against Tennessee, and sophomore Chase Behrndt against Youngstown State.
Behrndt earned the nod against the Penguins because the 6-foot-4, 369-pound Brown still has some catching up to do in conditioning if he’s going to play on extended drives.
Brown did not arrive in Morgantown from Eastern Arizona Community College until after the Mountaineers were done with spring practice, and that lost time showed after his first game.
“We played Joe Brown too much in Game 1,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “Joe is going to be a good player for us and is continuously working himself into better shape. It’s hard for a lineman to step foot on campus in May or June and start Game 1.
“I think Joe is a little ahead of the curve because he’s an older guy with some Division I experience, but he’s 365 pounds or whatever he was when he first got in here, so he’s continuously working himself into shape.”
Brown had a year off from football between his freshman season at Miami and his juco stint at Eastern Arizona, adding to the challenge of getting ready to go for Big 12 play.
That’s where Behrndt enters the picture. He came to West Virginia as a defensive lineman in 2016 before switching sides of the ball after his redshirt year.
“I just thought [Chase] played better in practice last week, honestly,” Holgorsen said. “I’m not disappointed in Joe. It’s just a competition. The more competition that we can have at a whole bunch of these spots, the better they are going to be. You see it out of our running back position right now.”
Running back is the only position on the offense with an even deeper battle than right guard as four different players are in the mix. But that figures to be a rotation for the rest of the season.
Ideally, an offensive line has more continuity. The Mountaineers aren’t there just yet.
However, it’s telling, and perhaps a bit promising, that neither player was listed on the two-deep at right guard going into the preseason. Behrndt was originally slated to back up Josh Sills at left guard, while Brown swapped with Isaiah Hardy and moved from tackle to guard.
They’ve already done the heavy lifting. Now it’s a matter of seeing who stands out the most.
“We needed a better option at guard [against Youngstown], and Chase gave us a better option,” Holgorsen said. “That’ll still be a battle between Chase and Joe. They need to keep competing.”
