MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For the second time in three years, Doug Nester is starting from square one. The 2019 graduate of Spring Valley High School thrilled Mountaineer fans on Christmas Day with an announcement that he was coming home to play at WVU.
“It is very different here, just everything we have done so far,” Nester said. “Coming in in the winter, it was basically like being an incoming freshman again.”
Nester saw significant playing time in two seasons at Virginia Tech. But his situation changed with the Hokies and an opportunity to return to the Mountain State awaited.
“My relationship with the coaching staff was not going very well. And playing time, I was getting rotated a lot without really ever a reason why.”
When Neal Brown was hired in January of 2019, the head coach made an immediate effort to recruit Nester and Huntington’s Darnell Wright less than a month before signing day. Both ended up leaving the state but Brown’s first impression to Nester proved valuable.
“I never got much communication from the previous coaching staff. But whenever Neal Brown got here, their first stop was to me and Darnell back in Huntington. So that was pretty big and it played a big role for me coming back here.”
Nester is now reunited with former Spring Valley teammates Owen Chafin, Wyatt Milum and Graeson Malashevich. Nester has known Malashevich for nearly his entire lifetime.
“We have been friends ever since we were about six or seven years old. We started playing football as soon as we could play football together. His dad was my head coach all through youth league and helped coach us in high school.”
Wyatt Milum is one of the most high-profile recruits to sign with WVU and Nester is not surprised to see No. 64 develop as he has.
“Right after our first game, he started getting Division I offers. I told him that, ‘I told you so’.”
Nester is a roommate with Jarret Doege, Malashevich and Fairmont Senior grad Zach Frazier. Nester saw the former Polar Bear compete a number of times off the football field.
“I have watched Zach wrestle in the state championship every year because it is down in Huntington. So I have known about him probably since I was a sophomore.”
A matchup against Nester’s former teammates from Virginia Tech is just over a month away. WVU will host the Hokies on September 18.
“There is a little circle around it, for sure.”