MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Rich Rodriguez recognized a multitude of issues plaguing West Virginia over the first month of the 2025 season.
As the year progressed, there was improvement in some areas, albeit not enough of it in too many.
Rodriguez vowed to fix the problems ahead of his second season in his second stint as the Mountaineers’ head coach.
Much of it starts with improvement along the offensive line, and in an effort to create that, veteran Rick Trickett was brought in for his second stint as offensive line coach at WVU.
“He’s one of the best at what he does,” Rodriguez said. “I like where we’re at. We still have a lot of work to do, but we expect a lot of improvement. We have to be better. It starts with the players we got and the players that are coming back.
“Trick is so good at what he does. A lot of things make Rick a good coach, but one of the best is that he has a lot of pride in his unit. He’s not worried about being a head coach or being a coordinator. He worries about his line doing their job and being as good as they can be.”
Several experienced offensive linemen return, a crop of others with a large number of snaps at other programs have been brought in and a handful of freshmen could be in the mix for snaps, none more so than tackle Kevin Brown, widely regarded as a four-star prospect and a crown jewel among the team’s 2026 recruiting class.
“The first group, I’m not completely satisfied, but we’re on schedule,” said Trickett, whose sons Travis and Chance are part of the coaching staff at WVU. “We have some guys on the second group that have to keep improving and coming along.
“There’s 12 or 13 guys and we can maybe find 10 top guys and really get after somebody. We’d like to be able to play two groups. We want to go tempo. We have a young one on the first group that has a lot to learn, but I think we’re right on schedule.”
Nick Krahe started all 12 games at tackle a season ago and Landen Livingston made 11 starts, while Malik Agbo gained valuable experience across 174 offensive snaps.
The aforementioned trio remain with the Mountaineers, and several transfers with an abundance of experience could start and at least figure to add much-needed depth — Wes King (Wyoming), Carsten Casady (Connecticut), Devin Vass (Kansas State), Amare “Bubba” Grayson (Jacksonville State) and Cam Griffin (Jacksonville State).
Grayson, a first-team All-Conference USA pick last season, and Griffin, played under the direction of Trickett for the Gamecocks before following him to Morgantown.
“They’ve been in this offense, been in the battles and been with Trickett,” Rodriguez said. “They can help teach and coach those guys the way we want to get done. That was great to pick all those guys up.”
According to Rodriguez, there’s no substitute for experience up front.
“Having played in college games for any position is valuable, but particularly for quarterbacks and offensive line,” Rodriguez said. “Is it more important for an offensive lineman than a defensive lineman to have played? I think 100 percent, because they have to be reactionary to how the defense moves and adjusts. If you watch film on defenses nowadays and 10 years ago and 20 years ago, everybody is moving their front, stemming their front, has simulated pressures. There is so much more going on that guys have to be able to handle than before, so mentally, they have to be on top of it.”
There is also hope for the future and present among freshmen up front.
Trickett went out of his way to praise newcomer Aidan Woods, a 310-pound native of Abingdon, Va., whose position coach says “has some things about him.”
Yet Brown presents the most intriguing case for immediate playing time, which was essentially expected from the moment he committed to WVU on national television in November 2025.
A native of Harrisburg, Pa., Brown is 6-foot-6, 294 pounds and currently logging the majority of his reps at left tackle.
“He has a chance to be a good player. Hopefully in another year or so he’s a really good player,” Trickett said. “He’s a competitive guy. I love his attitude. The first guy out and one of the first guys in the building every day, but he has a lot of things to learn. The defense is throwing a lot of stuff at him.”
Because Brown was such a highly-rated prospect, he begins his college career with a certain level of expectation, one that Rodriguez feels he’s met and perhaps even exceeded to this point.
“Kevin has a chance to start. He’s physically ready,” Rodriguez said. “But more than anything, he has a certain level of football maturity that you don’t see typically in a true freshman. I kind of knew that when we signed him and then he’s been what we thought he would be and he’ll keep getting better.”