Apr. 1—There's been a shift in how offenses are run in college football. Most of them are high-tempo and feature a no-huddle, and Rich Rodriguez's second term West Virginia offense will be one of them. The high-tempo offense changed certain positions and turned the tight end position into a Swiss army knife.
Last year, tight end Brock Bowers was drafted in the first round and had an incredible rookie season, and in this year's draft, tight end Tyler Warren is a projected first-round pick. Both tight ends are versatile playmakers in both the pass attack and run game.
In the Rodriguez-called offense, tight ends are going to do a bit of everything, according to tight ends coach Michael Nysewander. They might line out like a receiver, line up inside to block or in the slot.
"We'd like a guy at the tight end position that, if we're running the ball three plays in a row, can get in there and add an extra hat to the run game and block, " Nysewander said. "Or if we want to run four vertical routes, have a guy that's athletic enough to do it and widen them out. I think it starts just like everything in the offense. It starts with speed and our tempo and trying to go fast."
Having a tight end who can do it all is important in Rodriguez's offense because of the tempo and not substituting. In a slower offense, you can substitute tight ends on and off, but that allows the defense to substitute. The benefit of tempo is catching the defense off guard, not allowing time to get set and substitute.
Rodriguez hasn't decided on what type of personnel to run yet. Rodriguez has run anything from one to two tight ends, and even last year, he trotted out three.
"The more tight ends, the better, " Nysewander said. "I'd like to play 14 personnel. We got four guys that can do it. I think it goes back to, if we got guys who are capable and can do it, coach is going to put the best 11 on the field, which has really been nice to work with."
There are seven tight ends currently on WVU's roster. Two are transfers, and the rest were on the roster already or were added in the winter by early enrolling. All seven are still getting used to new assignments in the offense.
"They've all done a good job of trying to adapt, " Nysewander said. "Obviously, we brought some guys in that we thought could do it. But they've really been doing, all of them, have been doing a really good job. Some of them are not necessarily used to doing some of the things we're asking. Right now, I haven't seen any of them that can't do anything we're asking them to do, so it's been good. We asked those guys to be a jack of all trades, and they've really done a good job."
With three spring practices to go, there hasn't been a tight end that's stood out. All of the tight ends are rotating to take reps with the ones, the twos and the threes. No matter the age or experience, they are all battling for the starting spot.
"They are making it hard on me because they're really all competing really well and mixing in there with different groups, " Nysewander said. "It's been really good. I've been really pleased with their effort and attitude and all that."
One tight end has the advantage over the rest. Senior Jacob Barrick played under the Rodriguez offense last year at Jacksonville State. He was mainly a blocker but had seven grabs for 70 yards last year. Barrick is a Martinsburg, West Virginia, native, who's dream was to play for the Mountaineers.
Nysewander said, although Barrick knows the system, Barrick hasn't taken anything for granted.
"The one thing with him and he knew this coming up here is he had to earn everything, " ...
