MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The first thing West Virginia offensive line coach Rick Trickett did after returning to WVU last winter was make a run to the local hardware store.
He wasn’t shopping for his own house. He was buying boards for his linemen.
Those boards now sit in the football practice facility, and every day before practice the Mountaineers’ offensive linemen step over them as part of Trickett’s routine. The drill is built to sharpen footwork, body alignment and explosive movement.
Narrow boards force linemen to take short, precise steps instead of reaching too far and losing balance. They also help players stay square, transfer weight properly and build the kind of muscle memory that keeps them from staring down at their feet when they block.
For junior offensive guard Amare Grayson, the boards are just part of the day now.
"We started with it and that's our warmup," he said recently. "When we do reach blocks, that's what we do, and he harps on that a lot.
"It's a mental thing," Grayson continued. "If I can step over that board when it's there, I can step over it when it's not there.
That really helps me with a lot of things. If you take your steps the right way, it's going to put you where you need to be every time.
No matter what defense people throw at us, it will be there."
Grayson, known to family and friends as "Bubba," has been around Trickett for nearly four years, dating back to his high school days at Stockbridge High in Stockbridge, Georgia. He remembers the first time his high school coach brought him in to meet the veteran line coach.
"I was like, 'He coaches O-line?' But the first time I talked to him, I just felt the energy and was like, 'Yeah.
This is my guy right here,'" Grayson said. "Then, when I stepped on campus at Jacksonville, he pretty much said it straight, 'I'm going to coach you hard, and I'm going to love you at the same time.'
And I needed that right there."
The fit was immediate. So was the production.
As a freshman in 2024, Grayson played in all 14 games and started eight times, earning Conference USA All-Freshman honors for Rich Rodriguez at Jacksonville State. The 6-foot-1, 309-pound lineman posted a 97.8% blocking grade, third best on the team, and did not allow a sack on 224 passing plays. In the run game, he helped Jacksonville State finish third in the nation at 251.2 rushing yards per game.
When Rodriguez moved to West Virginia last year, Grayson grew into one of the better offensive linemen in Conference USA, which made him one of Trickett’s priorities when Rodriguez wanted him back in Morgantown.
For both sides, the move made sense.
"Playing for Trickett has honestly been my best decision," he admitted. "He's a leader of men, besides being a coach, and that's what I love about him. He really cares about you as a player, and he tries to put you through hard things so when you get out into the real world, you can just be yourself.
"You won't go through anything harder, I swear," he laughed.
The biggest change Grayson has noticed since getting back under Trickett is his consistency. That, too, is the point.
Trickett leans hard into repetition, drilling the same fundamentals over and over until they become automatic. Grayson said that approach has helped him clean up the kind of inconsistency that used to show up in high school.
"If I take my first step with hat placement, I'm going to get to where I need to be every time," Grayson explained. "That has really helped me as an offensive lineman because in high school, that was my biggest thing.
I couldn't stay consistent with one thing. It was like something different every time.
He really harped on that.
"Consistency wins in a lot of things, and I've come in and adapted great to this scheme," he added.
There has been one adjustment outside the football building, though. Grayson, who is from the South, had to get used to West Virginia weather after arriving in Morgantown.
"I'm from the South, so like it doesn't get cold down there, and the first week I was here there was a snowstorm," he laughed. "I had to kind of get used to that, but overall, the people, I love the people.
Everybody here is nice and welcoming. The coaches here felt like family because they were at Jax State with me my freshman year."
And then there’s the nickname.
"My little sister gave me that name," he said. "We're 11 months apart.
She couldn't say brother, so she called me 'Bubba' and then my parents were like, 'Yeah, your nickname is Bubba!' I didn't like it at first.
In elementary school I was like, 'Don't call me that.' Then it just grew on me over time."
Like Trickett himself, apparently.
West Virginia is continuing practice work as it prepares for its 2026 season opener against Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Milan Puskar Stadium.
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