Rich Rodriguez and Rick Trickett are back in the same building, and West Virginia is already betting on what that reunion can do to the offense.
This offseason, Rodriguez brought Trickett back into the fold, reuniting with a coach he has worked alongside for nine seasons and one whose lines have produced eye-catching results. Trickett could have returned to Morgantown a year ago, but instead chose to coach with his son, Clint, at Jacksonville State. Clint is now the offensive coordinator at Maryland.
Now the two are together again, with WVU hoping to lean into what has always been the foundation of a Rich Rod offense: running the football and building one of the top attacks in the country.
The production from their previous run together is hard to ignore. Jed Drenning, co-host of In the Gun, pulled together the numbers, and they jump off the page:
Winning percentage: .693
Yards per attempt: 5.3
Wins per season: 8.6
Rush attempts per season: 590
Rush yards per season: 3,111
Rushing TDs per season: 34
Rushing attempts per game: 48
Rushing yards per game: 252
Rushing TDs per game: 2.7
That kind of track record doesn’t happen by accident. Trickett has spent years coaching offensive lines at a high level because he knows how to get results.
His approach is built on demanding technique, and that emphasis can cover up a lot of other shortcomings - arm length, strength, lateral quickness, whatever the issue might be. He hammers the details, corrects mistakes immediately, and that formula has helped him develop plenty of high-level college players, including some who went on to become NFL draft picks.
The effect of his arrival, combined with the other new faces in the offensive line room, has already reshaped the personality of the offense. Rodriguez saw it in the spring and has been openly encouraged by what he thinks this group can become with a stronger front clearing the way.
“Yeah, I mean, I think we’re going to be better up front. Second year for some of the guys in the system.
Coach (Rick) Trickett has been in the system for a long time, so he’s really comfortable at teaching what we want. Some of the new guys we got, we certainly think are making an impact.
We got a couple really good freshmen that’ll be ready, I think, and then we got some transfers that are grown men.”
The depth up front is part of what makes this group so intriguing. As noted in the offensive line preview, the room could go 10 or 11 deep. The rotation figures to settle somewhere between seven and nine, but there’s a sense that the staff feels better about Nos. 10 and 11 than it did about some of the top five or six linemen a year ago.
In Other News...
West Virginia Suddenly Has A New Roster Question Across Three Sports
A fresh eligibility ruling out of Colorado has suddenly put West Virginia in an awkward spot across three sports, with a federal judge ordering the NCAA to grant an extra year to a broad group of athletes whose college clocks are about to run out. For the Mountaineers, the ripple effect could touch football, basketball and baseball, where roster planning is already tight and every scholarship spot matters.
The NCAA is expected to challenge the decision, but even the uncertainty is enough to complicate how West Virginia thinks about next season and beyond. If the injunction stands, the bigger question becomes how roster limits and revenue-sharing rules will be adjusted, and whether the Mountaineers will have to reshuffle plans on the fly while trying to keep their lineups intact. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Could Suddenly Have Some Unexpected Roster Decisions To Make
A federal ruling out of Colorado has put another roster wrinkle in front of college football programs, including West Virginia, by opening the door for some former players from the 2022 student-athlete class to chase an additional year of eligibility. Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that pauses the old NCAA framework for those athletes, creating a possible avenue for ex-Mountaineers to return to school if the decision holds.
For WVU, the timing matters because the NCAA is expected to appeal to the Tenth Circuit, and that process could stretch on for months before the picture clears. In the meantime, the Mountaineers may have to sort through an unexpected list of players who could become eligible again, a situation that can affect scholarship planning, depth charts and the broader shape of the roster well before fall camp gets here. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Secondary Suddenly Has A Bigger Question Than Fans Expected
West Virginias secondary was already shaping up as a key summer storyline, and Jason Chambers decision adds another layer to it. The starting cornerback spent last season as part of the Mountaineers rotation and gave the staff a veteran presence on the outside, which is why his place on the roster had figured into the conversation about how much experience would be back in the defensive backfield.
Now the focus shifts to who steps in around him, with the cornerback room suddenly looking thinner than expected. West Virginia still has options to sort through as it builds toward the upcoming season, but the departure changes the picture enough that the staff has to rework its plans and lean on a new lead option in a spot that was supposed to be more settled. [Read more 🡒]