MORGANTOWN -
As the faxes began to slow last Wednesday and the WVU
coaches were able to sit back and evaluate the talent that had signed on to
become Mountaineers, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was quite satisfied
with what he saw.
Four new scholarship linemen would be joining the team and
the size and strength that each had shown through the years leading up to
National Signing Day is something that hasn't always accompanied West
Virginia's additions at the position.
"I don't know much about the past, but I'm happy with it,"
Bedenbaugh said of his o-line class. "And not just their play – they're good
character kids. You look at their grades, they're all 2.7 and higher, which is
pretty good. They all come from good families, they all have really good
support systems, they're close to home kids."
Among his new students, there are three freshmen and one
junior college transfer, Mark Glowinski. Getting young talent to grow and
development over the coming seasons is clearly something any coaching staff
looks for in each recruiting class, but Bedenbaugh seems most excited about
Glowinski and the help he can provide in year one.
"I don't think there's any doubt that kid understands that
he's got two years to play and we're not looking to redshirt him," says
Bedenbaugh. "He's coming here to play and obviously he's got to earn it."
At 6-foot-5, 290 pounds, Glowinski says his best attribute
to any team is his ability to play multiple positions. He always tried to learn
every spot along the line so that if a team ever needed a specific position, he
wouldn't be overlooked because he didn't have experience there.
West Virginia intends to use Glowinski in the position the
graduating Don Barclay recently left vacant: left tackle.
"He can play any position, I don't think there's any doubt,"
says Bedenbaugh. "If you see his film, he looks like a damned tight end. It's
amazing to me, him out there running around in space but also being physical
like an offensive lineman."
Bedenbaugh puts a lot of stock into building trust throughout
the recruiting process and he believes he's done just that with the four
linemen who will be getting to campus this summer.
He points to Glowinski's coaches and their referrals
regarding his character in addition to his physical skills and how that type of
conversation can help develop future relationships. Sometimes you have to rely
on what a player's current coach says about him rather than just see glimpses
of it on film.
"You can't just look at a five-play highlight tape and say,
‘Wow, that kid's going to be a great player.' It doesn't work that way," says
Bedenbaugh. "I know some people on the outside might think that, but there's so
many more factors that go into recruiting the kid."
Aside from Glowinski, it is difficult to imagine that Adam
Pankey, Tony Matteo or Tyler Orlosky would get thrown into the rotation in year
one. It simply doesn't happen for freshmen at the position.
Bedenbaugh says that in about 20 years of coaching offensive
linemen, he has only had two freshmen who played at all and neither of them was
ever a starter.
What he can be pleased with, though, is that there is depth
beginning to take shape at his position that did not exist in his first season
at WVU. Last year's recruits have molded themselves into players capable of
getting on the field if injury or poor play ahead of them leaves a spot open,
which is something Dana Holgorsen couldn't say too often a year ago.
"That's the one great thing about Coach Holgorsen is he
understands the importance of offensive line play and he understands the
importance of having to take three to five kids every year and build that depth
and continue to get young kids and bring them up for the program," says
Bedenbaugh.
He's already begun the process to bring in another three to
five linemen in next year's class and when the summer comes along Bedenbaugh
will finally get to see what these four additions are truly capable of in
Morgantown.
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