WVU’s Crook likes what he sees up front
Orlowsky, McKivitz key offensive push
By JIM BUTTA
Sports correspondent
MORGANTOWN — It goes without saying that during his 26-year tenure as an offensive line coach at stops which include Harvard, Illinois and Stanford, West Virginia assistant coach Ron Crook has seen some pretty good talent.
A look around the National Football League will find the Illini’s Dave Diehl and Tony Pashos, James Williams from Harvard and the Cardinals’ Zach Ertz, Coby Fleener and Jonathan Martin listed among active rosters.
Now, the former-Parkersburg South and West Liberty University player is seeing the same results in Morgantown where former players Curtis Feigt, Mark Glowinski and Quinton Spain have left for careers in the NFL.
Now, the longtime offensive line coach finds himself with a unique mixture of experience and youth blending their talents together to lead the No. 10 Mountaineers (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) onto the artificial surface at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma for Saturday’s noon kickoff against the Cowboys from Oklahoma State (5-2, 3-1 Big 12).
“Tyler (Orlosky), his understanding of football is as good as I’ve been around,” Crook explained. “He is able to see everything and we depend on him getting the rest of our linemen in the right place to counter what the defense is attempting to do.
“Sometimes that means he has to be able to see when a defensive back is creeping up and looking to pressure us from the outside. We normally will stand our tackles up so they can see that coming, but Tyler can do it even when he is in his stance and preparing to center the ball back to Skyler (Howard).”
That ability has not only made the Cleveland, Ohio native a sure-fired NFL product, but put him on several preseason watch lists as well as a spot on the preseason All-Big 12 and All-American teams.
“I think what makes Tyler so good is his willingness to communicate and help the other guys up front, especially the younger ones,” continued Crook. “He’s always the one in film pointing out things that our other linemen should be looking for and what they can do to counteract what they are seeing.”
One of those younger players is former-Union Local standout Colton McKivitz.
“Colton (McKivitz) is light years ahead of where he was at this time last year,” said the o-line coach. “He gets better every day. I’m not ready to put him up there with Tyler, but he has a very bright future here at WVU and beyond.”
For now Crook, Orlosky, McKivitz and the rest of the offensive front are working hard toward one – beating OSU on Saturday.
“I would say they (OSU’s defensive front) are a lot like K-State and BYU. They are big guys and they like to collapse the pocket on you.
“They like to pressure, especially on third downs or when they get you in long yardage situations.”
Situations that did not occur very often in WVU’s latest victory – a 34-10 win over TCU.
“It was a little difficult getting any kind of rotation going in the first half because we had so may three-play drives or three-and-outs,” continued Crook. “The third quarter we were able to get some longer drives going and I was able to rotate a guard in from time to time and rotate our tackles.”
A system which has worked well for the Old Gold and Blue through the first half of the season and which will prove even more important in the heat that WVU will encounter on Saturday.
Lining up beside Orlosky at the guards will be senior Tony Matteo (left) and junior Kyle Bosch (right) while senior Adam Pankey has taken over the left tackle position following Yodney Cajuste’s season-ending injury against Missouri. Also seeing plenty of playing time has been juniors Grant Lingafelter and Marcell Lazard.
A unit that has allowed the Mountaineers to amass more than 3,000 yards of total offense (510.0 ypg) and 33 points per game.
Other notes of interest:
¯ The game will be televised on Fox with Joe Davis providing the play-by-play and Brady Quinn the analysis.
¯ West Virginia has won seven games in a row and 11 of 12 dating back to Nov. 7, 2015.
¯ WVU’s offense has had 10 touchdown drives of 80+ yards: Missouri (88), YSU (80, 86, 86), BYU (88, 96, 99) and Texas Tech (91, 89, 83).
¯ The Mountaineeers’ defense is ranked No. 12 nationally and No. 2 in the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense.
¯ WVU’s defense is giving up 17.8 points per game during the season, ranking No. 15 nationally and No. 2 in the Big 12 in scoring defense.
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