WVU OL Coach Jack Bicknell Jr. Believes He Has More Capable Centers Than He's Ever Had

As the West Virginia Mountaineers get ready for their first season under a new era in Morgantown, all eyes turn to Rich Rodriguez. There's been a lot of talk about the quarterback battle and the tempo of this Rodriguez offense. However, the focus should be centered (no pun intended) on the guys up front. Last week, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. made an interesting statement about the depth of the center group.

Bicknell smiled from ear to ear whenever it was time to talk about how confident he was in the centers. He told the media there are several players on the roster whom the brass would feel confident in putting in the game, if needed.

“Yeah, I mean if you go out there, we have seven guys snapping,” Bicknell told the media. “We can not run this offense without absolutely precise snaps. We have quarterbacks, and you know what they have to do. If they have to catch a snap or something, they aren’t going to be able to execute what they are doing.”

There is an ongoing battle for the starting quarterback job, which can make life tough on centers, who are snapping to different guys, who each have a different cadence. Still, they have to deliver a perfect snap and fire of the line to make their block and either hold up in pass pro or create a running lane for the running backs. Landen Livingston is the projected starter at center, but Eastern Michigan transfer Carson Lee and others are getting reps there, too.

Bicknell also shouted out a few guys who have done well snapping the ball so far in fall camp.

“Livingston is doing a great job, Carson Lee is doing a great job,” Bicknell said. “You know Josh (Aisosa) also played some there today. That was part of some of those things that we switched around. Cooper Young is doing a good job. I mean, we have more centers, honestly, that could go in a game than I have ever had. That is for sure. You know they can legitimately snap the ball and we can run our offense and be pretty effective.”

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