MORGANTOWN — If there was anger when the Mountaineers were picked 14th in the conference in the Big 12’s preseason media poll — and you can bet there was outrage all over the Pusker Center at Mountaineer Field No – everything should be much more stable inside the football bunker now.
The Big 12 finally did the right thing, at least when it came to West Virginia.
Maybe it’s because they left the postseason All-Big 12 award and team voting to the coaches rather than the media, but they were right when it came to analyzing West Virginia’s most valuable player.
Fairmont High School center Zach Frazier was named to the Big 12 Conference Offensive First Team and cornerback Beanie Bishop was named to the Defensive First Team.
Frazier was a second-team selection last year while earning All-American honors, and Bishop, a transfer from Minnesota, led the conference in pass breakups and defense.
Enough for mountaineers.
There were a few other people knocking on the door, probably the ones who got the votes. For example, if Neil Brown could vote for his own player, he would have voted for his left tackle Wyatt Milam, but he ended up on the second team.
mistaken? Perhaps, but those of us who don’t study game film for a living should just take the word of the people who do, the coaches.
Milam and LSU transfer Cole Taylor, a product of Spring Valley High School in West Virginia, achieved a little more of everything WVU hoped for at tight end as the season progressed, earning second-team honors.
Taylor led WVU with 33 catches for 411 yards and four touchdowns, making him the first tight end since All-American Mark Roe in 1981 to finish the regular season as the Mountaineers’ top pass catcher.
And on the honorable mention list were mountaineers with boxcars full of them. Many of those players, like quarterback Garrett Green, were players who had breakout seasons, but Oklahoma was leaving with Dillon Gabriel at the helm and Texas was leaving the league. Defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat won Defensive Player of the Year honors, and there is no room for anyone other than those who consistently stand at the top of the competition throughout the year.
Still, WVU lost defensive back Aubrey Burks, linebacker Ben Cutter, running back CJ Donaldson Jr., returner Preston Fox, Green, linebacker Lee Kpogba and defensive lineman Mike Lockhart. , placekicker Michael Hayes, punter Ollie Stroh, and defensive linemen Sean Martin and Edward Vesterinen. And offensive linemen Doug Nester, Thomas Rimac and Brandon Yates were named to the honorable mention list.
This means Frazier, Milam, Nestor, Rimack, and Yates are all listed on the offensive line, giving rise to the idea that this could develop into the nation’s best this year, or be close to it. It only made it stronger.
And it was especially gratifying that late-blooming freshman running back Jaheim White caught the coaches’ attention enough to earn him an honorable mention selection. An asterisk to remind us that if he returns next year, he could be competing with Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon for the Offensive Player of the Year honor he won this season. There is a need.
There was one oversight in the award ceremony. The problem is that WVU does not select a player of the year for each position, even though there are many examples of how WVU could earn such an honor.
Oddly enough, two of those are from center Frazier, whose own center plays don’t often appear in ESPN’s top 10 plays.
But against BYU on the hoop, Frazier held his own, driving him into the middle of the end zone and then forcing him onto his back. This showed strength and technique as impressive as can be seen from a lineman.
And in the play last weekend when Frazier was injured, in a play that still plays nonstop on social media today, he hit center fielder as wide receiver Hudson Clement scrambled for a spot at the plate on the game-winning drive. He got out of position and hustled downfield. They went down first and approached him, literally carrying him forward and then being driven from behind to the ground where he appeared to have broken a bone in his lower leg which required surgery.
But at this point, the play wasn’t over for Frazier. WVU couldn’t allow him a 10-second timeout if he needed assistance getting off the field. Frazier immediately struggled to his feet, crawled a few steps toward the bench, and ran to the sideline, clearly in pain. .
That might have won the game as much as Green’s dramatic final pass to White.
At West Virginia, some said Neil Brown should have been named Coach of the Year after leading a team picked 14th overall to an 8-4 record and finishing fifth in the conference. Awarded to Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State University. They will play Texas this Saturday in the Big 12 Championship.
There was something else worth noting about West Virginia. Although Jaheim White did not win Offensive Rookie of the Year, it went to Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht. He is the son of WVU star tight end Anthony Becht, a longtime NFL star who later became a television commentator and coach.