Rich Rodriguez showers his offensive line with significant praise ahead of Week 1

The West Virginia Mountaineers are entering the 2026 season with a completely rebuilt roster, and and perhaps no position group was targeted for a bigger rebuild than the offensive line.

The Mountaineers drew a lot of scrutiny from fans and media alike for their performance in the trenches on offense last season, and head coach Rich Rodriguez also pulled no punches about his thoughts on his team's offensive line play last year – calling out his dissatisfaction multiple times when speaking to the media.

But with the season set to start this week, Rodriguez seems confident that the position group has improved, but that they can compete with any group in the country.

Rich Rodriguez discusses offensive line improvement throughout the offseason

Rodriguez was asked early about his offensive line during his first edition of The Rich Rodriguez Show on Monday, and it was pretty clear from how he discussed the group that he's very happy with what he has at the position. He highlighted sentiments thatwe've discussed here at HailWV this offseason, particularly the increase in prior experience among this year's group.

"We knew that was probably the first area we had to address in the portal, getting some grown men that have played a little bit," Rodriguez said. "We feel a lot better on the O line. at least there are some guys who have played football at this level. And other than quarterback, offensive line is the position where you want the most experience."

He also seemed to indicate that he is much more pleased with the group's mentality entering this season, and praised the "cohesiveness" of the group. When askedhow many playershe feels comfortable getting in-game action this season, he stated that "I think there are nine or ten guys I'd feel comfortable with playing with this Saturday."

"There's a certain attitude," Rodriguez said. "There's not another position group in the country who works like our O line works."

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