Excitement surrounds this year’s West Virginia football team, with expectations high following last season’s 9-4 finish.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia redshirt junior offensive lineman Nick Malone is the 2022 winner of the Tommy Nickolich Memorial Award, as presented by the Blue & Gold News.
Each spring the Blue & Gold News presents the Tommy Nickolich Memorial Award to the walk-on member of the football team who distinguishes himself through his attitude and work ethic. WVU’s coaches vote on the award winner.
The award is presented in the memory of Tommy Nickolich, a native of Fairmont, West Virginia, who was a WVU player (1979-82) who died of cancer in 1982.
Malone is in his fourth year as a Mountaineer and has made his mark as a valuable member of the offensive line. He played in all 13 games in 2021 and earned a start against Oklahoma State.
A native of Morgantown, Malone is majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation and has earned spots on WVU’s Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll and the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
West Virginia also announced the Iron Mountaineer Award winners at Saturday’s spring game. Zach Frazier, Jared Bartlett, Doug Nester and Graeson Malashevich were this year’s winners.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The ball was in the air a lot on Thursday morning at Mountaineer Field, as West Virginia’s football team held practice No. 12 of the 15 allowed in the spring.
WVU worked predominately on seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 passing drills, as well as kick returns, during the hour-long portion of practice open to the media.
• Junior receiver Graeson Malashevich was heavily involved in all aspects. The Spring Valley graduate hauled in several well-placed passes from freshman quarterback Nicco Marchiol.
The longest receptions, though, came on a 50-yard bomb from Garrett Greene to Bryce Ford-Wheaton and a 45-yarder from Goose Crowder to Jarel Williams. In addition, running back Lyn-J Dixon found an open seam in the middle of the defense, pulled in a pass from Greene and sprinted to the end zone for a 40-yard catch-and-run.
• WVU’s defense was somewhat constrained in the Thursday practice, which included only small stretches of full contact. Much of the morning was limited to “thud,” where the ball carrier wasn’t tackled to the ground.
The top defensive play of the session came when senior cornerback Malachi Ruffin cradled an interception just before the ball hit the turf.
• West Virginia’s offensive line moved a few players around during Thursday’s practice.
Left tackle Wyatt Milum, left guard James Gmiter, center Zach Frazier, right guard Doug Nester and right tackle Ja’Quay Hubbard were with the first unit during the officiated scrimmage. The second line was composed of left tackle Chris Mayo, left guard Donovan Beaver, center Jordan White, right guard Nick Malone and right tackle Brandon Yates. Nester also got some work at tackle, and Frazier got some reps at guard. Those moves aren’t going to be permanent, but will give each experience at another position if the need for some juggling arises. In addition Yates saw reps during scrimmage at guard, and he even did some center snaps during pass protection drills.
“Compared to this time last year, we’re very much improved,” said WVU’s fourth-year offensive line coach Matt Moore. “This position takes time build, which nobody in this profession wants to give you. But we’re building it. We had a great offseason, and we’ve had a really good spring so far.
“I made some changes from last year. I moved Wyatt over to the left side (after he played right tackle as a true freshman last season), and he’s taken to that. He’s still a young player, still going to make some mistakes, but he’s improving. Gmiter is really growing, showing some signs of being a good player. Frazier is solid in the middle. Everything kind of revolves around him. Doug Nester is really coming along. Having that cast on half of last year, whether it was mental or not, it really hurt him. He played way better when he got it off the second half of the season. Yates played way better in the second half of the season. He was injured in the offseason and in the early part of the spring, so he hasn’t come along as much as I’d like, but Hubbard has taken all those reps and has really come along at that right tackle spot.
“We’re also developing some depth,” added Moore. “We have some guys in that second group playing well, whether it is Hubbard or Yates at right tackle, and then Jordan White is playing really well. He’s even gotten a lot of reps with the one offense at center. He can also play guard. Malone has gotten considerably better. He’s finally gotten heavy enough (290) that he can play in there (at guard). It’s exciting seeing these young guys come along and seeing them get better. Are we where we want to be? No, so we have to continue to get better.”
• West Virginia spent an extended practice period Thursday working on kickoff and punt returns. Malashevich, Justin Johnson, Sam James, Davis Mallinger, Lyn-J Dixon and Jaylen Anderson were the Mountaineers who fielded the returns. Even within that group of speedsters, Mallinger seemed to have a different gear on his return opportunities.
During the kickoffs, Florida State transfer Parker Grothaus displayed an extremely strong leg, which is what drew the Mountaineers to the senior from Indian Lake, Ohio, once he entered the transfer portal this winter. His foot impacting the football just sounds different than the other placekickers.
• Four Mountaineers – wide receiver Reese Smith, offensive lineman Tomas Rimac, defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen and defensive back Christion Stokes – were not in pads Thursday. Their workouts were limited to extensive running on the sidelines.
