MORGANTOWN - Jeff Braun learned more than a few things as a redshirt freshman lineman at West Virginia last spring and fall.
Forget about technique and strength training and anything technical, though. Sure, all of that was important, but apparently the best lesson was about reality.
It was at about this time a year ago that Braun was working with the first offensive line group at right guard. With four starters gone from the previous season, there were plenty of opportunities and Braun seemed positioned to seize one of the openings.
By the time the season began, though, he had been all but cast aside. Eric Jobe and Joey Madsen were sharing the right guard and center duties and Braun was relegated to a spot as an extra lineman on field goals and extra points.
Now, fast-forward a year and Braun is right back in the mix again. This time he is quickly becoming the heir apparent to Selvish Capers at right tackle. Through most of West Virginia's spring drills, which conclude with Friday night's Gold-Blue game, Braun has been the starter.
Far from basking in the glow of that position, though, Braun is reluctant even to acknowledge his place. Having been there and done that, he is loathe to even accept it.
"I'll never really feel like I have a job. I'll never be comfortable with my spot on the depth chart,'' Braun said. "I'm not really worried about whether I'm working with the ones or the twos. I just try to work every day and get better at what I'm doing.''
Braun's spot on West Virginia's No. 1 line came about almost as an experiment, and a late one at that. In the team's spring prospectus published by the school, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt sophomore isn't even listed as a tackle. Instead, he is listed as the No. 2 center behind Madsen and the No. 2 right guard behind Jobe. The tackles on the right side as recently as five or six weeks ago were walk-on senior Matt Timmerman and redshirt freshman Pat Eger.
That changed so abruptly that even Braun was taken aback when offensive line coach Dave Johnson broached the subject.
"Actually I didn't even find out about it until about two weeks before spring ball started,'' Braun said. "I was in the weight room and Coach Johnson just came up to me and said he wanted me to work at some tackle this spring. It made me kind of nervous at first.''
The switch, though, makes sense on many levels. For starters, Braun is probably the most experienced of West Virginia's non-starting linemen. Of course, that's not saying much given that the five starters last season played virtually every meaningful snap.
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Braun makes most of second time around
MORGANTOWN - Jeff Braun learned more than a few things as a redshirt freshman lineman at West Virginia last spring and fall.
Forget about technique and strength training and anything technical, though. Sure, all of that was important, but apparently the best lesson was about reality.
It was at about this time a year ago that Braun was working with the first offensive line group at right guard. With four starters gone from the previous season, there were plenty of opportunities and Braun seemed positioned to seize one of the openings.
By the time the season began, though, he had been all but cast aside. Eric Jobe and Joey Madsen were sharing the right guard and center duties and Braun was relegated to a spot as an extra lineman on field goals and extra points.
Now, fast-forward a year and Braun is right back in the mix again. This time he is quickly becoming the heir apparent to Selvish Capers at right tackle. Through most of West Virginia's spring drills, which conclude with Friday night's Gold-Blue game, Braun has been the starter.
Far from basking in the glow of that position, though, Braun is reluctant even to acknowledge his place. Having been there and done that, he is loathe to even accept it.
"I'll never really feel like I have a job. I'll never be comfortable with my spot on the depth chart,'' Braun said. "I'm not really worried about whether I'm working with the ones or the twos. I just try to work every day and get better at what I'm doing.''
Braun's spot on West Virginia's No. 1 line came about almost as an experiment, and a late one at that. In the team's spring prospectus published by the school, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt sophomore isn't even listed as a tackle. Instead, he is listed as the No. 2 center behind Madsen and the No. 2 right guard behind Jobe. The tackles on the right side as recently as five or six weeks ago were walk-on senior Matt Timmerman and redshirt freshman Pat Eger.
That changed so abruptly that even Braun was taken aback when offensive line coach Dave Johnson broached the subject.
"Actually I didn't even find out about it until about two weeks before spring ball started,'' Braun said. "I was in the weight room and Coach Johnson just came up to me and said he wanted me to work at some tackle this spring. It made me kind of nervous at first.''
The switch, though, makes sense on many levels. For starters, Braun is probably the most experienced of West Virginia's non-starting linemen. Of course, that's not saying much given that the five starters last season played virtually every meaningful snap.
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MORGANTOWN - Jeff Braun learned more than a few things as a redshirt freshman lineman at West Virginia last spring and fall.
Forget about technique and strength training and anything technical, though. Sure, all of that was important, but apparently the best lesson was about reality.
It was at about this time a year ago that Braun was working with the first offensive line group at right guard. With four starters gone from the previous season, there were plenty of opportunities and Braun seemed positioned to seize one of the openings.
By the time the season began, though, he had been all but cast aside. Eric Jobe and Joey Madsen were sharing the right guard and center duties and Braun was relegated to a spot as an extra lineman on field goals and extra points.
Now, fast-forward a year and Braun is right back in the mix again. This time he is quickly becoming the heir apparent to Selvish Capers at right tackle. Through most of West Virginia's spring drills, which conclude with Friday night's Gold-Blue game, Braun has been the starter.
Far from basking in the glow of that position, though, Braun is reluctant even to acknowledge his place. Having been there and done that, he is loathe to even accept it.
"I'll never really feel like I have a job. I'll never be comfortable with my spot on the depth chart,'' Braun said. "I'm not really worried about whether I'm working with the ones or the twos. I just try to work every day and get better at what I'm doing.''
Braun's spot on West Virginia's No. 1 line came about almost as an experiment, and a late one at that. In the team's spring prospectus published by the school, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt sophomore isn't even listed as a tackle. Instead, he is listed as the No. 2 center behind Madsen and the No. 2 right guard behind Jobe. The tackles on the right side as recently as five or six weeks ago were walk-on senior Matt Timmerman and redshirt freshman Pat Eger.
That changed so abruptly that even Braun was taken aback when offensive line coach Dave Johnson broached the subject.
"Actually I didn't even find out about it until about two weeks before spring ball started,'' Braun said. "I was in the weight room and Coach Johnson just came up to me and said he wanted me to work at some tackle this spring. It made me kind of nervous at first.''
The switch, though, makes sense on many levels. For starters, Braun is probably the most experienced of West Virginia's non-starting linemen. Of course, that's not saying much given that the five starters last season played virtually every meaningful snap.
He also has tackle size. Of those on the pre-spring depth chart, only redshirt freshman Cole Bowers, at 6-5, is listed taller, and no one carries more weight.
That, of course, is good and bad. Braun arrived at WVU in the fall of 2008 weighing 335 pounds. Cutting that back and firming it up has been a priority.
"In camp one day last year I weighed 299,'' Braun said. "It was probably my junior year in high school the last time I was in the 200s and I was trying to cut down to 285 to wrestle.''
He never made it and has been struggling ever since.
"The one thing I've really done is cut body fat,'' Braun said. "The last time we measured it I was around 18 percent, which I felt was good for me. I was around 24 at one time, but I still need to cut it down.''
And the other reason Braun seems firmly in the mix on the line is his versatility. In his first two years he worked exclusively at guard and center and now he is learning tackle. As Johnson tries to develop the kind of depth along the line that was so lacking a year ago, anyone who can play all three positions is invaluable.
"It's just another position I can learn,'' Braun said. "I know center and guard pretty well. I have a handle on that. The biggest change is the technique at tackle, but I think I've really adjusted to that well.''
BRIEFLY: Friday night's Gold-Blue events begin with a fan festival from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot adjacent to the Ronald McDonald House. At 7 p.m., the first event on the field will be an old-timers touch football game involving former Mountaineer players. The Gold-Blue scrimmage will begin about 20 minutes later.
The format this year puts all of the first-team players and key reserves on both offense and defense on the Blue team, while everyone else will play for the White team.
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
Braun makes most of second time around
MORGANTOWN - Jeff Braun learned more than a few things as a redshirt freshman lineman at West Virginia last spring and fall.
Forget about technique and strength training and anything technical, though. Sure, all of that was important, but apparently the best lesson was about reality.
It was at about this time a year ago that Braun was working with the first offensive line group at right guard. With four starters gone from the previous season, there were plenty of opportunities and Braun seemed positioned to seize one of the openings.
By the time the season began, though, he had been all but cast aside. Eric Jobe and Joey Madsen were sharing the right guard and center duties and Braun was relegated to a spot as an extra lineman on field goals and extra points.
Now, fast-forward a year and Braun is right back in the mix again. This time he is quickly becoming the heir apparent to Selvish Capers at right tackle. Through most of West Virginia's spring drills, which conclude with Friday night's Gold-Blue game, Braun has been the starter.
Far from basking in the glow of that position, though, Braun is reluctant even to acknowledge his place. Having been there and done that, he is loathe to even accept it.
"I'll never really feel like I have a job. I'll never be comfortable with my spot on the depth chart,'' Braun said. "I'm not really worried about whether I'm working with the ones or the twos. I just try to work every day and get better at what I'm doing.''
Braun's spot on West Virginia's No. 1 line came about almost as an experiment, and a late one at that. In the team's spring prospectus published by the school, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound redshirt sophomore isn't even listed as a tackle. Instead, he is listed as the No. 2 center behind Madsen and the No. 2 right guard behind Jobe. The tackles on the right side as recently as five or six weeks ago were walk-on senior Matt Timmerman and redshirt freshman Pat Eger.
That changed so abruptly that even Braun was taken aback when offensive line coach Dave Johnson broached the subject.
"Actually I didn't even find out about it until about two weeks before spring ball started,'' Braun said. "I was in the weight room and Coach Johnson just came up to me and said he wanted me to work at some tackle this spring. It made me kind of nervous at first.''
The switch, though, makes sense on many levels. For starters, Braun is probably the most experienced of West Virginia's non-starting linemen. Of course, that's not saying much given that the five starters last season played virtually every meaningful snap.
