MORGANTOWN - Don Barclay bristles at the notion that he and the rest of West Virginia's offensive line underachieved the past few years.

OK, so he doesn't simply scoff at the notion that there were issues with blocking. In fact, that goes almost without saying.

Getting tough yards in tough situations - particular short-yardage situations - was one of the Mountaineers' biggest problems over the course of the past three seasons. Sacks were up. Rushing yards were down. And much of the responsibility for that has to fall on those who are blocking.

To put all the blame on the shoulders of those blockers, though, is perhaps unfair. It was as much a system issue as anything else.

"I wouldn't say we've struggled the past few years,'' said the fifth-year senior left tackle. "I think what hurt us was trying to run power [football] when that's not the kind of offense we are. Our weight's not up [to where it should be in order] to do that.

"I think now people are going to see what they want to see, spreading out and [playing at] a faster pace. And we're going to be good at that this year. We have the line to do that.''

Indeed, the state of - and purpose of - West Virginia's offensive line over the course of the past few years has been ever changing. Take Barclay, for instance, because he's a perfect example.

Recruited by Rich Rodriguez's staff - he was a freshman who redshirted during the 2007 Fiesta Bowl season - Barclay arrived prepared to step into the strictly zone-blocking scheme that helped produce the wildly successful rushing numbers put up by guys like Steve Slaton and Pat White.

That was an offense, however, that lacked much of a passing threat. So when Rodriguez left and Bill Stewart stepped in, offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen and line coach Dave Johnson changed things. They kept some of the zone-blocking principles, but also tried to teach pass blocking and power blocking.

None of it seemed to work. Not only did West Virginia lose the quick-strike big runs that were produced in the Rodriguez spread, the line couldn't open holes for the power game (thus the third-and-short woes) and the number of sacks allowed increased each year. Yes, the number of passes thrown increased, too, but WVU still went from 27th in sacks allowed in 2008 to 57th in 2009 and 71st in 2010. The rate of sacks per passes thrown got steadily worse, too.

Blaming the line for that is probably fair, to a point. But the personnel on the line?

Perhaps they were simply being asked to do too much.

"If you're thinking too much, you're not going to be playing as well as you can,'' Barclay said. "If you're taking a power step you're going straight ahead usually. If you're taking a zone step you're going sideways. It's hard. I think what we're going to do is master what we're going to do and we're going to be great at it.''

That's all due, of course, to a change in philosophy. New coach Dana Holgorsen has completely revamped the offense and brought in a new line coach in Bill Bedenbaugh.

while the new offense seems to be multi-dimensional in that passing, running and power football are all possible, the looks from which those different plays are run remain basically the same.

"What the line does doesn't change much from play to play,'' said Bedenbaugh. "It's what happens behind them that's different.''

That suits Barclay just fine.

"I think we've gotten our identity back,'' Barclay said. "We're a spread-out offense now. We're going to hit the outside or inside zone. We don't have to worry about doing the inside zone and then running power the next play. We're consistent and we're going to be good at what we do.''

They will do it at full speed, too.

"Like [Bedenbaugh] said, if you're going to mess up, then mess up strong. Hit them and knock them over,'' Barclay said. "Don't just stand there. It's a different thing and I think we're doing well with it.''

If that's the case, though, it will have to come with a rather new-look mix of the personnel up front. Even though there are four starters back from last season, Barclay and center Joe Madsen figure to be the only ones playing the same position as 2010. Right tackle Jeff Braun looks like he will move to left guard because Josh Jenkins' health is a big question mark after he injured a knee in the spring game.

Redshirt freshman Quinton Spain appears to be the leader at right tackle going into fall camp, even though he didn't play that spot at all in the spring. Fifth-year senior and former walk-on Tyler Rader from Nitro enters fall camp No. 1 on the depth chart at right guard.

And Barclay - along with Braun - will be practicing for the first time in eight months when camp begins in early August. Both missed the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery, which is why Spain has yet to line up at right tackle. He played Barclay's left tackle spot in the spring.

That hurt Barclay perhaps even more than his shoulder.

"I think the biggest thing was that someone was getting better than me every day at practice. That's what bothered me,'' Barclay said. "If someone's getting better than me it kind of kills me inside. That's the biggest thing I had to think about. So now I'm just anxious to get out there for camp.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.