Yates, who had prided himself on his versatility for several seasons, is now comfortable in his starting center job.

W.Va.’s MORGANTOWN Brandon Yates has been honing his versatility for the most of his time in college.

Yates has played significant snaps at each of the five offensive line positions during the last three seasons, demonstrating that it has paid off.

Yates played a lot of left tackle in 2020 and 2021 before switching to right tackle the next year. He most recently started all 12 games in the regular season as the starting right guard in 2023, though he was also used as left guard while Tomas Rimac recovered from an injury.

After Zach Frazier broke his fibula late in the regular season finale at Baylor, Yates received his first career start at center in the Duke-North Carolina Mayo Bowl, which concluded the Mountaineers’ 2023 campaign.

It gave Yates, who will enter his final season as the starting center in 2024, a good start as he looks to replace Frazier, one of the most decorated offensive linemen in program history.

“I kind of look at it like when I started playing center, it was more like classes at the 100-level and general knowledge stuff,” Yates remarked. It’s time to move on to the 300-level classes now, past a certain point where you have to see beyond the immediate situation to grasp how to stay ahead of curves, blitzes, and other challenges. Enhance the skills I possessed and concentrate on my shortcomings.

Yates is about the same height as Frazier, who was listed at 6-3 and exactly that weight in his fourth and final season with the Mountaineers. Yates weighs 310 pounds.

The two aren’t really similar in terms of makeup, but Matt Moore, the offensive line coach at WVU, says that’s not a problem.

“Yates excels in several areas where Frazier did not. Although he lacks the wrestler’s and grappler’s strength, Moore noted that he is quite athletic and has a great run. “I don’t think this is how Frazier did it or compare the films, but there are some fundamentals and techniques that Frazier excelled at, and he’s accepted and benefited from that. He has some large shoes to fill, but he’s up to the challenge. He performed admirably in the bowl game and has so far had a great spring.

Yates pointed out that while Frazier would be smart to add more skills to his repertoire to make the most of his athleticism and ability to use his hands to gain an advantage, being the greatest version of himself comes first.

“He’s more of a wrestler and I’m more of an athletic, get around stretch kind of guy,” said Yates, who played high school basketball. “Seeing how he works, you look at the things he does and build that work ethic, bounce off the things he did. I have to fill those shoes and I have to be a leader in that room, so it kicked up my game another level. I had a great offseason and changed my mentality to be a leader in the room. We can’t skip it or miss a beat. This is a year we should make a drastic jump to get ten-plus wins.”

Yates was the backup center throughout the 2023 regular season, affording him valuable practice reps at the position and providing him with enough familiarity that he stepped in for an injured Frazier on the Mountaineers’ final drive of the regular season — one that produced an 80-yard series over 51 seconds and culminated with a late game-winning touchdown in a 34-31 victory against the Bears.

In the bowl game that followed against the Tar Heels, Yates felt he held his own in what amounted to a 30-10 WVU victory.

“That was huge. The bowl game was kind of the start of the 2024 season, and I could use it for next year to see where I’m at and when I need to work on,” Yates said. “It worked out pretty well.”

“He’s more of a wrestler and I’m more of an athletic, get around stretch kind of guy,” said Yates, who played high school basketball. “Seeing how he works, you look at the things he does and build that work ethic, bounce off the things he did. I have to fill those shoes and I have to be a leader in that room, so it kicked up my game another level. I had a great offseason and changed my mentality to be a leader in the room. We can’t skip it or miss a beat. This is a year we should make a drastic jump to get ten-plus wins.”

Yates was the backup center throughout the 2023 regular season, affording him valuable practice reps at the position and providing him with enough familiarity that he stepped in for an injured Frazier on the Mountaineers’ final drive of the regular season — one that produced an 80-yard series over 51 seconds and culminated with a late game-winning touchdown in a 34-31 victory against the Bears.

In the bowl game that followed against the Tar Heels, Yates felt he held his own in what amounted to a 30-10 WVU victory.

“That was huge. The bowl game was kind of the start of the 2024 season, and I could use it for next year to see where I’m at and when I need to work on,” Yates said. “It worked out pretty well.”

For how often West Virginia’s offense operates out of shotgun, developing a consistent routine for his snaps is an imperative responsibility to Yates at center.

The good ones are often taken for granted, while the subpar snaps generally are noticed on a far larger scale.

“Some guys like doing different kinds of snaps and different hand placements. I find what works for me and what I can really let loose in, not having to slow it down and can be one flowing motion,” Yates said. “Have a flow and be consistent the whole time. With consistent snaps, I can get it in the same spot every single time and build upon that.”

As Yates steps into a starting role along the middle of the offensive line, he’s using the spring to grow more comfortable at a position where many view him a natural fit.

“It’s pretty easy to sell, like ‘this is where you need to be,’ because the NFL guys come in here and say he looks like a center,” Moore remarked. The selling task wasn’t difficult at all. Like most of my guys, all he wants to do is play. He would do that if you moved him back to left tackle. All he wants is to compete, win, and play ball.