Freeport graduate Logan Thimons ready for increased role at WVU
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When new West Virginia football coach Neal Brown and his staff came to Morgantown from Troy in January, Logan Thimons was quick to do his research.
The Freeport graduate and Mountaineers redshirt junior fullback wanted to know how he would fit into the new offense and how fullbacks were used at Troy.
“This spring was huge for me,” said Thimons, who played 11 games last season and primarily was used on special teams.
“I watched a lot of film to see how they used the fullback. It was important to understand any differences from the old offense to now. I came out of the spring with a better knowledge of my strengths and weaknesses and have been honing into them in fall camp so I am ready for these upcoming games.”
Thimons will get his chance to make an impact beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, when West Virginia opens the season at home against James Madison of the Football Championship Subdivision. He is the No. 1 fullback/S-back on the depth chart.
“In our old offense, the fullback/tight end position was more or less one thing,” Thimons said of former coach Dana Holgorsen’s scheme. “(Graduate) Trevon Wesco was our guy last year we heavily depended on. He was technically a tight end, but he also ran more of a true fullback role. For me, I was more of a short-yardage fullback that would come in to support Trevon in some packages if they needed two fullbacks/tight ends.”
In the new offense, Thimons said, there is a distinct difference between tight end and fullback.
“It’s definitely not a hand-in-the-ground fullback that people would traditionally think of,” he said. “I will be lined up in a number of locations in the backfield behind the linemen anywhere from tackle to tackle. I have to be able to play in space. There’s some perimeter action in addition to some plays run inside between the tackles. We have a lot of good running backs here, so I don’t really need to run the ball. I don’t know if there will be any short passes called, but that would be something I’d like see throughout the season.”
Thimons, who started out as a linebacker at WVU, also is expected to be a huge contributor on special teams. Last year, he saw action on 92 plays, 65 of them coming on special teams.
“I understand it’s not an every-down position, but something that I have to be ready for,” he said. “It’s about what the situation is and what’s working. There could be situations where I am in there two series in a row without coming out. There might be some games where I am in one or two series the entire game. When I am in there, I have to make sure I do my part to make things go, so maybe they will use that specific package more. I have to make sure I am doing my job, and a lot of my playing time could be determined from that.”
Caleb Carbine, a former player at Troy who is an offensive graduate assistant at WVU working with the S-backs, said Thimons displayed leadership qualities from the start of winter workouts in February.
“I did my research and talked with a few guys here, and I quickly found out that he is a really hard-working guy that is very dependable in his role here,” Carbine said. “He is very accountable around the team. A lot of the guys see him as a leader with his work in-season and in the offseason. He has really improved his consistency and versatility with a lot of the run schemes on offense and what he is asked to do.”
Thimons’ opportunity to move to offense began during preparation for the Mountaineers’ Heart of Dallas bowl game at the end of the 2017 season. That transition was completed through 2018 spring practices.
“I said, ‘Why not?’” Thimons said. “Wherever they needed me the most, whether that was at linebacker, fullback, you know, even kicker, I would’ve done it. I’ve always wanted to do whatever I can to help the team.”