MORGANTOWN - We all have those moments of reflection.
You know the kind. When your experiences rocket through your brain like the Valravn roller coaster at Cedar Point. When you shake your head and go, "Whew, what a wild ride."
WVU offensive guard Kyle Bosch certainly knows.
"I'd say my ride has been kind of surreal," Bosch said Tuesday as his team prepares for Saturday's noon game at Texas Tech. "One day you're at the place you think you'll be your entire career and the next day you're in West Virginia. Every now and then I like to sit down in my living room and just kind of unwind. I'll think back to everything I've been through to get to this point.
"It's been a great experience. I'm very blessed and humbled by it."
The place he believed he'd spend his career is Michigan, where he signed and played in 2013. The St. Charles, Illinois, native was a recruiting coup for then-Wolverine coach Brady Hoke. Bosch was a four-star kid. He'd been dubbed the nation's No. 7 offensive tackle by recruiting services. Offers were aplenty.
"I didn't really count, but I had something like 30 or 35," Bosch said. "I narrowed it down with my family to what I felt was the best fit for me. I narrowed it down because of people more than anything.
"I mean, sometimes you get lost in the glitz and glam, like I kind of did. I kind of missed on the people like Coach [Ron] Crook, who was then at Stanford. He was a great guy. Plus, there were the coaches at Michigan State. Coach [Mark] Dantonio was a great guy. Those were my top three [school choices]."
They were Michigan, Stanford and Michigan State. The first is currently ranked No. 4. The other two are unranked. Yet Bosch ended up at WVU, where the team is No. 20 in the Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the Amway coaches poll.
"There were a multitude of reasons why it didn't pan out," Bosch said. "I just didn't feel like [Michigan] was a good fit for me. I felt I could be a better fit elsewhere."
The word is Bosch took a "leave of absence" from UM. When Jim Harbaugh was hired, the two met and there wasn't a meeting of the minds. The Wolverines are 6-0.
"They're good," Bosch said. "I'm happy for those guys. I still have a lot of good friends up there and got nothing but love for those guys."
But he had to find another home - as did fellow transfer Michael Ferns, another four-star recruit who had moved to Morgantown.
"I knew Mike, but at Michigan it was kind of different," Bosch said. "You didn't really associate outside of anybody on the offensive line. The defensive line and offensive line were the only guys you really hung out with or talked to.
"Mike and I weren't good friends, but we talked occasionally and, yeah, he did have a little influence. He gave me a call when I decided to transfer and said, 'Hey, would you be interested in West Virginia?' I said, 'Who is the line coach?' He said, 'Ron Crook.' I was instantly interested because I knew Crook as a person is a really good guy."
Crook had moved from the Stanford staff to that at WVU.
And, once at West Virginia, it didn't take long for Bosch to crack the starting lineup.
"It was difficult, but it wasn't as difficult as it would have been for other guys," said the 6-foot-5, 310-pound redshirt junior. "When I was at Michigan I started a little bit as a true freshman, so I kind of got thrown into the fire early in my career. So having that experience under my belt, thankfully, helped me get into a groove where I could really pick up on an offense, pick up on a scheme and apply it in a short period of time."
Bosch, a right guard, has started 17 straight games for the Mountaineers. Now, though, he'd like to see his play, and that of the entire offense, improve.
"The sky is the limit with our offense," Bosch said. "We haven't played up to our potential in the last four games by any means - from up front to quarterback to wide receiver. We've played just well enough. We haven't really opened the can yet and gotten to that level. The defense, though, has played their butts off."
He said he's hoping Texas Tech will cure what ails WVU's offense, which boasts the nation's No. 17 passing offense, but only the No. 53 rushing offense.
"This could be the game, playing against a high-scoring offense like Texas Tech," Bosch said. "Knowing it will be a relatively high-scoring game, we'll go in with the mentality that we need to score points."
So when he reflects in the future, the game in Lubbock will be a fun part of the ride.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.