The first order of business was to retain the bulk of the current roster. It seems simple enough, but with so many options available it’s a challenge. So finding a way to keep the bulk of the core of the roster together was critical.
That’s where collectives like the Country Roads Trust, which has seen its membership grow in recent weeks, come into play with an organized effort to retain student-athletes.
“As far as retention is going that’s something we spent a lot of time on and that’s going to be ongoing,” head coach Neal Brown said.
The Mountaineers have had several players who were expected to have key roles enter the portal such as defensive lineman Mike Lockhart, defensive end Tomiwa Durojaiye, safety Hershey McLaurin and running back Justin Johnson but overall kept most of the roster in-tact.
The focus was then to try to add key pieces to the roster and the early window proved fruitful there as well with the Mountaineers addressing many of their key concerns.
West Virginia added seven transfers to the roster at the mid-term in Colorado State cornerback TJ Crandall, Gardner-Webb pass rusher Ty French, Oklahoma State wide receiver Jaden Bray, Duquesne cornerback Ayden Garnes and Ohio State linebacker Reid Carrico during that first window.
And Troy defensive lineman TJ Jackson and Jacksonville State offensive lineman Xavier Bausley jumped into the mix in the second.
The Mountaineers entered the period needing to find more talent and experience in the secondary, well that was helped with two additions that should immediately slot into major roles in the back end in Crandall and Garnes.
An experienced wide receiver with upside? Bray certainly qualifies as he hauled in 48 passes for 686 yards and 4 touchdowns across 25 games on the field for the Cowboys. A big-play wide receiver who has shown flashes of being much more, Bray caught 4 ball for 53 yards and a score last season against the Mountaineers and was a priority.
West Virginia wanted to find to an offensive tackle and Bausley certainly covers that on the right side after starting 11-games this past season for Jacksonville State. His efforts earned him all-Conference USA freshman honors and he will have three years remaining in his career. The in-state native should slot in immediately upfront.
A pass rusher? How about one that appeared in 41 games during his time at Gardner Webb and recorded 239 tackles, 61 tackles for loss, 34.5 sacks and an interception in French? Over his four seasons, he hit the 8.5 sack mark three times.
Jackson, 6-foot-2, 280-pounds, was productive across his 36 games on the field with Troy. During that time, the Alabama native had 94 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. This past season Jackson appeared in just 12 games but notched 27 tackles, 7 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks as a key piece up front.
A versatile defensive lineman, Jackson has the size to play all three downs in the Big 12 and is an athletic pass rusher with plenty of experience under his belt.
Finally, a high-upside experienced linebacker option in Carrico that brings a talented pedigree and has the potential to develop into much more than he displayed during his three seasons with the Buckeyes.
And the work might not be done either as West Virginia could continue to look to fill other needs on the roster.
One way of doing that is finding younger developmental options with multiple years left to round out areas of need from within the transfer portal. The way the coaching staff looks at it is like those scholarships are being used toward high school options that could develop over time, especially at any position where there is already a familiarity with the player through his initial recruitment.
“When you look at who we’re taking in the portal it might not always be immediate help, it could be a guy we think is a developmental guy that’s going to replace some of our high school spots,” Brown said.
West Virginia has the added bonus this year of carrying some real momentum into the off-season as well and while that won’t procure transfers alone, it certainly doesn’t hurt matters either. The coaching staff will be returning for this coming season and on the back of an eight-win season it has certainly helped matters.
The Mountaineers could return a bulk of their overall production which has made it a potentially attractive option for transfers looking to be that missing ingredient at key places on the roster. So far, so good in the great game of taking and giving.
