Virginia

WVSports – Spring teaches valuable lessons, but focus shifts for West Virginia

Published

2 years ago

on

April 29, 2024

By

Press Room

WVSports – Spring teaches valuable lessons, but focus shifts for West Virginia

Spring ball is now in the rearview mirror and West Virginia head coach Neal Brown found out some valuable things about his football team over the course of the 15 practices.

For now, this version of the Mountaineers is similar to the one that surpassed expectations last year in the sense that it’s a hungry football team that wants to compete at every level.

That was evident how the players handled business across the first 14 practices of the spring and it’s a group that likes to practice.

“Been stressing to our coaching staff that we want the best people that love football,” he said.

The winter program benefited his team as well and West Virginia emerged from that bigger and stronger on both of the line of scrimmages. Across the board, the Mountaineers are a team that embraces physicality and that revealed itself throughout the spring as well.

“We tackle. We’ve tackled a bunch. We’re better,” Brown said.

West Virginia also has developed some depth on the offensive and defensive lines, while the linebacker group has as much competition as it has at any point under Brown. The young wide receivers on the roster also have taken steps forward in their second year in a major role which has eased most of the concerns there.

So overall, the program exits the spring in a good spot but there are still some pitfalls ahead. West Virginia must navigate the next few days when it comes to the transfer portal but due to scheduling won’t have to do that for long.

The spring window will remain open until April 30 which puts college programs in a difficult position with players electing to move on this late in the game. Brown is not a fan of the second window but understands where the priority must be when it comes to his team moving forward with spring ball done.

“Most important thing is to continue to hold our roster together and we’ll look to add some pieces potentially in May,” he said.

The Mountaineers have already started with that last part adding Charlotte cornerback transfer Dontez Fagan over the weekend. The senior cornerback spent one year with the 49ers where he played 623 snaps and posted strong coverage numbers with 21 tackles and an interception overall to go along with 5 passes defended.

The Oklahoma native entered the portal this past week and quickly scheduled a visit to campus in order to fill a need in the secondary. He has one year left and that likely isn’t the last addition the program will make in the coming weeks.

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Virginia

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

Published

7 hours ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Press Room

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the General Assembly violated the state constitution when it tried to redraw congressional districts, nullifying the results of the April election in which Virginians narrowly approved redistricting.

Electoral maps are usually redrawn once every 10 years, but multiple states began redrawing them early after President Donald Trump urged Republicans to redraw district lines to ensure more favorable results for the party in the November 2026 elections.

This started a nationwide political battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas was the first of several states to redraw districts favoring Republicans, and Virginia Democrats had proposed a constitutional amendment to allow redistricting in order to favor Democrats.

As of May 8, Republicans had initiated redistricting efforts in eight states; Democrats had led redistricting efforts in three states, including Virginia, the Washington Post reported.

In April, Virginia voters supported the redistricting amendment with 51.7% voting for it out of more than 3 million ballots cast. It could have given Democrats up to four extra seats in the U.S. House, according to the Washington Post (subscription required).

But the Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that there were procedural errors in how the Democratic legislature handled the process, nullifying the election results.

The Virginia Constitution says that proposed constitutional amendments must pass in the General Assembly twice before the public can vote on them: once before an election of the House of Delegates, and again after an election. According to the Virginia Supreme Court majority opinion written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, early voting for the general election had already been open for six weeks when the General Assembly cast its first vote on the amendment in October 2025, with more than 1.3 million voters having already cast their ballots.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court majority opinion stated.

The court’s ruling means the state reverts to the old district maps adopted in 2021. Based on those maps, Virginia voters elected six Democrats and five Republicans to the U.S. House.

Following the court’s ruling, some Virginia Democrats who planned to run for the U.S. House told the New York Times that they have to abandon their campaigns, while others, such as Tom Perriello who is running for the 5th District, face much more difficult campaigns.

Virginia Democrats on Friday asked the court to pause the nullification of the referendum results while they prepare their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to VPM.

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