CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.

The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.

Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.

West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.

Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.

“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”

Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.

West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.

“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”

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This weekend brings us the 107th version of the Backyard Brawl as Pittsburgh looks to improve on its 2-0 start against West Virginia in college football’s Week 3 action on Saturday.

Pitt lost this game a year ago and slumped to a 3-9 mark, the worst record in head coach Pat Narduzzi’s time with the school, but quarterback Eli Holstein appears to have rejuvenated this offense so far, ranking 12th nationally in passing output and 28th in scoring offense.

West Virginia recovered from its season-opening loss to Penn State by routing Albany the week after and comes into this matchup as the slight favorite, needing to beef up an attack that ranks 74th nationally in scoring and 88th in passing production.

What do the analytics say about the matchup? Let’s turn to the SP+ prediction model to get a preview of how Pittsburgh and West Virginia compare in this Week 3 college football game.

The simulations currently favor the road team in this game, but by a very slim margin.

SP+ predicts that West Virginia will defeat Pittsburgh by a projected score of 30 to 27 and to win the game by an expected 3.1 points overall.

The model gives the Mountaineers a slight 58 percent chance of outright victory.

SP+ is a “tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency” that attempts to predict game outcomes by measuring “the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football.”

How good is it this season? So far, the SP+ model is 47-44 against the spread with a 51.6 win percentage.

West Virginia is a 1.5 point favorite against Pittsburgh, according to the lines at FanDuel Sportsbook, which set the total at 63.5 points for the game.

FanDuel lists the moneyline odds for West Virginia at -126 to win outright and for Pittsburgh at +105.

If you’re using this projection to bet on the game, you should take …

Other analytical models take a different view and favor the Panthers over the Mountaineers.

That includes the College Football Power Index, a computer prediction model that uses data points from both teams to simulate games 20,000 times to pick winners.

Pittsburgh is projected to win the game outright in 52.6 percent of the computer’s updated simulations, while West Virginia comes out the winner in the remaining 47.4 percent of sims.

The index forecasts a very close game, but sides with West Virginia to be 0.7 points better than Pittsburgh on the same field, not enough to cover this spread.

West Virginia will win 5.8 games this season and sits sixth from the bottom among Big 12 teams with a 2.3 percent chance to qualify for the College Football Playoff.

The models project Pittsburgh will win 6.8 games and have a 3.4 percent shot at the 12-team playoff, ranking ninth in the ACC in that category.

When: Sat., Sept. 14
Time: 3:30 p.m. Eastern
TV: ESPN2 network

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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The West Virginia First Foundation will utilize Ascend WV coworking space in Morgantown, Fayetteville, Elkins, Martinsburg and Lewisburg to carry out its work of distributing nearly $1 billion of settlement funds to support the fight against opioid misuse in the Mountain State.
(WVU Photo)

West Virginia University and Ascend WV — the nation’s premier talent attraction and retention program supported by the WVU Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative — have joined forces to support the fight against the opioid epidemic in West Virginia.

The University, along with Ascend WV, which was established through a gift from the Wing 2 Wing Foundation and in partnership with West Virginia Department of Tourism, stepped forward upon learning the West Virginia First Foundation needed working space to carry out its charge to help people across the Mountain State. The WVFF is tasked with distributing nearly $1 billion of opioid settlement funds.

“West Virginia University cares about the people of this state and we are a force for good,” WVU President Gordon Gee said. “This is the essence of being West Virginia’s land-grant flagship University.”

Under the agreement, space at Ascend WV locations in Morgantown, Fayetteville, Elkins, Martinsburg and Lewisburg will be available to the West Virginia First Foundation at no cost.

“I want to thank WVU and the Ascend WV program for their generous contribution of office space,” West Virginia First Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Board said. “Having these outreach locations will allow the Foundation to be present within communities in every region of the state as we focus on serving the people who most need help.”

The Foundation plans to use the space in Ascend WV communities for meetings and to better reach into various regions of the state, an approach which dovetails with the mission of Ascend WV, according to Danny Twilley, OEDC assistant vice president of economic, community and asset development.

“This is where we see our role in this endeavor,” Twilley said. “Community engagement has been a cornerstone of our program from the start, whether we’re connecting ‘ascenders’ with resources and opportunities in their new home, helping native West Virginians find their way back or supporting communities in their endeavors to thrive.”

-WVU-

ak/9/12/24

MEDIA CONTACT: April Kaull
Executive Director of Communications
WVU University Relations
304-293-3990; April.Kaull@mail.wvu.edu

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