West Virginia
Multitude of injuries leave Mountaineers reeling following latest setback – WV MetroNews
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia had relatively good injury luck through the first half of the 2024 regular season.
That changed Saturday night in the Mountaineers’ seventh game, with quarterback Garrett Greene, running back Jahiem White and left tackle Wyatt Milum all being forced to sit out the second half of a 45-18 loss to 17th-ranked Kansas State.
“A rash of head injuries really,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “Four of them in total. I didn’t talk to [Vincent Blankenship], our trainer, because he was so busy after the game. I try to talk to him usually before I come up here, but he was tied up.”
Milum, widely regarded as the team’s top player and a potential first or second-round selection in next year’s NFL Draft, missed West Virginia’s final first-half series and was replaced by Johnny Williams from that point forward. White did not touch the ball on the final first-half series after his three carries one possession before.
Greene lasted through the first half, but Brown suggested his injury occurred on the team’s last possession of the opening half, which ended with West Virginia’s senior signal-caller throwing an incomplete pass in the direction of tight end Kole Taylor on fourth-and-1 from the Wildcats’ 3-yard line. The Wildcats led 17-10 at that point, and went on to score 21 unanswered points to start the second half.
“They pressured us, but kind of dropped. Kole’s open. I don’t know if Garrett didn’t see him,” Brown said. “I don’t know when Garrett got hurt during that drive either, because he missed a couple things that were uncharacteristic. I don’t know when he was hurt. Obviously I can’t find out tonight, but I’ll find out. That was a pivotal play, but even if we tie that up, I’m not sure we have enough in the tank in the second half even if it’s 17-17 going in.”
Had the trio of key offensive players been able to play in the second half, they would have faced a 14-point deficit for the first series of the third quarter after Kansas State marched 74 yards and generated a touchdown to start the third quarter.
Instead, the Mountaineers were forced to try and play catch-up with backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol, without their most productive offensive lineman and minus White, who entered the contest with a team-high 398 rushing yards.
WVU’s first two second-half series generated 26 yards on 11 plays and no points. The first ended with a punt, while the second concluded with Marchiol’s incomplete pass on fourth-and-5 from the Wildcats’ 37.
When the Mountaineers (3-4, 2-2) produced their only second-half touchdown, it was much too little, too late, as they faced a 28-point fourth-quarter deficit to start that series.
Marchiol did not practice Tuesday due to injury, though he returned to the field Wednesday.
“We weren’t real productive in the second half,” Brown said. “Some of that was on him and some of it wasn’t.”
WVU’s defense also endured several notable injuries after entering the contest short-handed.
Safety Aubrey Burks and cornerback Ayden Garnes, two starters in the secondary, did not dress.
Defensive lineman T.J. Jackson, the team leader in sacks and tackles for loss, was limited to 12 snaps after battling through injury to play at all, and left the game for good in the second half due to injury.
Defensive lineman Hammond Russell also entered the matchup battling injury and was forced to exit in the second half.
“We played K-State, which is really physical and Iowa State, which is really physical,” Brown said. “Two of the more physical teams in the country.
“It’s not like we’re playing a bunch of these space games. It’s tough man. I’m real careful to ever criticize our players. This is a tough game. I’d be real careful criticizing 17 to 22-and-23-year-olds that put their body on the line. You can criticize me. That’s fine. I’m not backing down from that. I’m in charge of this. We underperformed, but I’d be really careful of challenging them, just because of how physical the game is. These guys are putting their bodies at risk and we had some damage done tonight.”
For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the West Virginia Mountaineers women’s basketball roster will feature a West Virginia native.
Wheeling product Alexis Bordas transfers in after having a tremendous freshman season up the road at Duquesne, where she averaged 15.5 points (ranked fifth in the A-10) and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting 34.6% from beyond the arc. At season’s end, she was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team.
Morgantown’s Olivia Seggie was the last West Virginia-born player on the women’s hoops roster.
Of course, WVU was Bordas’ dream school. Pretty much her entire family went to school here and grew up coming to Mountaineer games, so Mark Kellogg probably didn’t have to do much convincing once he made it known that they wanted her.
“Chase Harler’s from Wheeling, so I came to a lot of his games. Jevon Carter, my brother, loved him. We watched a lot more of the men back then, but Kysre Gondrezick, she was someone that I always watched.”
When asked what it’s like to finally be in a Mountaineer uniform and practicing with the group, she responded, “Yeah, it’s great to finally be here and get to meet all my teammates and become such good friends with them already. It’s been super fun, and just seeing the difference from day one to now, and how much we’ve progressed already, it’s super exciting to see.
“All the fan support last night, we had an event, and just seeing all the fans and how it’s June, and everyone’s already so excited and rallies around this team,” she added. “I know it’s extra special being from West Virginia, and I’m sure lots of little girls will look up to me and hope to be playing here one day, so it’s great to be a role model for them, too.”
Nine times last season, Bordas registered 20+ points, and of course, as a true West Virginian would, she had her best performance against the Pitt Panthers, dropping 38 on them in an 84-69 win. She went 11/22 from the field in that one, including a 10/18 day from three-point range.
Bordas is a high-volume shooter from range, as 58.8% of her attempts came from downtown last season. When you shoot 34% from there and can maybe hit the high 30s, no one will care about the shot diet being so reliant on the three-ball.
Under the new rules, Bordas will have four years of eligibility remaining.
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CLENDENIN, W.Va . (WSAZ) – Gov. Patrick Morrisey visited Clendenin West Virginia Saturday during Summerfest.
10 years ago a devastating flood swept through the community.
The governor announced $450,000 of funding for a Streetscape project during a commemoration for the June 2016 flood. The funding will go toward Clendenin’s main street – improving sidewalks, landscaping, and other pedestrian amenities.
Funding for the project comes from the Transportation Alternatives Program – a federal initiative to fund smaller scale transportation projects.
Copyright 2026 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
It was a phenomenal year for the West Virginia Mountaineers on the diamond, and even with the season having been over for over a week now, the honors continue to roll in.
On Friday, second baseman/catcher Gavin Kelly and left-handed starting pitcher Maxx Yehl were both named First-Team All-Americans by D1Baseball.com. It is the first time in program history that two Mountaineers have been recognized as First-Team All-Americans in the same season.
Gavin Kelly
Kelly was essentially everyone’s pick to have a breakout season for the Mountaineers in 2026, but I’m not sure anyone expected him to do it the way he did. He hit nearly .400 all year and went on a power surge out of nowhere toward the end of the season, becoming one of the top home run hitters in the country over the last month or so of the year.
Kelly was named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, the MVP of the Morgantown Regional, and is currently participating in the Team USA Collegiate National Team training camp in Cary, North Carolina. For the year, he hit .382 with 19 home runs and 63 RBI, cementing himself as a top draft prospect in 2027.
Maxx Yehl
Maxx Yehl was one of the best stories in all of college baseball that didn’t get talked about nearly enough. He was forced to sit out the 2025 season as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, and prior to this season, Yehl worked exclusively out of the bullpen. The plan all along was to eventually stretch him out into a starter, and in his first year in the role, he was one of the best in the entire country.
Steve Sabins and Co. did a good job of playing it safe with him early, letting him only go two and four innings in his first two starts before turning him loose. There were a couple of moments where Mountaineer fans had to take a deep breath after he was removed from two starts, one of which was in the Morgantown Regional against Kentucky. He bounced back strong and two days later, pitched a gem against the Wildcats, helping the team advance to the super regionals for the third straight season.
Yehl finished the season with a 9-3 record, an ERA of 2.13, and 112 strikeouts to just 26 walks. He was also the first WVU hurler to win Big 12 Pitcher of the Year since Alek Manoah, who did it in 2019.
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