What to watch for in Gold-Blue Spring Game 

With WVU’s annual Gold-Blue Spring Game taking place on Saturday, fans will get a glimpse of the 2023 Mountaineers months ahead of the season. After a rough 5-7 season, Neal Brown’s squad will look a little bit different going into his fifth season at the helm. 

Brown and company will have spots to fill this year, as veterans Dante Stills, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, and Sam James have graduated and set their sights on the NFL draft, while young talents like Jordan Jefferson and Kaden Prather transferred elsewhere. 

With plenty of gaps to fill, we’ll take a look at what to watch for in the 2023 WVU spring game. 

QB Battle

While Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol were both a part of the 2022 West Virginia team, the likes of JT Daniels are no longer in Morgantown, so it is a two-man battle. 

Both Greene and Marchiol saw time last fall, despite Daniels starting 10 of WVU’s 12 games. In his sophomore season, Greene threw for 493 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions, while adding 276 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. As for Marchiol, the Arizona native saw action in just two games for the Mountaineers in his true freshman season, passing for 61 yards and a touchdown, while playing serviceable minutes in a win over Oklahoma State. 

Brown and his staff have believed in both Greene and Marchiol since day one, and WVU quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan elaborated on that on Tuesday. 

“We [WVU] don’t go after transfers because we believe one of those two guys, if not both of those guys can help us win football games.” 

Watching Greene and Marchiol each take reps and show their skills in both the pass game and the run game should be a fun sight on Saturday. 

RB Room

Potentially the strongest weapon for the 2023 Mountaineers will be the running back room. Run by newly named offensive coordinator Chad Scott, the West Virginia running backs feature a very deep room. To start off, junior Tony Mathis has returned for his third season for the Mountaineers after rushing for 562 yards and five touchdowns.  

Next up for the WVU backs is sophomore CJ Donaldson. Donaldson won the hearts of WVU fans over early in his freshman year with a 125-yard performance with a touchdown and a blocked punt against Pitt. Donaldson is a large back, coming in at 240 pounds, and his physicality led him to rush for 526 yards and eight touchdowns before going down with a season-ending injury against TCU. Donaldson had three multi-touchdown games in 2022, so seeing him back on the field will be a breath of fresh air for Mountaineer fans. 

Another threat out of the backfield for WVU is Justin Johnson Jr. In his sophomore season, the former four-star recruit rushed for 430 yards and three touchdowns while backing up Mathis and Donaldson. Johnson rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown at Virginia Tech, showing his ability to cut well and hit the hole the offensive line gives him with quickness. Johnson rushed for a touchdown in three straight games against Virginia Tech, Texas, and Baylor. 

Yet another threat for Scott’s running back room is sophomore Jaylen Anderson. In Anderson’s freshman season, the former four-star recruit rushed for 275 yards and two touchdowns, but the way Anderson finished the season proved the talent and skill was there to be used more in 2023. In the final game of the season, WVU took down Oklahoma State in Stillwater despite already being eliminated from bowl play. With nothing to lose, Coach Brown gave the freshman Anderson some reps, and the Perry, Ohio native took advantage of it. On 15 carries, Anderson rushed for 155 yards and a 54-yard and 57-yard touchdown on back-to-back possessions, leading the Mountaineers to a 24-19 victory. Anderson has earned more snaps for 2023 and the spring game may prove that. 

Yes, there is another talented back on this roster, despite the already 1,793 yards combined by the four running backs already mentioned. Jahiem White, a true freshman running back will make his first appearance in the gold and blue on Saturday. White, a York, Pennsylvania native, is a 5-foot-9, former three-star recruit that has plenty of speed. As a senior at York High School, White rushed for 1,918 yards with 37 touchdowns. White also caught 33 passes for 428 yards out of the backfield, so there is talent even five deep in the running back room. 

Wide Receivers

A little bit less deep of the room on paper as of now is the wide receiver room. With the losses of Ford-Wheaton and James, the Mountaineers will need to find new guys to fill those gaps. Devin Carter, a transfer from NC State, brings some experience to the room with five years of college football behind him. Carter has accounted for at least 400 receiving yards every season dating back to 2019, while also adding 10 touchdowns in his career with the Wolfpack. 

Other receivers like Jeremiah Aaron, Cortez Braham and Preston Fox will also have the opportunity to show what they have on Saturday. With the likes of Ford-Wheaton, James, and Reese Smith on the 2022 team, these three receivers did not get as much run as they will in 2023. Aaron recorded 124 receiving yards with a touchdown while Braham accounted for 147 yards, and Fox caught four passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. 

The spring game in 2022 proved to be crucial for Fox, as the Morgantown native earned a scholarship shortly after his performance where he caught five passes for 117 yards.