Neal Brown has never been afraid to use the transfer portal to fill his team’s needs. Just last season, Brown used the portal to bring in immediate impact players such as Beanie Bishop, Montre Miller, Kole Taylor, and Anthony Wilson.
This season is no different for the Mountaineer head coach who has put together a mixture of transfers from small schools, JUCO, and the power-five level. So far this off-season, West Virginia has brought in 12 transfers, all three-stars according to 247 sports. Of those 12, five will be coming from other power-five teams.
Defense has been the biggest focus for Neal Brown with the loss of Beanie Bishop who led the country in passes defended last season. To this point, six of the transfers coming to Morgantown next season are defensive backs, including a pair of experienced cornerbacks from Northwestern.
Also coming into West Virginia to strengthen the defense is Reid Carrico from Ohio State. After the loss of LB Lee Kpogba to the NFL, Neal Brown will have to attempt to replace the team’s leading tackler and Carrico, a once four-star recruit out of high school, could be that guy.
The other two players from the power-five level come on the offensive side of the ball. Jaden Bray is a WR from Oklahoma State who really made his name known for the first time in the gold and blue during this year’s spring game. Bray finished with 30 catches for 382 yards and two touchdowns last season. In the game against WVU, he finished with four catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Potentially the biggest off-season pickup for Neal Brown’s offense is Ryder Burton, a sophomore QB from BYU. It is unlikely that Burton could have an immediate impact on the team considering West Virginia already has itself two experienced quarterbacks in Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol.
The Mountaineers currently sit with the 46th ranked transfer class according to 247 sports. This would be 15 spots back from last season for Neal Brown. However, in a completely different off-season, Brown has had to fill fewer and smaller holes than last season as West Virginia witnessed very few departures from the team.
