With the transfer portal opening up again after spring practice concludes, Rich Rodriguez and his staff will have another chance to fill the remaining holes in the roster and Rodriguez gave some insight on how he plans to go about that.
Rodriguez and his staff have put together a full roster that they feel good about going into the season, but with the new transfer portal rules, where it opens twice a year, it’s important to utilize both waves to improve the remaining holes in the roster, and that is the plan for WVU.
Rodriguez has mentioned a few positions the staff may look to improve and add depth to in this transfer portal cycle. Wide receiver, defensive line, running back, and cornerback were a few positions that he named that he would like to add depth too.
“We just don’t have it. For our system, a little bit, we just don’t have enough bodies. I mean, we want somebody, obviously, who can be that one-on-one guy that you can rely on. And our guys are getting better, getting some confidence in them. But we literally don’t have enough bodies to run the way we want to run it,” Rodriguez said on the wide receiver position.
The wide receiver room consists of a mix of new faces like Cam Vaughn, Oran Singleton, and Jorad Bowie, and a few returning names like Rodney Gallagher, Jaden Bray and recently added back to the roster Preston Fox.
“Yeah, I thought they played pretty well today. I think they’re getting a little better. Beginning of spring, it was not as good as it needed to be. But the last couple of practices have been better. And again, a little bit that’s tempered, because we’ve got to get some more guys to challenge them a little bit. And we’ve done a lot of one-on-ones, a lot of evaluation. But I think they’ve gotten better. But there’s still some concerns there, especially with depth,” Rodriguez said about the defensive back position.
Adding depth to the defensive backs is always a good thing, considering its a position you can never have too much of, similar to the defensive line. Having rotational pieces at those positions is critical especially as the season goes on and circumstances begin to change.
Rodriguez has also emphasized having players who can play multiple positions and give versatility in multiple spots, which becomes even more important in todays age with having to cut the roster down to 105 players.
“Offensive line, you know, quarterback, you win, D-line, but tight ends, receivers, those positions, that’s part of our looking, not only we’re looking at our current roster, we’re looking at, in fact, today, we get a couple of the defensive ends and out there running a few routes with them, see if they had hands like feet or they actually could catch the ball. So, we’re looking at all that,” Rodriguez said.
The Mountaineers have concluded their 11th spring practice so far and with the transfer portal opening in mid-April and having to make the roster cuts, the coaching staff has some difficult decisions to make in the coming weeks.
