Rich Rodriguez Rebuilds Again: West Virginia Bets on Speed and a Loaded Portal Class
West Virginia slogged to a 4-8 finish (2-7 Big 12) in 2025, and the answer was to tear the roster down to the studs a second straight year. More than 80 new players poured into Morgantown again, roughly 83 in all, making continuity impossible but the talent floor higher. Rich Rodriguez enters Year 2 of his second stint at his alma mater, where he is 64-34 across eight seasons, and the pitch has not changed: find speed at quarterback, running back and receiver, run the gun-run offense that has always traveled with him, and trust second-year coordinator Zac Alley to sort out a defense that also turns over almost entirely.
Offense
Scotty Fox Jr. returns after finishing 2025 under center as the first true freshman to start for the Mountaineers since 1952, throwing for 1,276 yards (59.4 percent, 7 touchdowns, 6 interceptions) while adding 201 rushing yards. He will not have the job handed to him. Hand-picked Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. arrived to raise the room's ceiling, bringing four career starts, 950 passing yards over two years and the kind of pure athleticism and open-field speed Rodriguez covets in a triggerman. Hawkins turned heads all spring and profiles as the more natural fit as the plus-one in the run game, and the preseason lean is toward him winning the job. Rodriguez has called this the deepest quarterback room he has coached, a welcome change from a 2025 season that at times reached the fourth and fifth options.
The pass-catching group is almost entirely imported, but there is real production in it. Jaden Bray is finally healthy after being penciled in as the 2025 leader before an early injury limited him to two starts and 95 yards; a long, 6-2 target, he is the closest thing to a proven holdover. Around him, DJ Epps (Troy) caught 10 balls a game's worth of work for 512 yards, John Neider (UConn) averaged 15.6 a grab for 422 yards, and 6-5 Prince Strachan brings 578 career yards from his Boise State days. LSU transfer TaRon Francis and juco addition Keon Hutchins add more speed. At tight end, Ryan Ward returns after 41 yards a year ago and is joined by Clemson transfer Josh Sapp.
The centerpiece is Cam Cook, who led all of Division I with 1,659 yards and 16 touchdowns at Jacksonville State on 5.6 a carry and earned second-team All-America notice. A former four-star who began his career at TCU, he steps into a run-heavy scheme built to feed him and should have a chance to push past those numbers. The depth behind him is fresh: juco standout Martavious Boswell arrives after 1,109 yards, and true freshman Amari Latimer headlines the recruiting class at the position, with fullback Kayden Luke added to the mix.
This was the unit most in need of repair after the line cratered to 3.7 yards a rush while surrendering 31 sacks. It was made the clear portal priority, and veteran position coach Rick Trickett was brought in to run it. Five transfers carrying 91 combined starts joined returning starters Nick Krahe, who logged 12 starts at left tackle, and Landen Livingston, an 11-game starter at center. The newcomers include Wes King (33 career starts at Wyoming), Carsten Casady (17 starts at UConn), first-team all-conference guard Amare Grayson from Jacksonville State, and former Texas lineman Malik Agbo, with top signee Kevin Brown headlining the incoming class up front. If the trench work travels, the whole offense lifts.
Defense
Alley again rebuilt the front through the portal, and the edge is where the optimism starts. Coastal Carolina transfer Zeke Durham-Campbell arrives with 13 starts, 42 tackles, 5.5 sacks and third-team all-conference honors and looks like a genuine disruptor. Opposite him, Western Kentucky transfer Harper Holloman brings 13 starts, 39 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. Inside, Nate Gabriel, KJ Henson, Jaylen Thomas and Corey McIntyre give the interior bodies, with Bowling Green transfer David Afogho adding rush juice. The group should be deeper and more athletic, though interior size against the Big 12's more physical fronts remains a fair question.
The level lost its top tacklers again but reloaded with experience. Ben Cutter is the anchor after a 133-tackle campaign, and FAU transfer Tyler Stolsky adds 90 more tackles and 12 starts of production. UNLV's Isaiah Patterson, Illinois transfer Malachi Hood and Ashton Woods round out a corps that may lack a marquee name but should be deeper and more sure than last year's group.
The secondary is the position the staff is most excited about, both for its length and its pedigree. Kamari Wilson anchors it: a former top-100 recruit who broke in as a true freshman at Florida, he posted 84 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and six pass breakups at Memphis and rates among the better safeties in the conference. Slot defender Geimere Latimer II reunites with Alley after playing for him at Jacksonville State, and he wowed coaches in the spring. Georgia State transfer Chams Diagne, Kent State's Jaire Rawlison (54 tackles) and Stephen F. Austin's Kameron Reddic add starting-caliber depth, with UNLV transfer Andrew Powdrell and freshman Matt Sieg pushing for snaps. The added length is meant to neutralize the league's downfield passing games.
Both specialists had to be replaced, and the staff went shopping for proven legs. Bryan Hansen arrives from Colorado State after leading the nation in punting at 47.9 yards a kick with a 44.1 net, a real weapon in the field-position game. At placekicker, WKU transfer Jack Cassidy and former blue-chip signee Peter Notaro, in from Alabama, will battle for the job and kickoff duties. DJ Epps returns as the primary man in the return game.
Overview and Prediction
The schedule sets up as a chance to build early momentum. West Virginia opens with Coastal Carolina, UT Martin, a neutral-site date with Virginia in Charlotte, Oklahoma State, a trip to Iowa State, Arizona and Cincinnati before the run hardens with a visit to TCU, a bye, and then a brutal closing stretch of at Texas Tech, Kansas, Houston and a first-ever trip to Utah. The first seven games are all winnable, and the overall slate rates on the softer side of the league; the last five are where a wide-open season gets decided.
The preseason placements land the Mountaineers around 10th to 12th in the Big 12, and projection models spread the win total across an unusually wide five-to-ten range, a reflection of just how much is unknown on a roster with essentially no returning starters intact. The verdict is straightforward: with a settled quarterback, Cook to lean on and a rebuilt line that actually holds up, this team has the skill-position speed to climb back to a bowl. If the front five sputters again, the ceiling caps quickly. Given Rodriguez's track record in his first tour here, betting on a meaningful Year 2 jump is the sensible read.