A closer look at West Virginia football's preseason depth chart: Offense
West Virginia's preseason depth chart was recently released and presents an early look at where players lie at their respective positions ahead of fall camp.
Although preseason depth charts are bound to change as fall camp and the season get underway, WVSports.com analyzes this preseason depth chart and breaks down the personnel at each position.
Today we start with the offense.
Quarterback:
Jack Allison or Austin Kendall or Trey Lowe
The quarterback position is one of the biggest question marks for West Virginia right now.
Brown reaffirmed during Big 12 Media Days that the battle between Allison, Kendall and Lowe is still ongoing with each of three showing flashes during the spring but lacking consistency.
Since the conclusion of spring, the Mountaineers have added Bowling Green transfer quarterback Jarrett Doege, whose older brother played quarterback for Brown while he was an offensive coordinator at Texas Tech.
Doege’s immediate eligibility status is currently up in the air but if granted, that'll definitely make for an interesting twist in the quarterback competition in fall camp.
Yes, Kendall got to learn behind two Heisman Trophy winners and No. 1 draft picks in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, but between the four, Doege has the most collegiate playing experience with 17 starts in two years with the Falcons.
It’s no surprise at all that this preseason depth chart doesn’t have a clear starter and it’s a definitely a position group to watch during fall camp.
Running Back:
Kennedy McKoy or Martell Pettaway or Leddie Brown or Alec Sinkfield
This is one of the few cases the “or’s” can mean something positive.
As mentioned numerous times on this site, the running back position is easily the strongest position group for the Mountaineers at this point with four of its top backs returning in Martell Pettaway, Kennedy McKoy, Leddie Brown and Alec Sinkfield.
Another one will soon be added to the mix in freshman Tony Mathis, a ground and receiving threat who could also battle for playing time.
With uncertainty at the quarterback position, it’s expected that Neal Brown and company will want to establish a solid run game this season but these backs will also be counted on to block and be receivers in the passing game.
The only question here is how these running backs will be utilized, which ones will see the field and when.
There was talk of using a two-back system during the spring and that would make the most sense if the Mountaineers want to get these players on the field at the same time to create mismatches and keep defenses guessing.
Fullback/S-Back:
Logan Thimons
Elijah Drummond
Brown was asked an interesting question during this past week’s Big 12 Media Days.
He was asked about finding smash mouth players at West Virginia like Zacc Weldon, a walk-on fullback at Troy.
“He walked on for us and ended up playing 40-plus snaps over the last 3 years,” Brown said.
“The good thing about that is if you look at who we are as West Virginia University, who we are as a football program, who we are as a state, really at the core we're hard-working, blue collar people that are prideful and that lends itself to finding guys like that, that are unselfish, they're giving and so we're in the hunt for that position.”
Brown said they have a couple of players competing to be that guy at s-back as described above and it’s assumed that he’s talking about Thimons and Drummond. Thimons though looks to be the guy for now after appearing in 11 games last year, mostly on special teams after making the move to fullback last spring.
Tight End (Y):
Jovani Haskins
T.J. Banks
Mike O’Laughlin
No surprise here.
Haskins, who is recovering from shoulder surgery and was recently named to the John Mackey Award Watch List, is easily West Virginia’s most experienced tight end after playing behind Trevon Wesco last season, catching 16 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown in 12 games last season.
T.J. Banks got a lot of reps during spring as Mike O’Laughlin continued to work back from a torn ACL that sidelined him for the entire 2018 campaign.
WR (X):
T.J. Simmons
Ricky Johns or Bryce Wheaton
WR (H):
Tevin Bush
SL:
Isaiah Esdale
WR (Z):
Sam James
Randy Fields Jr.
Wide receiver is a critical position for West Virginia this fall camp for the same reason why the quarterback and safety positions are.
The Mountaineers will be tasked with replacing David Sills and Gary Jennings, two of the team’s top receivers a season ago. Marcus Simms is also out of the mix and recently signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars after going undrafted in the NFL Supplemental Draft.
The group is led by T.J. Simmons, who had an impressive spring and emerged as a leader as well. He finished last season with 28 catches for 341 yards and a touchdown.
Like some positions, underclassmen Sam James and Bryce Wheaton will be expected to step in and contribute right away and depth will be critical here as well. Not listed are transfers George Campbell and Sean Ryan.
Campbell will have one final season remaining while Ryan is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA regarding his immediate eligibility waiver.
Offensive Line:
Left Tackle:
Colton McKivitz
Junior Uzebu
Left Guard:
Michael Brown
Zach Davis or Blaine Scott
Center:
Chase Behrndt
Adam Stilley or Jacob Buccigrossi
Right Guard:
Josh Sills
Briason Mays
Right Tackle:
Kelby Wickline
Tyler Thurmond
On the offensive line, there are really no big surprises on the preseason depth chart.
McKivitz flipped from right to left tackle before spring to fill the vacancy left by Yodny Cajuste, a third round draft pick of the New England Patriots in this year’s NFL Draft.
Sills is capable of playing either guard position and along with McKivitz, are easily the team’s two best linemen and leaders within the position group.
The projected starters in this group are likely to be the starters come the season-opener against James Madison barring injuries and/or breakout performances from any of the backups during fall camp.
Still, aside from McKivitz and Sills, the rest of the projected starters have some experience but still in some ways need to prove themselves.
Depth is an issue here and the Mountaineers will have incoming junior college transfer John Hughes to step in and provide some depth, but more players will need to step up when fall camp progresses.
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