Blueprint there for West Virginia transfer cornerbacks
West Virginia has experienced success luring talented transfer defensive backs this off-season.
The Mountaineers have added four transfer defensive backs at this stage in Northwestern cornerback Garnett Hollis, Colorado State cornerback Ty Crandall, Duquesne cornerback Ayden Garnes and Northwestern safety Jaheem Joseph since the transfer portal window opened in December.
It’s no secret that the cornerback and safety spots were of the utmost need for the program heading into the 2024 campaign and each of these options had multiple high-level opportunities elsewhere.
At the cornerback position for example, Crandall, only a sophomore, collected offers from UCLA, Michigan State, Louisville, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, Purdue, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Arizona State and Oregon State.
Both Hollis and Garnes were seasoned starting cornerbacks for their teams that performed very well last season across their seasons.
Of course, the ability to see the field is a draw to choose West Virginia but the coaching staff had a little extra ammunition after what unfolded with a transfer target this past season in Morgantown.
Beanie Bishop is coming off an outstanding season with the Mountaineers where he was named the 13th consensus all-American in the school's illustrious history. Bishop didn’t commit to the football program until April and didn’t enroll until the end of spring football with little fanfare at the time.
Related: 2025 CB Horne eyeing potential West Virginia visit
That’s because despite appearing in all 13 games, the Minnesota transfer managed just 29 tackles and a sack during his time on the field for the Gophers. Granted, Bishop was playing a different position and had a history of success during his time at Western Kentucky earning all-conference honors.
But even the most optimistic couldn’t have expected Bishop to turn in a season where he started all 13 games and finished with 80 tackles, 20 pass breakups and 4 interceptions. That’s a testament to the work that Bishop put in toward developing himself in his final season along with what the coaching staff, notably secondary coach ShaDon Brown was able to get out of him.
“When he came, he had a blue-collar mentality. He had an alpha mentality when he stepped on campus and he worked,” Brown said. “He played himself into having an opportunity to play in the National Football League. An unbelievable honor to be a consensus All-American.”
And there is no question that seeing those types of results out of a one-year transfer will help raise the eyebrows of other players who want to take a similar route.
“It’s going to help us in the portal not only this year but moving forward it’s going to help us,” head coach Neal Brown said.
And it’s hard to argue that hasn’t been the case.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
