Spring football is approaching at West Virginia.
The Mountaineers will formally get underway Monday and there are several Mountaineers that either will be limited or won’t be participating this spring.
On the offensive side of the ball, lineman Tomas Rimac will miss the duration of spring after undergoing off-season surgery. The plan is for him to be more active as the schedule proceeds, but he will be held out in order to return in the summer. The same can be said for tight end Kole Taylor who won’t participate in practice this spring after off-season surgery but should ramp up his activity and start doing routes on air and conditioning as he continues to get healthier.
When it comes to defense, redshirt sophomore Asani Redwood won’t be available after having late work on his shoulder, but he will return in the summer.
Also, defensive lineman Oryend Fisher and linebacker Jairo Faverus will not be available as they recover, too.
But on the plus side, the Mountaineers will have several key players back as linebackers Tray Lathan and Josiah Trotter will be full go after sustaining season-ending injuries last year. West Virginia also will welcome back cornerback Montre Miller who missed all but one game and was granted a waiver.
“Excited about him he had a great winter,” Brown said.
Running back CJ Donaldson will be limited after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery and will progress through the spring while offensive lineman Bryce Biggs will also be available but limited.
West Virginia is also set to welcome a number of new faces for the spring with nine transfers and six freshmen. When it comes to transfers both Northwestern defensive backs in cornerback Garnett Hollis and safety Jaheem Joseph will be available after enrolling in graduate school in March.
Joseph is expected to bounce around to play both deep safety and the spear position, while Hollis is a true corner for the defense. Also on defense, Gardner-Webb transfer Ty French will play bandit, Colorado State transfer TJ Crandall will line up at cornerback, Troy transfer TJ Jackson at both defensive end positions and finally Ohio State transfer Reid Carrico at linebacker.
On the offensive side, Jacksonville State transfer Xavier Bausley is set to play offensive tackle and Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Bray will move around but primarily line up on the outside. Bausley, an in-state product, is a player that the Mountaineers recruited hard out of high school for a preferred walk-on spot, but he has continued to mold his body and will be in the mix on the line.
“He’s going to get a ton of reps and we feel like he’s going to have the opportunity to be a great player for us,” Brown said.
As for the freshmen, Brown expects Israel Boyce to start at safety, Nate Gabriel at nose guard, Zae Jennings at spear and safety, Obi Onwuka at bandit, Elijah Kinsler at defensive tackle and Jack Sammarco at the tight end spot.
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