WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.
Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball, and what’s happening in recruiting.
3 things I learned:
1–West Virginia notches another major win. The Mountaineers finished the week 1-1 which is quite the accomplishment when you consider that the two teams on the schedule were both previously undefeated in Big 12 Conference play and were perched inside the top ten nationally. That's a tough ask for any team but especially one that is dealing with some of the challenges that this team has on the injury front.
West Virginia fell at Houston 70-54 but responded in a major way by beating No. 2 Iowa State 63-57 at home giving the Mountaineers perhaps their best win of the season.
It was the fourth win for the Mountaineers over a ranked team this season and adds to an already impressive resume that features wins over Gonzaga and Arizona on a neutral floor, on the road at Kansas, and now the Cyclones.
The Mountaineers are now 13-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference and continue to surpass even the most optimistic projections. This team was picked 13th in the Big 12 pre-season media poll and has emerged as one of the surprise teams in all of college basketball a little past the mid-way point of the season.
This basketball team has done this with an impressive coaching job from Darian DeVries and his staff, along with stellar efforts out of players on the roster. Senior guard Javon Small should be the favorite for Big 12 Player of the Year, while others have bought into their roles on both ends and this team is giving incredible effort.
There's still a lot of season left, but West Virginia has played their way into the conversation in the national rankings and added another notch to the belt.
2–Transfer additions keep coming. West Virginia has continued to add to the roster since new head coach Rich Rodriguez took over the football program. In total, the Mountaineers are up to 29 transfer portal additions and a junior college player.
This past week, the program added four more players out of the transfer portal and another junior college option to give the total to 30 since December.
The biggest addition came from Texas San Antonio pass rusher Jimmori Robinson who was one of the most elite options at his position available in the transfer portal.
Robinson earned American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and first-team honors after a dominant season in 2024 where he broke onto the scene. Robinson finished last season with the Roadrunners with 43 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks along with a pair of forced fumbles. The Virginia native spent three years at Texas San Antonio prior to that and played in 30 games where he recorded 67 tackles, 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
The Virginia native is a former junior college prospect who was in high demand once he elected to enter the transfer portal but ultimately narrowed his choices down to West Virginia and Virginia Tech. With over 1,300 snaps played in his career, Robinson will likely become an immediate factor in the Mountaineers defense.
West Virginia was able to beat out Virginia Tech for his services.
The Mountaineers also added Arkansas offensive tackle Ty'kieast Crawford. Crawford has spent five seasons at the college level with four with the Razorbacks and one at Charlotte.
During that time, the Texas native has appeared in 39 career games and made a total of nine starts. The former-four star prospect in the 2020 class has played primarily at right tackle over the course of his college career. Crawford initially committed to UCLA after entering the transfer portal Dec. 9 but after an official visit to Morgantown elected to flip his pledge. Crawford has one year remaining in his career.
West Virginia then added to their depth in the quarterback room with a pledge from Charlotte quarterback Max Brown. Brown spent only one season at Charlotte where he started four games and threw for 563 yards with 3 touchdowns and six interceptions. Prior to that Brown spent two years at Florida where he redshirted in his first before completing 19-28 passes for 192 yards.
Put together a prolific high school career where he recorded 4,416 passing yards and 68 touchdowns in two seasons at Lincoln Christian in Oklahoma. Brown has two years remaining in his career after committing to the Mountaineers.
The Mountaineers then added their ninth transfer portal defensive back this off-season in Appalachian State cornerback Jason Chambers. Chambers only spent one season with Appalachian State where he appeared in 11 games and recorded a total of 38 tackles, 2 passes defended and an interception. Prior to that Chambers was at North Carolina Central where he spent two seasons.
In 2023, Chambers was a first-team HBCU all-American after he recorded 41 tackles, 6 pass breakups, 3 interceptions, and a forced fumble. His efforts also was a finalist for the Aeneas Williams Award which is given to the top HBCU defensive back in DII. As a freshman Chambers made 27 tackles and broke up a total of seven passes. The North Carolina native has one year remaining.
The final addition came with Glendora (Ca.) Citrus College edge Keenan Eck emerged on the West Virginia radar after the coaching change and bandits coach Jeff Casteel served as the lead recruiter. The California native took an official visit in January and that's when he received a scholarship offer.
From there, Eck would commit only a few days later. Eck spent this past season at Citrus College where he recorded 26 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and 6 sacks. Prior to that, he was at Black Hills State and recorded 13 tackles and 8.5 sacks along with 4 forced fumbles. Eck is being targeted as a boundary-side edge or linebacker in the West Virginia scheme and the coaching staff was impressed with his athleticism as well as his coverage ability. He has two years remaining.
The most impressive part is that a significant chunk of these additions this off-season are already on campus and enrolled giving the program a chance to have a competitive spring and see where they stand at certain spots.
3–Changes coming to preseason exhibitions in college basketball. Starting for the 2025-26 season, Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee has approved some changes to how the model used to operate.
Before teams must have their preseason games approved through a waiver process and the proceeds of those games were then donated to a charity.
Now, teams will have the ability to play two preseason games beginning next season against any four-year school including Division I teams. And schools will have the discretion on how to allocate the funding generated from these games.
The ruling also will eliminate the long-standing "secret scrimmages," that were held against teams that were conducted in private and without official scoring.
This opens the door for college programs to have two contests against teams and avoid some of the secrecy, that in reality wasn't too secret, that came with the private scrimmages against teams. For example, West Virginia squared off against Wake Forest and the Mountaineers were able to win that game in comeback fashion.
Now, college programs and fans alike will have the chance to see how their team stacks up in the preseason and it gives the programs a chance to simply play somebody else instead of going against each other in practice daily.
This is a good move all around for college basketball and another avenue to increase interest in the preseason.
