West Virginia opens the 2021 season on the road Sept. 4 against border rival Maryland and WVSports.com offers a look at some key elements of the match up to get you ready for kick off.
In this game preview, we dive into numbers and notes, a depth chart, our video preview of the game as well as where to can watch the contest.
Series: WVU 28-22-2
Last meeting: 2015: WVU 45 UMD 6
Television: 3:30 p.m., ESPN, Anish Shroff (PBP), Mike Golic, Jr. (analyst), Taylor McGregor (sideline)
NUMBERS AND NOTES:
--Neal Brown is in his third season atop the West Virginia football program after an 11-11 mark in his first two years. Overall, Brown has a 46-27 record as a head coach.
--West Virginia is 15th all-time in wins.
--Overall, the Mountaineers are 13-11-1 all-time in College Park against Maryland and have won nine of the last ten in the overall series.
--This will be the 53rd meeting all time between the two teams.
--The Mountaineers are WVU is 5-1 in games played on Sept. 4. The last time WVU played on Sept. 4 was at home against Marshall in 2011, a 34-13 win.
--West Virginia is 76-94-6 in games against Big Ten Conference schools. The last meeting with a Big Ten school took place in 2015 in the last meeting with Maryland.
--The Mountaineers are 91-33-4 all-time in season openers/17-4 since 2000/31-9-1 since 1980. West Virginia is 64-58-2 in road openers, including 19-13-1 in season road openers.
--This is the 285th nationally broadcast game for the program. The Mountaineers are 149-134-1 in those previous contests.
--Coaching staff assignments: Matt Moore (AHC-OL/Field); Gerad Parker (OC-WR/Press Box); Chad Scott (Co-OC-RB/Field); Jordan Lesley (DC-OLB/Field); ShaDon Brown (Co-DC-DBs/Field); Jeff Koonz (ST Coordinator-ILB/Field); Andrew Jackson (DL/Field); Sean Reagan (QB/Press Box); Travis Trickett (TE-IR/Field); Dontae Wright (S/Press Box).
--West Virginia is is 92-14 since 2002 when winning the turnover battle.
--The Mountaineers have gone to a bowl game in 17 of the last 19 years. West Virginia is one of 15 power five schools to accomplish that feat along with Georgia (19), Oklahoma (19), Wisconsin (19), Clemson (18), Florida (18), Florida State (18), LSU (18), Ohio State (18), Oklahoma State (18), Virginia Tech (18), Alabama (17), Auburn (17), Iowa (17) and Oregon (17).
--Since 1980, West Virginia is 202-22-1 when scoring 30 or more points in a game. Since 2000, the Mountaineers are 64-6 when hitting the 40-point plateau, and WVU is 194-6 all-time when scoring at least 40 or more points in a game.
--Over the last seven years, West Virginia has produced 126 takeaways, ranking No. 25 nationally and No. 14 among Power 5 schools.
--The 2021 roster currently consists of 108 players from 20 different states, Washington D.C. (1) and four foreign countries: Canada (3), Finland (1), Sweden (1) and The Netherlands (1).
--In 2021, WVU’s offensive roster includes eight true freshmen, 12 redshirt freshmen, one sophomore, 10 redshirt sophomores, three juniors, seven redshirt juniors, one senior and two redshirt seniors.
--WVU’s total offensive personnel for 2020 includes four quarterbacks, five tight ends/ fullbacks, six running backs, 11 wide receivers, and 18 offensive linemen.
--West Virginia’s offense returns 15 players who have started at least one game in their Mountaineer career, including six players who earned their first start at WVU in 2020.
--A total of 122 career starts return on offense, including 46 from wide receivers, 37 from offensive linemen, 13 from quarterbacks, 13 from running backs and 13 from tight ends/ fullbacks
--In 2021, WVU’s defensive roster includes nine freshmen, 11 redshirt freshmen, one sophomore, six redshirt sophomores, one junior, seven redshirt juniors, two seniors and seven redshirt seniors.
--WVU’s total defensive personnel for 2020 includes 14 defensive linemen, 10 safeties, seven linebackers, six cornerbacks, five bandits and two defensive backs.
--West Virginia’s defense returns 13 players who have started at least one game in their Mountaineer career, including six players who earned their first start at WVU in 2020.
--A total of 91 career starts return on defense, including 37 from safeties, 22 from linebackers, 15 from defensive linemen, 13 from cornerbacks and four from bandits.
DEPTH CHART:
OFFENSE:
QB: 2 Jarret Doege, 6-2, 208, r-Sr.
6 Garrett Greene, 5-11, 193, r-Fr.
RB: 4 Leddie Brown, 6-0, 206, Sr.
24 Tony Mathis, 5-11, 205, r-So.
26 Justin Johnson, 5-11, 196, Fr.
TE: 87 Mike O'Laughlin, 6-5, 252, r-Jr.
85 T. J. Banks, 6-5, 245, r-Jr.
WR (X): 0 Bryce Wheaton, 6-3, 220, r-Jr.
3 Kaden Prather, 6-4, 210, Fr.
WR (H): 13 Sam James, 6-0, 183, r-Jr.
89 Graeson Malashevich, 5-9, 180, r-So.
SLOT: 16 Winston Wright, 5-10, 180, Jr.
15 Reese Smith, 5-10, 186, r-Fr.
WR (Z): 10 Sean Ryan, 6-3, 198, Jr.
9 Isaiah Esdale, 6-0, 202, r-Sr. -or-
17 Sam Brown, 6-2, 202, r-Fr.
LT: 50 Brandon Yates, 6-4, 295, r-So.
66 Ja’Quay Hubbard, 6-5, 310, r-So.
LG: 74 James Gmiter, 6-3, 298, r-Jr.
58 Nick Malone, 6-5, 290, r-So.
C: 54 Zach Frazier, 6-2, 308, Fr.
53 Jordan White, 6-2, 298, r-Fr.
RG: 72 Doug Nester, 6-7, 321, Jr.
79 John Hughes, 6-4, 305, r-Jr.
RT: 55 Parker Moorer, 6-5, 308, r-So. -or-
64 Wyatt Milum, 6-6, 291, Fr.
DEFENSE:
DT: 90 Akheem Mesidor, 6-2, 272, So.
52 Jalen Thornton, 6-2, 273, r-So.
DT: 55 Dante Stills, 6-4, 280, Sr.
95 Jordan Jefferson, 6-3, 298, r-So.
DE: 12 Taijh Alston, 6-4, 245, r-Jr.
91 Sean Martin, 6-5, 280, r-Fr.
BANDIT: 8 VanDarius Cowan, 6-4, 242, r-Sr. -or-
10 Jared Bartlett, 6-2, 225, r-So.
WLB: 6 Exree Loe, 6-0, 218, r-Sr.
5 Lance Dixon, 6-2, 210, r-So.
MLB: 7 Josh Chandler-Semedo, 5-11, 226, Sr.
47 Deshawn Stevens, 6-2, 255, r-Sr.
SPEAR: 19 Scottie Young, 5-11, 207, r-Sr.
9 Charles Woods, 5-11, 193, r-Jr.
CS: 29 Sean Mahone, 6-0, 200, r-Sr.
15 Kerry Martin, 6-1, 201, r-So.
FS: 4 Alonzo Addae, 5-11, 190, r-Sr.
25 Aubrey Burks, 5-11, 201, Fr.
LCB: 11 Nicktroy Fortune, 5-11, 194, Jr.
14 Malachi Ruffin, 5-10, 185, r-Jr.
RCB: 2 Daryl Porter, 5-11, 185, r-Fr.
3 Jackie Matthews, 5-10, 190, r-Jr.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
K: 48 Casey Legg, 6-4, 213, r-Jr.
35 Tyler Sumpter, 5-10, 219, r-Sr.
H: 89 Graeson Malashevich, 5-9, 180, r-So.
P: 35 Tyler Sumpter, 5-10, 219, r-Sr.
KO: 30 Evan Staley, 6-1, 202, r-Sr.
LS: 52 JP Hadley, 6-2, 242, r-Jr. -or-
43 Austin Brinkman, 6-3, 215, r-Fr.
KOR: 16 Winston Wright, 5-10, 180, Jr.
17 Sam Brown, 6-2, 200, r-Fr.
PR: 15 Reese Smith, 5-10, 186, r-Fr. -or-
16 Winston Wright, 5-10, 180, Jr. -or-
9 Isaiah Esdale, 6-0, 202, r-Sr.
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