Down West Virginia's roster, there are more position battles than just at quarterback.

A blessing and a curse for special teams coordinator Jeff Koonz is that, well, he has the chance to have fresh meat among his unit — at just about every position.

The Mountaineers are currently working to identify starters at placekicker, punter and kickoff — as well as both returner spots — with the legs of two newcomers drawing rave reviews.

At punter, freshman Ollie Straw appears to be the early frontrunner to replace Tyler Sumpter, who exhausted his eligibility.

Straw has shown an unparalleled versatility in the punt game, possessing not only the ability to kick with either foot but the ability to punt either end-over-end rugby style or a traditional spiral.

"The thing I’ve been really pleased is that when he’s been in the live settings, he’s caught every snap, his launch points have been where they need to be, his operation has been good," Koonz said. "Something that we’re always trying to speed up, but his kick locations have been very good. He’s kind of stepped in and — you’ve gotta remember, he’s a slightly older freshman, but he’s a freshman. He’s a young guy that’s here, basically mid-term, like the rest of these mid-year enrollees.

"He’s a guy right now that I think I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how he’s naturally fit," Koonz continued. "The thing that stands out about Ollie, he’s a really hard worker. He’s a really intentional guy, he’s a hard worker. He critiques every single step that he has, he wants to have it perfect. He understands the opportunity he has, and he’s really trying to take advantage of it. Been pleased thus far, and we’ll continue to grow what we ask him to do.”

In the kicking game, Florida State transfer Parker Grothaus is receiving every opportunity he could want to try and wrestle away the starting job from incumbent Casey Legg.

Grothaus, who saw most of his time on the field as a kickoff specialist with the Seminoles, has gone 4-for-7 in his career on field goals. Still, with that experience, he's had the abilities to tailor his leg to long distance kicks — something that the Mountaineers have been missing.

"We haven’t done a lot of full team kickoffs and field goals — we’ve done some in a very controlled setting — but I’m pleased with what he brings in," Koonz said. "He’s got a big, strong, powerful leg, which is what drew us to him, and he has demonstrated that. We’re really excited about what we can do as spring goes. We’ll kind of grow and continue to build into full-team settings and see how he does."

Grothaus was targeted specifically to handle kickoffs given his success rate there, but it's an interesting dynamic to watch develop.

Alongside Grothaus and Legg, Koonz specifically mentioned redshirt sophomore Danny King and redshirt junior Kolton McGhee as two more guys who could play themselves into the mix.

"We’ve got four guys now that can kick the ball and can make quality field goals at good distance and can make good kickoffs," Koonz said. "We’ll settle that as we get out of camp, but I’m excited with where we’re at right now because we’ve got competition, we’ve got options, which is what you want. A quality program, you have competition, you have options. You’ve got guys that are pushing each other, and we have that right now.”

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