The beginning of the 2024 season is just over two months away for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers are set to return a lot of production from a 2023 team that compiled nine wins, including six in Big 12 play, and a win over ACC opponent North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.

We rank the top-15 returners on WVU's roster for this upcoming season, with this ranking being the top five returners for the Mountaineers entering 2024.

It was year two for CJ Donaldson at WVU, and he was the power back that helped the Mountaineers lead the Big 12 and rank first among all power five schools in rushing last season.

Donaldson rushed for 11 touchdowns, netting 798 yards on the ground in the process. Donaldson had the fourth-best grade out of anyone on WVU's offense last season, playing in 12 of WVU's 13 games, while he was held out of action in the bowl game.

Donaldson has worked on his body in the offseason and the 1-2 punch of him and Jahiem White could be an elite combination if played correctly for the Mountaineers.

Donaldson can be used as a pass catcher as well, as his original position was at tight end. He caught nine passes for 59 yards last season in addition to his 171 carries on the ground.

Burks is one of the most experienced and veteran players on the entirety of the roster. He has played in 29 games over the last three seasons, but his production also speaks for itself.

In 2023, Burks finished with 48.0 total tackles, 4.0 TFL's, and two interceptions.

Burks was also thought of highly by PFF, grading out as the second-best overall defender, while he had the highest pass coverage grade out of anyone on WVU's defense. That also wound up being the seventh-best pass coverage grade of anyone on WVU's defense.

Burks will once again lead a Mountaineer defense who will rely heavily upon him. Burks has shown he can handle it in the past, it's a matter of proving that yet again in 2024.

Coming in at third on the list is the quarterback of the Mountaineers, Garrett Greene.

Greene was in his first full year as a starter and he truly blossomed. Greene was seventh in the Big 12 in passing yards per game, while he tossed 16 touchdowns, while throwing the fewest number of interceptions in the league with four.

Greene also led all Big 12 quarterbacks in rushing, while his 13 rushing touchdowns were the fourth-most among all rushers in the Big 12 (running backs included).

The one downside to Greene's game was his accuracy though. Despite the low interception total, Greene was last in the league in completion percentage, something that held him back from being ranked first or second on this list.

While part of the reason was nearly a quarter of all his pass attempts were for at least 20 yards, Greene has to be able to consistently make the short and intermediate throws.

Greene was WVU's highest-graded offensive player per PFF, and his running grade was the eighth-best among non-running backs in the entire country.

What Zach Frazier was as a leader this past season is what Wyatt Milum will have to be for WVU this season.

For the second consecutive season, West Virginia will have an elite offensive lineman up front. This year it will be at the left tackle position, and it comes in the form of Milum.

A native of Kenova, W.Va., Milum has played the third-most snaps on WVU's offense last season and he also graded out to be the third-best player on WVU's offense as well.

PFF is high on Milum's pass block ability, as he graded as the second-best offensive tackle last season in pass blocking on what was considered to be a 'true pass blocking' set.

Milum's experience and leadership will be put into focus this season after the Mountaineers lost Frazier to the NFL. Milum could very well be a first-round pick next year and he will be the leader on the offensive line for WVU this year.

Now it might be hard for a guy who played his true freshman season last year to be this high on a list like this, but most guys are not like Jahiem White.

White led the Big 12 in yards per carry at 7.7, while he only saw 41 snaps in weeks 1-8 of the season last year.

He would go on to finish with a team-high 842 yards rushing as well as four touchdowns on the ground and had five catches for 125 yards and two scores through the air as well.

White was WVU's second-highest-graded player according to PFF, and he had the third-best rush grade out of all running backs in the Big 12.

For White, the talent is obviously there and he flashed in the somewhat limited action he saw. However, there is no hiding for White now despite his 5-foot-7 frame. Opposing defenses will circle him and he will have to be the one to make the adjustments in 2024.

----------

• 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, @wesleyshoe

•Like us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok