West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez hasn’t been shy when it comes to the fact that the Mountaineers are going to have to utilize the second transfer portal window to address some concerns on the roster.
But which ones has he zeroed in on that need help?
“We need get some o-line and d-linemen, we need to get some wideouts, a running back, probably need to get some linebackers, a corner, a safety, and a couple d-linemen, kicker,” Rodriguez said.
There was a little bit of gamesmanship behind the comment as Rodriguez essentially listed every position on the roster outside of quarterback and long snapper, but the reality is that the second window will be key.
The Mountaineers designed their entire spring practice schedule around the April 16 spring portal window moving things up a week so the Gold-Blue Showcase will be held April 5 in order to allow the coaching staff a full week to meet with current players to determine their standing.
Some of the additions are eventually going to be to improve the talent level in certain rooms, others will be primarily to add competition or fill out spots that simply need more bodies. One of those is at wide receiver where Rodriguez said that right now they simply don’t have enough players to do what they want there.
“We literally don’t have enough bodies to run the way we want to run it. We’re looking at some guys and we’ll fix that,” he said.
West Virginia addressed the defensive backfield heavily in the first portal window bringing in a total of nine experienced transfers and while that group has improved throughout the course of the spring it again seems to be a spot where more competition could benefit the room.
“There are still some concerns there especially with depth,” he said.
On defense as a whole, West Virginia didn’t return any starters from the end of last season, which leads to a lot of unknowns when it comes to how the unit will eventually end up. There are of course younger players in the mix, but the developmental aspect of waiting for a player to blossom is at times overshadowed by the overwhelming need to win now in today’s fast paced college football world.
It’s just another item that Rodriguez has to balance as the head coach the second time around that simply wasn’t there during his first tenure from 2001-07. But, it’s one he’s prepared to meet full speed ahead.
“I better accept it as a new challenge and try to win at it,” he said.
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