West Virginia football has options to replace departing starters
The transfer portal along with granting immediate eligibility for first-time transfers has created some hurdle for college football programs.
With well over 1,500 players in the database, practically every college football program has been affected in some way by the movement of players off rosters.
That has been no different at West Virginia where three players that were starters a season ago have since entered the portal and transferred to other schools.
But how does West Virginia replace them?
Smith was an all-American last season and one of the best players at his position in all of college football prior to transferring to Georgia to finish his college career. You simply don't lose somebody of his caliber and necessarily get better after two years where he rolled up 114 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 4 interceptions. But fortunately for West Virginia, they already had an option in-house to step into the role vacated by Smith that had plenty of experience. Arizona transfer Scottie Young played over 2,500 snaps for the Wildcats before transferring last season but sat out all but one game due to the old transfer rules. That one game was the Liberty Bowl where he filled in admirably for Smith who played only a handful of snaps. This past spring Young was one of the best players on the entire roster and seems primed to pick up where Smith left off in that spear role. Finding depth will be a concern but on the surface, you don't fall into many situations as fortunate at this one.
Miller was only a one year starter for West Virginia but played very well in that role across nine games. Over those contests he recorded 31 tackles, 1 interception 9 passes defended while displaying fantastic coverage numbers. It was expected that he would reprise the role heading into this season, but elected to enter the transfer portal and eventually landed at Auburn. The good news is like in the case with Smith, West Virginia was able to get a sneak peek of what it could look like without Miller in the bowl game where junior college transfer Jackie Matthews started and played well. The Mountaineers also have added another option to the competition in Illinois State cornerback Charles Woods to compete with Matthews and freshman Daryl Porter. Again, losing a starter is never a positive, but there are options ready to step in that can handle the role which makes the departure sting a little less.
Pooler spent five years with West Virginia including four on the field where he improved each year he was with the program. He played in 38 games and piled up 52 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks and it seemed that he would return for a sixth season to add to those numbers this fall. While he was injured in spring ball, Pooler was at practices but once things concluded elected to enter his name into the transfer portal where he would eventually land at Northwestern. The good news here is like at the other spots, West Virginia was able to have a trial run of what it could look like without Pooler and redshirt senior defensive end Taijh Alston certainly impressed. There is depth up front as well but this position seems to have some more wiggle room than the others when it comes to how it can be filled. If Alston proves he can hold up and is recovered from his injury the job is likely his, but there will be others in the mix.
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