West Virginia, like most teams, is going to be down some players for their bowl game.
Center Zach Frazier and running back CJ Donaldson will be out due to injuries after both underwent surgery. But others will not be on the field due to exiting the program through the transfer portal.
The nature of the calendar in college football almost forces players to make decisions on their futures prior to bowl games in order to secure their future homes and that is no different in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers have had a number of players exit through the transfer portal already such as starting nose guard Mike Lockhart, safety Hershey McLaurin, running back Justin Johnson and others. However, the football program has not been hit with a rash of optouts.
North Carolina has been hit even harder with opt-outs as starting quarterback Drake Maye, leading wide receiver Devontez Walker, starting center Corey Gaynor and leading tackler linebacker Cedric Gray. That doesn’t include players that have been injured for the Tarheels.
But with that, new doors open for others.
Related: The written history of the West Virginia football 2024 class
West Virginia Head Coach Neal Brown has always believed that bowl games go to the team that’s the most excited and the fact that players that wouldn’t typically get to see the field as much will be thrust into larger roles should help both of these teams in this matchup.
For the Mountaineers one player that will see more opportunities is Corey McIntyre on defense due to the departure of Lockhart. He has been one of the standouts in the developmental practices leading up to the bowl game and has played well over the second half of the year on those teams.
“I’m excited to see him play and I know he’s going to play with a lot of energy and some of these other guys are going to get some more opportunities on special teams and or offense and defense,” Brown said. “They’re going to be fired up about the game.”
West Virginia scrimmaged the young players twice last weekend and will do it four times by the time this coming weekend rolls around. Along with McIntyre, the Mountaineers have seen strong play out of defensive lineman Hammond Russell, defensive lineman Asani Redwood and safety Josiah Jackson on defense.
On the offensive side, it’s been running back DJ Oliver, quarterback Nicco Marchiol, wide receiver Tyler Evans and a pair of young offensive tackles in Johnny Williams and Nick Krahe.
The good news is that players that suit up in the bowl game won’t count toward their overall eligibility, which is what Brown calls one of the rules that makes sense of late.
And those players have gone through a 14-week strength and conditioning program, weekly scrimmages and other development in order to improve from early in the year. That opens the door for them to help on special teams and perhaps even bigger roles depending on who it is.
It will be a peek into what West Virginia has for 2024 especially up front with Brandon Yates taking over at center for Frazier. It will look a little different, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing.
“We’ll be a little bit different than when we played at Baylor but I don’t know if that’s all bad,” Brown said.
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