The West Virginia Mountaineers football program has continued the momentum on the recruiting trail with a commitment from Tennessee transfer offensive lineman Ayden Bussell.
Bussell, 6-foot-5, 315-pounds, entered the transfer portal April 22 and after sorting through his options committed to the Mountaineers football program.
The Tennessee native spent two seasons with the Volunteers after enrolling in January 2023. Bussell redshirted in his first year before playing in three games at right guard this past season.
Over his career, Bussell played a total of 62 snaps for Tennessee and becomes another interior option for the Mountaineers as the coaching staff looks to rebuild the offensive line.
Bussell has three years of eligibility remaining.
Bussell becomes the sixth offensive line commitment for West Virginia out of the transfer portal since the spring window opened joining Mississippi State interior lineman Carson Lee, North Alabama offensive tackle Mickel Clay, Austin Peay offensive lineman Donovan Haslam, Texas offensive lineman Malik Agbo and Oklahoma interior offensive lineman Josh Aisosa.
WVSports.com breaks down the transfer commitment of Bussell and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
The data:
Bussell has only played 62 snaps across three games at the offensive line position in his career but fared well when given the opportunity with a total grade of 72.4 according to Pro Football Focus. That included 45 run blocking snaps where he graded out at 71.8 and 17 pass blocking snaps at 66.3.
Bussell has spent all of his collegiate snaps at right guard but has versatility to move around. In his limited sample size, Bussell allowed just one pressure and zero sacks. Still, with three years left there is a lot of upside here with what he could do with more opportunities in Morgantown.
Fitting the program:
Bussell was a highly recruited prospect in the 2023 class and performed well when given the opportunity to play on the offensive line last season with the Volunteers. West Virginia needs as much talent as possible on the offensive line in order to create more competition and Bussell can certainly handle that.
He has the ability to play multiple positions up front and with three years left that means that he could not only attempt to carve out a major role just in this coming year but in the future as well. The Mountaineers have found a strong mix of both talented veteran with experience along with high upside younger players to improve the overall health of an offensive line room that was dealing with massive turnover from last season.
Bussell is another strong addition in that build as the numbers at the position have now grown to 22 total with almost half of those being transfers that have been added since Rich Rodriguez took over the program.
Recruiting the position:
West Virginia has been as active along the offensive line than any spot on the roster this spring adding six transfers to the roster since the end of spring football. That likely means that the Mountaineers are getting close to rounding out the number of additions that the program can make, but it’s become abundantly clear that this coaching staff isn’t playing around when it comes to upgrading the talent on the roster.
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