Perhaps no position on the West Virginia roster has experienced as much turnover from last year as what’s occurred in the wide receiver room.

The Mountaineers lost three of their top five receivers from a season ago despite each of them still having at least one season of eligibility remaining to play in Morgantown.

Junior Winston Wright led the team in receptions (66), yards (688) and was tied for the lead in touchdowns (5) but elected to enter the transfer portal and enrolled at Florida State at the mid-term. The room also felt the loss of redshirt senior Sean Ryan (25 catches for 399 yards and 3 scores) to Rutgers and redshirt senior Isaiah Esdale (29 catches for 362 yards and a touchdown) to Rice.

That doesn’t even factor in that the position coach last season in Gerad Parker left for the tight ends coach job at Notre Dame and the Mountaineers welcomed in Tony Washington from Costal Carolina.

That’s a whole lot of new in that room as the Mountaineers look to break in a new offensive system under newly minted coordinator Graham Harrell.

It leaves the Mountaineers with total of eight scholarship wide receivers, but two of those have yet to even enroll as junior college options Jeremiah Aaron and Cortez Braham will arrive in the summer to join the roster. It’s a far-cry from what used to be the expectation with wide receivers when teams had as many as a dozen to go at least three deep at every position.

But it isn’t entirely unexpected.

“What’s become abundantly clear to us over the last two years is you can’t keep that many guys happy anymore,” head coach Neal Brown said. “We had a solid group in that room last year but you can’t keep seven or eight guys happy.”

While the numbers inside that room are thin, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t talent available. Returning pieces such as Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Sam James have been critical parts of the offense. Ford-Wheaton finished second last season with 42 catches for 575 yards and 3 scores, while James had 42 catches for 505 yards and 5 touchdowns and there’s room for upside.

“There’s another significant step they can make,” Brown said.

While limited last season to only 12 catches for 175 yards across 9 games, sophomore Kaden Prather has the chance to develop into a true difference maker at the position.

The fourth name in that room is sophomore Reese Smith who Brown admits was underutilized with 12 catches for 124 yards and a score. That is something that Brown hopes to correct.

“He’s a guy that can be a significant piece and is plenty good enough,” Brown said. “He was one of our best special teams players a year ago but he can be a significant piece for us offensively.”

There’s also the unknown with the two junior college players that will arrive in the summer and true freshman Jarel Williams who will participate in spring ball. There’s a lot that will be different in that room, but the coaching staff is banking on the position taking a step forward.

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