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With the age of the portal, NIL, and the virus what can be done to build a roster?

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said it best when he simply said it’s a different time. The ease of the restrictions on transferring has made it significantly more difficult to keep depth around and as we’ve seen the past couple weeks it certainly isn’t an issue limited to Morgantown.

The good news is while you will lose players, you can recoup some as well through means of the transfer portal and providing the seven extra scholarships after the early signing period will only help there. You have to be able to effectively use the portal to some degree to address immediate concerns on the roster and for the most part Brown and his staff have done that through two years.

Junior college recruiting also becomes more important in the sense that it is almost a lost-art of sorts especially with the COVID-19 year essentially giving most players at that level an additional season. So instead of the standard two seasons remaining, most of them are equipped with three.

Still, you have to continue to hit high school recruiting hard even with those challenges as it is the backbone of any roster over the long haul. Those players that stay and develop in your program typically become the leaders on your team and some of the best representatives.