Big 12 Snapshot: West Virginia Mountaineers

Good morning. I’m introducing a new series intended to take a look at each team in the new Big 12. I’m not sure how many I’ll get done each week, but the only way for me to really know about these teams is to actually do the research so I can be relatively informed when the season hits. So I spent time doing the research this weekend. There are links to everything below so if there isn’t a link, then I didn’t write it, but I always link back to the originator of the content. I wanted to take a quick look at the team: get a feel for the best players; look into their portal class consisted and how they ranked overall; a look at the 2024 recruiting class; and ending on the graphic from Sharp College Football.

Snapshot: I was not a believer in Garrett Greene at quarterback. Green threw for 2,400 yards, completed 53% of his passes and had 16 touchdowns and just 4 picks. That’s the key part at the end, just 4 interceptions. Greene also had 772 yards rushing, averaging 6.4 yards a run with 13 touchdowns. Neal Brown figured out how to use what he had. The two big running backs, Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson also return, White had 842 yards rushing and Donaldson had 798. Lee Kpogba returns at linebacker, 97 tackles, 3 sacks and a forced fumble as does safety Anthony Wilson, who had 80 tackles and 4 passes defended.

Do the Mountaineers play Texas Tech? Yes, the last game of the year, hosting West Virginia on November 30th.

Returning Starters: Offensive returning starters – 7 (89% of offensive production); Defensive returning starters – 6 (52% of defensive production).

Transfer Portal Arrivals: Transfer Portal: 10. Obvious need here was the defensive backfield with 6 of the 10 players from the portal in that position group and 8 of the 10 being on defense. Not a really big class so Brown must like the development of his team.
WR Jaden Bray (from Oklahoma State)
OL Xavier Bausley (from Jacksonville State)
DL T.J. Jackson (from Troy)
LB Ty French (from Gardner-Webb)
LB Reid Carrico (from Ohio State)
DB Ayden Garnes (from Duquesne)
DB TJ Crandall (from Colorado State)
DB Garnett Hollis (from Northwestern)
DB Jaheem Joseph (from Northwestern)
DB Dontez Fagan (from Charlotte)

On3 Transfer Index Score: +17 (Big 12 high is +68 with Colorado and low is -30 with Houston)

Spring Portal Grades: B-

Key additions: Dontez Fagan, CB (Charlotte)

Key subtractions: Montre Miller, CB (Uncommitted), E.J. Horton, WR (Uncommitted)

Outlook: West Virginia lost seventh-year senior Miller, who played in just one game last season before suffering a season-ending injury. The Mountaineers were able to replace him with Fagan, who is coming off an impressive senior at Charlotte where he recorded four pass breakups and an interception while starting nine games in 12 appearances.

Pac 12 2024 Recruiting & Big 12 2024 Recruiting: WR Ric’Darious Farmer is a Florida kid and was committed to UCF but flipped to West Virginia and became the lone four-star in the Mountaineers’ class. That was a big win for coach Neal Brown and his staff.

High three-stars OL Kyle Altuner, DE Obinna Onwuka and DB Israel Boyce are some other standouts. West Virginia did an especially good job in the state of Ohio with five signees.

Grade: B

Sharp College Football Beta Rank Deep Dive: As previously mentioned, I had serious doubts about West Virginia’s offense, but they were terrific, largely because of the running game which was top 5. And to be a good running team with explosive drives is something. The passing game could use some help, but that’s a minor complaint. Defensively, they do need some work, not a great passing defense and not many negative plays or forcing teams to be inefficient. The rush defense was better, but could probably still use some improvement.