West Virginia released its depth chart for this week's game at Maryland which will be the start of year three under head coach Neal Brown. Much of the depth chart went unchanged from the initial one released a few weeks ago but there were a few interesting takeaways that I had from glancing over it.
Daryl Porter Jr. listed as a starter over Jackie Matthews
The coaching staff was impressed with Daryl Porter as a true freshman in fall camp and initially thought he could be a contributor. However, as the team got further into camp, they realized that he still had some work to do and needed to get stronger. Porter had a great spring and has carried that into the fall. This isn't a huge surprise considering Porter has more upside. Jackie Matthews is going to get his fair share of action as well, so WVU is in pretty good shape at the right corner spot.
Field goals don't appear to be in Evan Staley's future
Evan Staley is entering his sixth year in the West Virginia program but this year, his role will be a little different from that of years past. Staley appeared in 40 games as the Mountaineers' field goal kicker from 2017-2020, making 39 of 53 kicks. Unfortunately, he suffered a lower-body injury on kickoff coverage against Kansas State that caused him to miss the remainder of the season. Staley is not listed as the No. 1 or even No. 2 option at kicker as those spots are reserved for Casey Legg and Tyler Sumpter. Instead, it appears that Staley will be handling kickoffs for WVU. He has 207 kickoffs for his career, 72 of which resulted in a touchback.
A'varius Sparrow tumbles down the depth chart
We could kind of see this coming thanks to the coaching staff hinting at it over the past couple of weeks. A'varius Sparrow, West Virginia's fastest running back, is not listed on the depth chart but would be the team's fourth option out of the backfield. Tony Mathis Jr. and true freshman Justin Johnson Jr. will serve as backups to Leddie Brown. According to head coach Neal Brown, consistency has been his biggest issue thus far.
"He's got to continue to improve. He's got great speed. His best days are usually scrimmage days which I guess is good and bad. As I tell our players all the time, this is a practice sport. Baseball you play more games than you practice. Basketball you usually play more games than you practice but football, we're a practice sport. We're playing 12-16 games and we're practicing a whole lot more. You've got to earn trust during practices and he's in the process of earning that trust. He's just got to be more consistent. He's a guy that we would like to come on because he has a speed element that we don't have."
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