Questions Remain for the Mountaineers

This Saturday, the new-look West Virginia Mountaineers begin their 2025 season. Head Coach Rich Rodriguez reclaims his position on the sideline that he abandoned eighteen seasons ago. That represents a lot of days for Rodriguez to be a better coach “than he was yesterday,” as his mantra goes. How much better he is remains to be seen. Indeed, as we approach the season opener, plenty of questions remain for the Mountaineers.

Questions Remain for the Mountaineers

Fans certainly understand the adage that every team starts every season undefeated. There is little doubt that West Virginia will begin and finish their firs t game undefeated, in fact. From there, however, the questions begin.

Who Are These Guys?

After the Mountaineers moved on from Neal Brown and welcomed back Rodriguez, the football roster has been in a constant state of flux. From eligibility questions resolved by a recent injunction concerning four new transfers to an open question concerning the academic eligibility of one of those four to transfers to commitments, the roster welcomes a total of 80 new players this season. 54 of those represent incoming transfers. The remaining 26 come from the high school ranks.

Given the grandfathering provisions in the House settlement, the roster currently sits at 121 players, 16 over the soon-to-be-cap of 105. That means the new talent makes up over two-thirds of the current roster. Fans will ce rtainly be forgiven for not knowing all of these new names and faces.

Moreover, the staff has been highly selective in releasing too many details about projected depth charts, position breakdowns, and the like. That means we know even less about which of those players might see the field and how often they might see it.

Who Starts Where?

Indeed, we technically do not even know who will start at quarterback this season. Even if we believe we know the answer (Nicco Marchiol), we do not know whether he will play every down or whether Rodriguez might rotate Jaylen Henderson in. Rodriguez has threatened to play up to three quarterbacks regularly if three are ready. Is this coach speak, or is Rodriguez crazy enough to buck conventions that much? The answer remains to be seen, but Rodriguez threw the threat out there.

We have a good idea who starts at running back. Jahiem White represented a top priority (and maybe the top priority) for the staff’s roster retention efforts on Rodriguez’s arrival. He should have plenty of opportunities in Rodriguez’s run-heavy offense.

We have some educated and informed guesses elsewhere on the field, but we do not know how the staff plans to rotate depth. The roster features 39 seniors, falling just shy of one-third of the roster entering their final seasons of eligibility. The staff could fill nearly an entire two-deep from senior talent alone. As a result, how they rotate the talent–and get critical downs spread to some of the underclassmen–remains a question.

Will the Roster Embrace the Blue Collar?

Long story short, the Mountaineers as a whole have lacked the blue-collar, gritty mentality that Don Nehlen and Rodriguez turned into the WVU calling card during their tenures. Brown gave the concept lip service, but fans never saw it translate to the field. Rodriguez brings back his “hard e dge” mantra, but will the roster embrace it and take on the identity?

In some ways, the roster seems to be constructed for that very purpose. Some of the key transfers–from Jordan Scruggs to Jimmori Robinson–made the most of their time in the lesser conferences. Will their experience and talent translate to the Power Four level? Other transfers have been overlooked or doubted for a variety of reasons. One can look across the roster and find many examples of journeymen looking to prove their worth. Rodriguez brings a team-first, gritty approach that could be well-served by this collection of players. How will they gel, and how much will that toughness matter? Those questions remain for the Mountaineers. How well West Virginia’s athletes answer those questions will dictate whether we call the season a success in December.