Rodriguez Jokes About Needing Portal Help After WVU WRs Struggle on Day One

There's still a long way to go before West Virginia takes the field against Robert Morris on August 30th, which is a good thing for the wide receiver group, and for the whole team, for that matter.

There's a lot for this group to learn and, more importantly, get accustomed to, such as how they practice. On day one of fall camp, head coach Rich Rodriguez noted that the uptempo pace to practice may have caught them (and others) a little off guard.

“After one day? No," Rodriguez responded when asked if he feels good about the depth at receiver. "Half of them were cramped up today. I don’t think they’re used to the volume. I don’t know. The portal is still open, right? If we need…I mean, if you’re in the portal now, you’re probably pretty desperate," he said jokingly. "There might be some good ones still out there, I don’t know. I like our group of wideouts, but I think the volume of a first practice was a little bit of a shock to some of them.”

The first day of practice is never going to produce top-tier results, regardless of how experienced a particular position group is or the talent that exists in that room. It's just getting your feet wet and getting back into the groove of things, so there's no reason to sound the alarm just yet.

Rodriguez has a bunch of options in that room, many of which have logged a bunch of catches and yardage throughout their careers, such as Jaden Bray, Cam Vaughn (Jacksonville State TR), Logan Ramper (Slippery Rock transfer), Jeffrey Weimer (Idaho State TR), and Justin Smith Brown (South Carolina State TR). They also have a handful of young guys — Rodney Gallagher III, Christian Hamilton (North Carolina TR), Jordan McCants (Jacksonville State TR) — who have shown flashes and are capable of turning into big-time contributors this fall.

Weimer is not allowed to practice at the moment due to having to wait for an eligibility ruling from the NCAA. In the meantime, he and three others on the roster (RB Tye Edwards, DL Jimmori Robinson, S, and Justin Harrington) have to do work on their own. If/when he gets cleared, he'll be toward the top of the receiver rotation.

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