By Keenan Cummings
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia football team still has five scholarships held over from the 2021 recruiting class and those could go to transfer targets.
The Mountaineers signed 16 prospects at the early signing period in December and added one transfer already in Virginia Tech offensive lineman Doug Nester. It’s a group that is rated one of the highest quality in the Rivals.com internet era, with an average star ranking of 3.25. That is good enough to rank No. 21 nationally.
There are still needs on the roster and that’s where the transfer portal could come in handy. The portal is essentially a database where players enter their names to be contacted by other schools. Those players wanting to transfer contact their compliance departments and have 48 hours to put a player’s name into the database to be contacted by other schools.
The Mountaineers have had 13 scholarship players enter the portal since last season, with starting cornerback Dreshun Miller being the most notable.
The portal is a two-way street, and like the Mountaineers have already done with Nester, they could look to address other roster holes with those remaining scholarships.
The biggest hole is at linebacker, where the Mountaineers lost leading tackler Tony Fields, coincidentally a transfer himself. That is a position that will almost assuredly be addressed in the portal, and there are names out there that could certainly help.
Michigan transfer Ben VanSumeran would have three years left and is an athletic option at the position. He is said to be interested in the program and has a connection with wide receiver Devell Washington.
There are others, such as Wake Forest linebacker Jacquez Williams, Florida State transfer Kevon Glenn and Boston College linebacker Korey Smith, just to name a few.
Other spots that will likely need addressed include defensive line, defensive back and on the offensive line, and there isn’t any shortage of possible options who could fill those holes, either.
Having five scholarships is an advantage at this junction, in large part because those portal numbers will continue to grow and more players will be on the market.
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown has shown how creative he can get when it comes to roster management, and the Mountaineers have plenty of time on their side to address any needs.
The transfer portal has certainly taken from the program, but it could be set to give back in a big way over the next couple months.
Tweet @rivalskeenan
