MORGANTOWN — Preseason hype is rarely mentioned from a coaching staff, especially of a true freshman who’s never set foot on a college football field.
WVU head coach Neal Brown briefly mentioned CJ Donaldson, a Miami native who enrolled in June, was moving to running back from tight end when asked the first week of fall camp about position changes.
Then the hype continued to grow as Brown mentioned Donaldson several times as one of the biggest surprises of camp, even going as far to say Donaldson was definitely going to see the field early in the year.
For a first year player, it was rare praise from the coaches.
“We did some OTAs in the summer and had a running back (Lyn-J Dixon) transitioning out of the program, so we only had three scholarship guys,” Brown said. ”I was watching him do some special teams technique work and his movements were really fluid. I told coach (Chad) Scott, ‘Let’s put him at all running back drills for the next couple weeks of OTAs. If he can’t do it, we’ll go get a transfer and there’s a couple out there. But if he can, let’s do it. I want to play the kid any way, and he’s going to be a match-up problem.'”
Brown said Donaldson was originally recruits to be an H-back, possibly playing some inside receiver or tight end. At 240 pounds, he didn’t physically fit the mold of a typical running back, but his athleticism was intriguing.
Through three games this season, not only has Donaldson seen the field, he’s been one of, if not the best offensive weapon for the Mountaineers (1-2, 0-1 Big 12).
He had 274 yards on 29 carries, a whopping 9.1 yards per attempt, and has also found the end zone six times. He has two 100-yard games in the first three games, including last week against Towson where he ripped off a long 82-yard scamper for a score.
While Tony Mathis has still gotten the starting nod in all three games, Donaldson is certainly a mainstay in the rotation, even though he’s never played running back before the Pitt game on Sept. 1.
“Throughout my whole football career, I never played the same position,” Donaldson said. “In high school, I started at the X, moved to Z, then Y and then moved to H-back, so it was always a transition. In little league, I played mostly defense. I’ve changed around a lot. I’m a football player and I can do it all.”
With a big game looming Thursday night against Virginia Tech (2-1, 1-0 ACC) in Blacksburg, WVU hopes Donaldson continues to factor into the game plan in a big way, but there is still some cautiousness with how to handle the workload of a true freshman who’s never played the position before.
“We have to get him in shape where he can play more plays,” Brown said. “People want to know why he’s not playing. Well he plays as many plays as he can play right now. He could’ve played a little bit more in the second half if we wanted him to, but he’s a good football player.”
Kickoff at VT is set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
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