MORGANTOWN — Running back CJ Donaldson burst on the scene during his freshman season at WVU.
The converted tight end rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown and blocked a punt in the team’s season-opener against Pitt, and had 380 rushing yards in his first four collegiate games. Injuries ended his season prematurely after just seven games, but not before he captured the hearts of the Mountaineer fan base.
Imagine, then, the concern when Donaldson suddenly wiped his social media accounts clean of any references to WVU. The immediate thought was that Donaldson had been poached from the Mountaineers by a bigger, wealthier program, but the true reason was far less concerning.
Talking to Amanda Mazey in a video posted by the Country Roads Trust NIL collective, Donaldson said it was his way of coping with his season-ending injury.
“It was more of me being in a very closed space,” Donaldson explained. “I had just gotten hurt and I didn’t want to see a lot of football, I wasn’t even watching football games at the time. It was hard for me to see the team go out of the tunnel and play the games. Even practices were hard, watching them practice and go at each other, it was very hard to watch. It was me trying to stay as far away from football as possible.”
Donaldson finished his first season with 526 rushing yards and a team-high eight touchdowns, but missed the final four games of the year with a lower-body injury.
“At first, it was kind of depressing watching the team play,” Donaldson admitted. “That was one of the reasons why I tried to stay off social media a little bit, because it was depressing to see football pictures and stuff like that.”
Donaldson said the other members of the running back room — Tony Mathis, Jaylen Anderson, and Justin Johnson — helped keep his spirits up and kept him engaged with the team. Now, Donaldson said his rehab is going well and he’s on track for a healthy 2023.
“I wouldn’t say I’m 100%, but I’m heading in the right direction with rehab,” he said. “They say I’m on pace to play a little bit of spring ball, so that’s great news.”
While Donaldson’s social media cleanse proved to be a false alarm, fans were nonetheless worried that the transfer portal would eventually claim another young, talented player from WVU like it had many times before. But Donaldson said he is committed to the Mountaineers, sticking with the team that believed in him before anyone else did.
“Coming into college, I only had three official offers and there was only one Power 5 school, which was West Virginia,” he said. “This school believed in me before any other school did. My original (position) coach, I signed and he left the next week so I didn’t commit to just a coach, I committed to the program. This program fits me socially, academically and on the field, so this is where I want to be.”
Donaldson eventually built a strong relationship with running backs coach Chad Scott and he is very happy now that Scott has been promoted to offensive coordinator for next season.
“It’s a very special thing to have a great connection with your coach because you have the ability to play at a high level,” Donaldson said. “The way that (Scott) coaches you, he doesn’t coach you to be a coach, he more coaches you to be a friend who wants the best for the whole running back room.”
Donaldson didn’t bring up any personal goals for the 2023 season but said the team as a whole is hoping to take a big jump on both sides of the ball.
“Expectations for 2023 are just to show that we can be a consistent football team,” Donaldson said. “We’ve shown that we can win against great teams. We also have a very young team and I feel that we’ve grown since the 2022 season and going into the 2023 season, it will be a very high jump.”
WVU will play one of the hardest schedules in the nation yet again in 2023, with 11 games against Power 5 opponents. The Mountaineers will open the season against a Power 5 team for the third year in a row with a trip to Happy Valley to play Penn State for the first time since 1992.
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