Amir Jenkins Decides to Remain with WVU — Here's What it Means for the Mountaineers

The transfer portal is closed, and freshman guard Amir Jenkins is still on the West Virginia roster. He's not going anywhere. Although his name never appeared in the portal, the team's social media account wanted to make it known that Jenkins will remain a Mountaineer, posting a video captioned, "Staying put."

Staying put 😏

🤝 @amirjenkins0 pic.twitter.com/kRhJAqL59b
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) April 23, 2026

Jenkins was supposed to be a part of the 2026 recruiting class, but he reclassified to commit to West Virginia and join the program a year early. While he had some freshman-like moments, he proved that he belongs in the Big 12, particularly with his effort on the defensive end of the floor. His energy, intensity, and quickness are what give him the ability to be a menace on the ball, and he's only going to get better the longer he's in Ross Hodge's system and gets stronger.

As you're well aware of by now, Jenkins suffered two torn labrums this past season, the second of which didn't happen until the end of the year against TCU. They weren't sure that it was torn, but after an MRI on the one he did have torn, they examined the other and realized it needed repaired as well.

"He played with a torn labrum in his left shoulder the entire year. And not one time made an excuse," head coach Ross Hodge said. "He could’ve easily shut it down, but never complained. It hindered him. It hindered his shooting ability. It hindered his free-throw shooting — you can’t lift your arms. But he loved his teammates so much, and he’s about as throwback as a player that you could run across in the era of college basketball. Yeah, there was games that it would get out of there and they’d pop it right back in, and you wouldn’t even know."

Jenkins did not play in the College Basketball Crown so that he could get the surgeries done and begin his road to recovery. A timeline for how long he will remain on the shelf has not been released publicly at this time, but one can assume he's got quite a long road ahead of him.

What is his role for next season? What about the team's portal plans?

Because Jenkins isn't a knockdown shooter (even before the injuries), he's probably best suited to come off the bench as a backup to Miles Sadler. The ball is going to be in Sadler's hands a bunch, and he'll need shooters and guys who can create their own shot around him. Jenkins is still developing that area of his game. In the meantime, he'll bring a spark defensively, that is, if he is able to play. Again, we're working without a known timeline here.

Because there is some uncertainty as to how long Jenkins will be out and how he will play when he does return — you'd have to assume there will be some rustiness — I would fully expect West Virginia to bring in another veteran guard who can handle the ball and play off the ball as well.

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