A New Running Back Option? Rich Rod Reveals One Defensive Player Could Be in the Mix

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West Virginia's running back room has suffered a long list of injuries this season.
Jahiem White has been out for the year since Week 2, Tye Edwards was ruled out for the year a couple of weeks ago, Diore Hubbard missed some time earlier in the year, Kannon Katzer has been banged up most of the year, and if you go to the beginning of fall camp, Jaylan Knighton was deemed academically ineligible.
To say the least, the running back room has gone through it. The injuries began early in fall camp, which forced Rodriguez to add Tyler Jacklich and Andre Devine to the roster in the middle of August, but neither is in a position to take on a larger role at the moment.
During his radio show on Monday night, Rodriguez dropped a huge piece of news revealing that bandit Curtis Jones Jr. may see some time at running back to help that group out.
"Curtis is a guy that's playing all special teams. He got about 20 snaps on defense, and we might try to play him some at running back, too. When Tye got hurt, we lost our big guy at running back. Curtis is a bigger guy, so for some of those short-yardage situations, CJ might be the guy for us."
The 6'4", 220-pounder from Huntington also played running back at Cabell Midland High School, where he rushed for 1,762 yards and 27 touchdowns. As a matter of fact, he was a two-time all-state player at the position, so it's not a completely foreign position for him, given his experience and success at the prep level.
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Schuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.
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