Rich Rodriguez is Taking One Massive Gamble This Season

When it comes to running the football, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez knows what the hell he’s doing. He’s had a long history of producing prolific rushing attacks, including some of the very best right here during his stint in Morgantown.

Obviously, WVU had a bunch of issues finding any success on the ground last year, much of which could be attributed to the horrendous play of the offensive line, as well as the amount of injuries they had in the running back room.

This winter, he went out and retooled the offensive line, landing a bunch of seasoned veterans, and topped it off by replacing Jack Bicknell Jr. with his right-hand man, Rick Trickett, who is, without question, one of the best offensive line coaches in the history of college football.

As far as the running back room is concerned, he did sign the nation's leading rusher, Cam Cook, giving West Virginia a true threat. Beyond him, though, there are a ton of question marks.

They added Martavious Boswell from the junior college ranks and a former walk-on at Temple, Darius Morant, in the spring, who are the only two in that room who have played a college snap outside of Cook.

The confidence in Amari Latimer

The coaching staff is extremely high on true freshman Amari Latimer and rightfully so. The dude looks like he’s been in the NFL for five years and maybe even has a couple of rushing titles to his name.

What he did at Sandy Creek High School in Georgia is impressive to say the least. In his final three years there, where he was the starter, he racked up 4,922 yards and 90 touchdowns on 567 carries, giving him an 8.7 yards per carry average.

Physically speaking, Latimer is absolutely game-ready for big-boy Division I football and really has been for a little over a year now. That said, making the jump from high school is never easy, and there’s no guarantee that he will flourish from the get-go.

According to multiple sources I’ve talked to, Latimer has firmly positioned himself as the team's primary backup to Cook. That’s not all that surprising, considering the skill set, the frame, and what else exists in that room. With all due respect to the other pieces at running back, Latimer is far and away the most gifted.

Fellow true freshman Chris Talley is an interesting name to watch and could climb his way up the totem pole with a strong fall camp and the month of September, where he will have opportunities in the first two weeks against Coastal Carolina and UT Martin.

Talley is a home run header and has some serious upside. The question is, when will he be ready to handle meaningful snaps in conference games? It could be the Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State, or it may not be until the final weeks of the season; there’s just no telling.

Can you get anything from the other youngsters?

WVU also has two more freshmen set to join the program this summer in SirPaul Cheeks and Lawrence Autry, both of whom are capable of being legitimate playmakers at some point in their careers. But given that they will be joining late, it’s hard to see them factoring into the rotation in 2026, especially Cheeks, who is coming off a torn ACL.

Given what happened last season with all of the injuries, I would’ve thought Rodriguez would have added at least two Division I running backs with experience, if not three.

I’m fully aware that Cam Cook is one of the best running backs in the country, and will eat up a bulk of the workload, but you can’t just turn around and hand it to him 40 times a game.

I’m also aware that Latimer is not your typical freshman running back and will be an impact player from the jump, but he will go through some bumps along the way, as does every freshman that’s ever played the game.

But really, it’s more about putting all of your faith in the injury bug staying far away from Cook and Latimer. And to me, that’s a pretty damn big gamble given what we just witnessed in 2025.

Rodriguez and his staff did pursue other options in the transfer portal, so it’s not like it was for a lack of effort that there isn’t another veteran in the room. But even if they weren’t 100% sure a particular back was the right fit or if they decided to take an extra corner, receiver, or what have you instead, it’s still rolling the dice and, to some degree, playing with fire.

If Cook and Latimer stay healthy and the true freshman lives up to expectations, then all of this is a moot point, but it is something worth discussing and watching throughout the course of the season.

Will not taking another veteran running back come back to bite them?

Add us as a preferred source on Google