Sunday Morning Thoughts: The Worst Era of WVU Football is About to End

Better days are ahead for the Mountaineers.

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Last night, the 2026 NFL Draft came to an end, and as expected, there was not a single West Virginia Mountaineer selected in any of the seven rounds. Some guys may land undrafted free agent deals or rookie minicamp invites, but none will enter the next stage on guaranteed contracts... for now.

Considering this has been the worst seven-year stretch in the history of Mountaineer football, the low draft numbers shouldn't shock you, but in Neal Brown's stint in Morgantown, only five players were drafted.

S Kenny Robinson was drafted in 2020, but never played for Brown and instead was drafted out of the XFL. You could count defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (Los Angeles Chargers) and linebacker Josiah Trotter (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), but neither of them finished with WVU.

The 2025 team had no NFL talent on it, at least those who were eligible to make the jump up to the next level or had exhausted their college eligibility, hence why they had so many issues and finished 4-8.

As I've explained many times here over the past year, Rich Rodriguez and his staff were up against it in the transfer portal a year ago. They were trying to recruit guys to a clear rebuilding situation, and for a while, to a team that had no coaches on it.

In his first full year of high school recruiting, the Mountaineers finished with a top 25 class, and depending on which ranking you look at, they finished in the top 25 of the portal as well. That doesn't always equate to more wins, but it positions you to have a fighting chance.

This 2026 group is...intriguing...

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Will they win eight or more games? I don't know if I'd place your expectations that high. It could happen, but what I do know is this group is in a much better place after spring ball than last year's group was at any point of the season.

Rick Trickett knows what he's doing, and he's got somewhere between eight and ten guys along the offensive line who can play. They will find the right five and get push, allowing this ground game led by Cam Cook to be more successful.

QB Mike Hawkins Jr. is on a whole other level from any quarterback we've seen in Morgantown over the past seven years, if you ask me. He's the most talented quarterback they've had since Will Grier, and to be honest, I don't think there's a close second.

Defensively, they're bigger, longer, and faster. Most of my concerns do come on the defensive side of the ball, but again, there are more capable bodies for Zac Alley to work with.

Getting to a bowl game should be no problem for this squad, especially with how the first half of the schedule sets up. Reaching a bowl and then some with a young core is the first step to climbing out of this hole the program is in.

Next-level recruiting

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Recruiting is so different from what it was just a handful of years ago. It's not just coaches identifying talent and forming a relationship with the player. Teams have a front office-like setup, having a GM (Chuck Lillie) in place, alongside guys like Director of Player Personnel Ben Kerr and Director of Player Evaluation Chance Trickett, who was hired this offseason after spending several years in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.

Trickett has revamped their entire scouting and evaluation process, and it's already changed the game for WVU. He's bringing much of what he learned with the Rams with him, and if you look at how well they drafted over the years, including the years they didn't have a first-round pick, it's amazing how many overlooked players they hit on and became stars. Because WVU isn't going to have Texas Tech money, they're going to have to find those hidden gems, and Trickett will know how to find them and recognize what they look like.

Before Trickett joined the staff, WVU was already having success on the recruiting trail, landing big-time talent such as offensive lineman Kevin Brown, safety Matt Sieg, and running back Amari Latimer. If that's the type of talent they can land in year one and off the heels of a 4-8 season (all committed after the season ended), just imagine what they'll be able to do the longer this staff is in place and when they win more games.