West Virginia’s Depth Chart Leaves Plenty to be Decided

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez released the depth chart on Tuesday evening, although the two-deep is not finalized.

“There's some ‘ORs’ on there,” stated Rodriguez.

Players can push the competition into the season, or it could be the case no one separated themselves among the position group. Rodriguez is hopeful the competition has continued.

“I think, mostly it's in a good way. If you have an ‘or’ because you're not sure either one of them are ready to do that, that makes it a little bit not so good,” he said. “But I think most of our OR’s, and probably all of them, are because we feel good about multiple guys at those positions.”

Among the starters, there are two ‘ORs’ on offense, three on defense and three among the specialists.

The starting quarterback has been highly anticipated and Pete Nakos of On3 reported on Friday that Oklahoma transfer Mike Hawkins Jr. will be the starter for the Mountaineers. Nonetheless, the depth chart for the season opener against Coastal Carolina has an OR between returning starter Scotty Fox Jr. and Hawkins.

The tight end room dealt with injuries during fall camp, and it appears junior Ryan Ward and freshman Kade Bush will share the duties in week one.

Defensively, the competition continues on the outside with edge rushers, Coastal Carolina transfer, Zeke Durham-Campbell and JUCO transfer Darius Wiley, and at WILL, between Cam Torbor and Ashton Woods, while free safeties JUCO transfer Andrew Powdrell and freshman Matt Sieg will overlook the secondary.

Kickoff duties may linger into week two if there are not enough opportunities, but entering in year two, Nate Flowers is battling Western Kentucky transfer Jack Cassidy, while Troy transfer receiver DJ Epps and freshman safety Matt Seig

The biggest surprise is along the offensive line. Returning starting center and Rimington Award Watch nominee Landon Livingston currently sits behind Wes King.

“My challenge to the guys in spring ball and then five weeks ago or four weeks ago when camp started was, ‘don't be concerned where you're at in the depth chart. Just show that you're good enough to win with, that we can play you and not be nervous that it diminishes our chances to have success’. So, I think they've done that,” Rodriguez said.

“I didn't see guys worried about who's first or second out there.”You hope.

West Virginia welcomed over 80 new Mountaineers to the program in the offseason, which provides a little more anxiety than maybe a typical season opener.

“A little more anxious because we have so many new guys that even though a lot of them have played some college football, they haven't played in this system.” Rodriguez said. “So, that's probably adding to the anxiety a little bit, but I'm anxious for those guys.”

“They've worked hard,” he added. “We got a hard week coming up and get ready and we'll see what we have.”

WVU Depth Chart

OFFENSE

QB: Mike Hawkins OR Scotty Fox Jr., Jyron Hughley OR Max Brown

RB: Cam Cook, Amari Latimer, Chris Talley, Martavious Boswell

WR (X): Jaden Bray, TaRon Francis, Landon Drumm

WR (SL): DJ Epps, Cyrus Traugh, Armoni Bomar-Weaver

WR (Z): John Neider, Cyrus Traugh, Keon Hutchins

TE: Josh Sapp OR Ryan Ward, Kade Bush OR Cam Ball

LT: Kevin Brown, Malik Agbo, Deshawn Woods

LG: Nick Krahe, Lamarcus Dillard

C: Wes King, Josh Aisosa

RG: Bubba Grayson, Cam Griffin

RT: Carsten Casady, Aidan Woods

DEFENSE

EDGE: Zeke Durham-Campbell OR Darius Wiley, Emerson Joy

DT: Corey McIntyre Jr., KJ Henson OR Yendor Mack

NT: Nate Gabriel, Will LeBlanc, Taylor Brown

BAN: Harper Holloman, David Afogho, Tobi Haastrup OR Jeremiah Johnson

WILL: Cam Torbor OR Ashton Woods

MIKE: Ben Cutter, Tyler Stolsky OR Isaiah Patterson

N/S: Geimere Latimer, Miles Khatri

CB: Chams Diagne, Keyshawn Robinson

CB: Nick Taylor, Jaire Rawlison

FS: Andrew Powdrell OR Matt Sieg

BS: Kamari Wilson, Da'Mare Williams OR Kameron Reddic

SPECIAL TEAMS

K: Jack Cassidy OR Nate Flower

KO: Nate Flower, Jack Cassidy

H: Bryan Hansen, Mack Flynn

P: Bryan Hansen, Mack Flynn

LS: Macguire Moss, Kaden Seller

KR: DJ Epps OR Matt Sieg

PR: DJ Epps OR Matt Sieg

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