Zac Alley Reveals the Four WVU Freshmen Defenders You'll Likely See vs. Coastal

A handful of freshmen are expected to be big contributors to WVU's defense in 2026.

WVU Athletics Communications

It's starting to look like this 2026 recruiting class could turn out to be a special one for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

We've heard a bunch about the young guys turning heads on the offensive side of the ball, and on Tuesday, defensive coordinator Zac Alley provided some insight as to which true freshman could see the field on Saturday against Coastal Carolina, beyond Matt Sieg, of course.

“Probably see (defensive lineman) Yendor Mack. I think he’ll get some snaps out there. Probably (nickel/sams) Miles Khatri and Emory Snyder. Maybe some of those corners as well. I mean, hopefully I can get them all in. That’d be great. But I think some of the more major contributors are probably some of those guys. I think there’s probably five or seven more that I could say are on special teams, starting on special teams. I think you’ll see a lot of action from some of those guys. We got a good class of kids that came in last year.”

Mack is one of the most underrated players in this freshman class and yet has climbed his way up into a battle with JUCO product KJ Henson for the backup spot at defensive tackle behind Corey McIntyre Jr.

Khatri is currently listed as the backup at nickel/sam to Geimere Latimer, which was a bit of a surprise considering all of the good things we had been hearing about Maliek Hawkins. With he and Snyder both coming along quickly, that position may have four playable options by the time we reach Week 3.

Alley did briefly talk about Sieg, although it was more about how many things they are asking him to do.

“He’s definitely on every special teams. I said during the Beanie Bowl he’s just like running a marathon — run over here, run over there, and run over there. He’s on offense. He’s on defense. He’s on kick return. He’s on kickoff. He’s on punt. He’s on punt return. He’s on hands. I mean, he’s like everywhere. I mean, he probably had 10,000 yards just running back and forth on the field. I think you’ll see him at a lot of spots.”

Andrew Powdrell and Matt Sieg will both see a bunch of snaps at free safety, and a decision on the starter will likely be made on Friday. Regardless of who gets the nod, you can bet your bottom dollar Sieg is going to get a nice workload.