Akheem Mesidor Becomes First Ex-WVU Player Drafted in 1st Round of Portal Era

The grass isn't always greener, but Mesidor still accomplished his dream.

Nov 20, 2021; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (90) chases Texas Longhorns quarterback Hudson Card (1) during the third quarter at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Over the years, West Virginia has lost some notable talent to the portal, but no departure stung more than that of defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor, who was well on his way to becoming a Mountaineer legend after two seasons in Morgantown. During the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Mesidor combined for 70 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks.

Since the transfer portal became a thing back in 2018, roughly 170 players have transferred out of West Virginia. The reasons vary, of course, with some wanting more playing time, a better fit, to be closer to home, and now the new thing — more money.

Mesidor's reason for leaving WVU, however, if you remember, was that he felt unsafe on campus, likely due to the incident that happened to one of his teammates. Whether that was the true reason or not is beside the point.

Huge portal losses for WVU have been rare

West Virginia On S

On Thursday night, Mesidor became the first player to transfer out of WVU in the portal era and be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, going 22nd overall to the Los Angeles Chargers. Had he stayed at West Virginia and been taken in the first round, he would have snapped a first-round drought that goes all the way back to Karl Joseph going to the Raiders in 2016.

As a matter of fact, he's only the fourth player to be drafted after leaving WVU, joining S Tykee Smith (Georgia, 3rd round), DL Jordan Jefferson (LSU, 4th round), and WR Kaden Prather (Maryland, 7th round). LB Josiah Trotter and RB CJ Donaldson are likely to join that list by the end of the weekend.

Now, on the other hand, only six players have been drafted out of WVU during that span, so the low totals on both ends explain the six-year-long struggles under Neal Brown. That said, there were some guys who maybe played their way out of being drafted, such as cornerback Dreshun Miller. He looked the part and was productive, yet left for the SEC and was buried on Auburn's depth chart.

I guess what I'm really trying to get at here is that every offseason, there's an overreaction to the number of players leaving the program or a fear that a high-caliber player is going somewhere else and will ball out, burning a huge hole in the hearts of WVU fans. The reality is, there have only been a select few.

Now, the real question is whether or not WVU will be able to retain its top talent in the NIL era. So from that standpoint, any feelings of concern are valid.