West Virginia RB Commit SirPaul Cheeks Suffers Season-Ending Injury

The injury bug has been a big part of West Virginia's struggles this season, and now, it has stung a future Mountaineer. According to a report from Rivals, 2026 WVU running back commit SirPaul Cheeks has torn his ACL and will miss the remainder of his senior season at Varina High School in Virginia.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound speedster picked West Virginia in mid-July over offers from Appalachian State, Ball State, Buffalo, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Kentucky, Liberty, Minnesota, Old Dominion, Pitt, Temple, UConn, USF, and several others.

NEW: Varina High School (VA) RB SirPaul ‘Jesus in Cleats’ Cheeks is out for the season with a torn ACL, he tells Rivals.

Cheeks is a West Virginia commit.https://t.co/p6zjdn4P7w pic.twitter.com/Y9cdjB4z5R
— Rivals High School (@Rivals_HS) October 12, 2025

We have reached out to Cheeks to get a timeline on his road to recovery and will update this story when we hear back. Assuming this puts him behind for the 2026 season, WVU will still be in good shape numbers-wise at the running back position. Jahiem White, Diore Hubbard, Kannon Katzer, Clay Ash, Tyler Jacklich, and Andre Devine all have eligibility remaining, and they have two others backs — Christopher Talley and Jett Walker — committed in the 2026 class.

Our evaluation from this past summer:

Before you start jumping to conclusions, no, I'm not comparing him directly to Noel Devine, but he has a very similar running style and burst that Noel had. He has the ability to throw it into high gear at any moment and truly leave defenders in the dust. Big play after big play after big play. It's no wonder the young man averaged over a first down per carry. Every time he touches the ball, it's more than likely resulting in a first down or touchdown. I am interested to see how well he can handle the physicality in between the tackles at the next level, since there's not much of it on his tape. He does run hard enough that I don't believe it will be much of a problem, if one at all. Of the three running backs committed to WVU in this class, his ceiling might be the highest. Blazing speed, terrific hands, and super shifty.

Our evaluation from this past summer:

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