West Virginia’s first real test of the Rich Rodriguez era won’t come on a Saturday in September. It’ll come inside fall camp, in the daily grind, when the Mountaineers start to show whether the culture is actually taking root.
That’s the part Rodriguez will be watching closest as camp opens next week and August unfolds. He already got a look at much of this roster in spring ball, and he’s seen how the group has responded in the weight room and over the summer.
But as the practices get sharper and the competition gets tighter, the picture gets clearer fast. Some players will climb.
Others won’t.
And as anyone around college football knows, there’s only so much a staff can truly know before Week 1. The real answers come when a team lines up across from somebody else.
Jed Drenning, Rodriguez’s co-host on the In The Gun Podcast, laid out the one thing that should tell Rich Rodriguez WVU is headed in the right direction. He said it’s not something you can chart or measure on a spreadsheet.
“I don’t think it’s something you measure on paper, but you can feel it in the locker room. It’s year two, and the expectation is there is going to be some holdover, even with 80 guys turned over on the roster, and what that means is 30+ guys aren’t.
Even with all those guys on the roster, the staff, in large measure, is back. You have way more kids back this year even with 80 new faces, so the expectation is the culture starts to work its way in, and it gets to a point where, to some extent, some of the culture piece is going to be on cruise control.
Culture is a euphemism in Rich’s world for toughness, hard edge, whatever you want to call it.
"So by the end of camp, after the grind of knocking each other around, you’re going to get a sense once they line up and get ready for the gong show and bonding that way, which is some of the greatest bonding in the world. If you’ve never been a part of one, you don’t know what you’re missing.
You are so relieved that camp’s behind you, the good stuff’s ahead of you, and now, let’s just kick back and make fun of your teammates, make fun of your coaches. If by that point, you’re getting ready to do your skits for the gong show, if the staff recognizes we’ve got a tough football team…it’s going to be a fun 2026.”
In Other News...
West Virginia Suddenly Has A New Roster Question Across Three Sports
A fresh eligibility ruling out of Colorado has suddenly put West Virginia in an awkward spot across three sports, with a federal judge ordering the NCAA to grant an extra year to a broad group of athletes whose college clocks are about to run out. For the Mountaineers, the ripple effect could touch football, basketball and baseball, where roster planning is already tight and every scholarship spot matters.
The NCAA is expected to challenge the decision, but even the uncertainty is enough to complicate how West Virginia thinks about next season and beyond. If the injunction stands, the bigger question becomes how roster limits and revenue-sharing rules will be adjusted, and whether the Mountaineers will have to reshuffle plans on the fly while trying to keep their lineups intact. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Could Suddenly Have Some Unexpected Roster Decisions To Make
A federal ruling out of Colorado has put another roster wrinkle in front of college football programs, including West Virginia, by opening the door for some former players from the 2022 student-athlete class to chase an additional year of eligibility. Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that pauses the old NCAA framework for those athletes, creating a possible avenue for ex-Mountaineers to return to school if the decision holds.
For WVU, the timing matters because the NCAA is expected to appeal to the Tenth Circuit, and that process could stretch on for months before the picture clears. In the meantime, the Mountaineers may have to sort through an unexpected list of players who could become eligible again, a situation that can affect scholarship planning, depth charts and the broader shape of the roster well before fall camp gets here. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Secondary Suddenly Has A Bigger Question Than Fans Expected
West Virginias secondary was already shaping up as a key summer storyline, and Jason Chambers decision adds another layer to it. The starting cornerback spent last season as part of the Mountaineers rotation and gave the staff a veteran presence on the outside, which is why his place on the roster had figured into the conversation about how much experience would be back in the defensive backfield.
Now the focus shifts to who steps in around him, with the cornerback room suddenly looking thinner than expected. West Virginia still has options to sort through as it builds toward the upcoming season, but the departure changes the picture enough that the staff has to rework its plans and lean on a new lead option in a spot that was supposed to be more settled. [Read more 🡒]