Fall camp is almost here in Morgantown, and with it comes a roster that looks almost completely rebuilt for the 2026 season. Rich Rodriguez and his staff will have plenty to sort through once the team gets going, and the competition for snaps figures to be fierce just about everywhere.
A few position fights stand out right away.
At quarterback, the conversation is centered on Michael Hawkins and Scotty Fox. Fox finished last season as the starter, but Hawkins was brought in early in the transfer portal window, and Rodriguez said during media days that Hawkins brings a "higher ceiling" to the offense.
That certainly points in one direction. Even so, Fox got a handful of reps with what appeared to be the first team over the summer, so this one still has room to play out.
The interior of the defensive line looks just as unsettled. Corey McIntyre Jr., KJ Henson, Taylor Brown, Nate Gabriel, Jaylen Thomas and Will LeBlanc are all in the mix at nose tackle and defensive tackle.
It’s a group built from different paths: junior college transfers, a transfer from a lower school, and players who have developed inside the program after arriving out of high school. Gabriel has the most game experience after playing as a true freshman, but Thomas is the kind of big body who drew interest from a lot of major programs.
Henson and Thomas, along with Darius Wiley - who is more of an edge player than an interior one - were recruited out of JUCOs like they were four-year transfers.... or at least they spent like it.
Cornerback might be the most crowded battle of all. The staff added multiple junior college and four-year transfers there, yet Nick Taylor and Keyshawn Robinson seemed to work as the first team through spring.
Whether that holds is worth watching closely, especially after the coaches made it clear to recruits that they wanted more size in the secondary. Chams Diagne, Da'Mun Allen and Rayshawn Reynolds were all listed at 6-foot-3.
In Other News...
Two WVU Starters Suddenly Face A 2026 Role Shakeup
West Virginias offensive depth chart is already starting to take shape for the future, and two familiar names are at the center of the discussion. Livingston, who handled the starting center job before, is now being viewed as a player whose best path may be in a reserve role, while Fox remains part of the quarterback conversation as the Mountaineers map out what comes next behind Mike Hawkins.
For Fox, the immediate outlook is more about patience than pressure, since his development appears tied to Hawkins keeping the job this fall. Livingstons situation is a little different, with the staffs offseason moves creating a clearer opening for someone else at center and leaving his role to be sorted out as West Virginia pieces together its interior line for 2026. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Recruiting Board Faces New Pressure After Peach Jam Weekend
The Peach Jam weekend in North Augusta gave West Virginias 2027 recruiting board a fresh look at three priority prospects, and the results were mixed enough to keep the staff digging. Paul Osaruyi, Javion Tyndale and Justin Frison all got extended run on the Nike EYBL stage, where every possession is under a microscope and every game can sharpen or complicate a recruiting evaluation.
Osaruyis group never found a foothold in group play, while Tyndales team struggled to string together enough wins to climb out of the pack. Frisons team was the most competitive of the three, but even that run ended short of the playoffs, leaving WVU with plenty of film and a few new questions as the board starts to tighten around what each player can bring at the next level. [Read more 🡒]