MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - DJ Epps arrived at West Virginia with a résumé that already turned heads in the transfer portal, and the senior slot receiver is quickly showing why the Mountaineers wanted him.
Rich Rodriguez and his staff put a premium on production when they evaluated portal options last year, and Epps had plenty of it at Troy. The former walk-on broke through in 2025, finishing with 47 catches for 512 yards and five touchdowns. His season included a memorable first scoring grab against South Alabama, a 10-catch, 148-yard, two-touchdown outburst against Texas State that ended with the game-winning score in overtime, and an eight-catch, 103-yard, two-touchdown game against Georgia State.
He wasn’t only a weapon on offense. Epps also handled return duties and made a real impact there, taking one kick back 79 yards and finishing second in the Sun Belt Conference with 554 return yards on 23 kickoffs.
That kind of all-around production helped West Virginia zero in on him, and Epps was sold on the move once the Mountaineers entered the picture.
"Obviously, West Virginia is a great program, and coming from Troy, it's always going to be a different process coming from different schools, but coach Rodriguez is a big reason why I chose here because he's a great leader," the soft-spoken Epps said earlier today.
He also pointed to the way West Virginia practices and demands a certain edge.
"There is a different intensity here than where I came from, so you have to play with a hard edge like coach always says and just give it your all each and every play," he mentioned.
Epps’ path to this point has been anything but easy. At Russell County High in Phenix City, Alabama, he played quarterback and wide receiver and earned all-area honors. He also piled up 30 catches for 544 yards and four touchdowns while totaling 1,013 all-purpose yards and 10 scores.
Still, none of that was enough to land a Division I scholarship out of high school, so he had to grind his way into the spotlight.
He spent two full years at Troy waiting for his chance, then finally started getting meaningful action in 2024. During that stretch, he treated every rep like it mattered.
"I really had to earn everything that I have, and I just took advantage of my opportunities," he explained. "You have to take advantage of every rep you have and just try and make plays. Ultimately, coaches will see it, for sure."
Now the 5-foot-11, 188-pound receiver is trying to carve out a role at West Virginia, where he’s working with Armoni Weaver-Bomar and Kendrick Triplett at the Y position.
His experience has already stood out to the coaching staff, especially inside receivers coach Logan Bradley.
"What I love about Epps is he understands what we're asking, and he takes coaching very well," Bradley said. "He can see what's happening in front of him because he has experience."
Bradley added, "He can tell when the blitz is coming, he can tell what types of coverages he's seeing so it's not, 'Hey, let me teach you this coverage. Let me break it down, Football 101 for you.'
When you do that to him, he's like, 'Yes sir, I know this.' As a coach, that makes you more comfortable and then he just puts his head down and works."
Rodriguez has noticed the same thing.
"D.J. Epps is a really good player," he said following this morning's practice. "He's a guy who was highly productive where he was at, and he's had excellent practices all during camp."
That versatility is part of what makes Epps so valuable. He can help on offense, and he can change a game in the return game too.
"Whatever the coaches need from me I'm going to do and try and do my best at it," he mentioned.
At Troy, Epps said he never really saw himself as one of the leaders. At West Virginia, his experience and production have put him in that spot anyway, and he’s leaning into it.
"I really just leading the young guys. I'm a vet now, so I just try and give them different tips each and every day and lead by example," he said, adding, "Be first in line and just show them how to be a true worker."
Bradley said that approach has already been obvious.
"I think DJ is leading the group pretty well right now," Bradley observed. "He understands the grind of every play and being in for five straight plays when we're going tempo, so that makes you feel good as a coach with him."
West Virginia completed its seventh fall camp practice earlier today in shorts and helmets on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field. The Mountaineers are scheduled to practice in full pads again tomorrow morning before Saturday’s closed scrimmage inside the stadium. Four practices remain before the start of the fall semester next Tuesday.
In Other News...
Geimere Latimer II Could Be The Steadying Presence WVU Needs
Geimere Latimer II arrives in Morgantown with the sort of background West Virginia can lean on in the secondary. The senior defensive back has already logged college stops at Jacksonville State and Wisconsin before coming to the Mountaineers, and his experience shows up in the kind of production that usually earns a staffs trust - 88 tackles, a forced fumble and four interceptions across his career.
For a program looking ahead to the 2026 season, Latimer offers something beyond numbers. He also gets the chance to line up alongside his brother, Amari Latimer, giving West Virginia another layer of familiarity in a room that could use stability. With two years of eligibility left under the 5-for-5 model, he has time to become more than a veteran addition and help set the tone for what the Mountaineers want that defense to look like. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Offensive Line Rebuild Suddenly Looks Deeper Than Fans Expected
West Virginias offensive line has gone from a question mark to one of the more veteran-looking groups in college football, and the turnaround has come faster than expected. Rich Rodriguez and offensive line coach Rick Trickett have spent camp pointing to a cluster of young linemen who are already forcing their way into the conversation, giving the Mountaineers a depth chart that looks far different from the one fans might have imagined when the rebuild began.
Kevin Brown, Aidan Woods, Jonas Muya, Camden Goforth and Lamarcus Dillard have all drawn attention for how physically ready and mature they have looked, with some of them projecting as early contributors and possibly starters down the line. For a unit that needed both stability and numbers, that kind of emergence matters, because it suggests West Virginia is not just filling spots for now but building a group that could hold up as the season moves forward. [Read more 🡒]