Eight games into the season, West Virginia has had enough time to separate the portal wins from the portal misses, and the bye week offered a clean moment to sort through all 38 transfer additions. The list does not include junior college transfers, but it does paint a pretty clear picture of who has mattered, who still needs time, and who has barely shown up at all.
At the bottom of the board are the names that either haven’t found a role or haven’t made an impact yet. K Peter Notaro, LB Malachi Hood, RB NaQuari Rogers, OL Cam Griffin, OL Devin Vass, EDGE Tobi Haastrup, LB Tyler Stolsky, WR TaRon Francis, TE Cam Ball and FB Kayden Luke all land in the first tier of the rankings, with Hood standing out as the biggest surprise.
He was part of the linebacker rotation last year at Illinois and played fairly well, so his absence from the field is hard to explain after a stretch when the defense needed help. Rogers, meanwhile, has been with the program only a few weeks and still hasn’t made his debut.
With Cam Cook playing at an elite level and Amari Latimer continuing to grow, it remains to be seen whether Rogers ever cracks the rotation.
A little higher up, the safety group starts to take shape, though not always in a good way. Kamari Wilson opened the year playing solid football, but since Big 12 play began he has struggled badly, especially in coverage.
The PFF numbers are rough: 20 receptions allowed for 295 yards. WVU needs a much stronger closing month from him.
Josh Sapp, Maliek Hawkins, Jaire Rawlison, Da’Mare Williams, Will LeBlanc, Jacob Bradford, Karmeron Reddic, Emerson Joy, Andrew Powdrell, Chams Diagne and JaCorey Thomas round out the next stretch of the rankings, with a couple of defenders starting to push upward. LeBlanc and Bradford both saw bigger roles in the win over TCU and made the most of them, showing enough to suggest they could earn even more snaps over the final four weeks.
Diagne, one of the corners Zac Alley trusts, played a season-high 83 snaps against the Frogs and has been steady, if not spectacular. West Virginia, though, needs more than steady; it needs him to bring a more physical edge.
There’s also a middle group that has flashed enough to matter, even if consistency is still an issue. Bryan Hansen, EDGE David Afogho, WR John Neider, K Jack Cassidy, RT Carsten Casady, LB Jason Hall Jr., DL Zeke Durham-Campbell and LB Isaiah Patterson all slot in here.
Afogho delivered one of the biggest plays of the TCU win with the strip sack of Jaden Craig, and he’s produced moments all season without yet stringing them together. Patterson has been one of the portal’s quiet success stories.
He hasn’t been great in any one area, but he has been dependable across the board, which has made him a bright spot on a defense that has had plenty of issues elsewhere.
The top end of the rankings is where the portal class really starts to look dangerous. EDGE Harper Holloman sits at No. 8 and is doing exactly what West Virginia wanted: rushing the passer.
He already has 21 pressures, just three behind last year’s team leaders, Devin Grant and Reid Carrico. WR Prince Strachan, RG Amare Grayson and C Wes King follow, but the biggest noise comes from DJ Epps and Geimere Latimer.
Epps has turned into one of the nation’s most explosive receivers, leading the country in yards per reception at 25.3 and earning a spot on the Biletnikoff Award watch list. And then there’s the duo at the top of the portal class: Cook and Hawkins.
For all the talk about recreating Pat White and Steve Slaton, the production has been so loud that it’s hard not to notice. Cam Cook has the third-most rushing yards in the country with 923, while Hawkins leads the nation with 16 rushing touchdowns and has added 1,598 passing yards, 11 passing touchdowns and only two interceptions.
If West Virginia were sitting at 6-2 or better, Hawkins would be getting Heisman chatter right now. And honestly, Cook probably would be, too.
In Other News...
WVUs Offense Has Two Stars But One Big Stretch-Run Concern
West Virginias offense has leaned heavily on a pair of stars through the bye week, and the numbers help explain why the unit has looked so dangerous at times. Quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. has played at an elite level, while running back Cam Cook has been one of the most productive backs in the country, ranking third nationally in rushing yards. The rest of the offense has been a mixed bag by comparison, with the articles grades and snap counts showing a group that has delivered enough support to keep the Mountaineers moving, but not always with the same week-to-week consistency.
The stretch run will be about whether West Virginia can get more from the pieces around those two difference-makers. The bye week gives the staff a chance to reset, evaluate where the offense has been strong and where the weak spots have shown up, and then decide what changes might help as the season resumes. For a team with obvious firepower at quarterback and running back, the bigger question is whether the supporting cast can rise enough to keep the offense from becoming too dependent on Hawkins and Cook. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs November Gauntlet Will Decide Whether This Season Becomes More
West Virginias path to a bigger finish this season is about to get a lot clearer, and a lot harder. At 5-3, the Mountaineers have put themselves in position to make the final month matter, but the schedule ahead brings three ranked opponents into the mix and leaves little room for a slip if they want to turn a solid season into something more meaningful.
ESPNs FPI matchup predictor does not exactly make the road look inviting in the final four games, and the numbers reflect what the eye test already suggests about the challenges ahead. The good news for West Virginia is that the season is still sitting on a knifes edge, which means November can still push this group toward a strong finish. The bad news is that the margin for error shrinks quickly when the opposition gets this steep. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia May Have A Star QB It Can't Take For Granted
Mike Hawkins Jr. has been one of the biggest reasons West Virginias offense has looked dangerous this fall. The Mountaineers quarterback is drawing national attention for production that goes well beyond the box score, sitting ninth among quarterbacks in PFF grades while piling up efficiency marks that separate the truly productive passers from the merely busy ones.
Hawkins has also given West Virginia a rare blend of explosiveness and restraint, leading the nation in rushing touchdowns while ranking near the top in yards per completion and adjusted yards per pass attempt. The deeper concern for the Mountaineers is how much of that growth has come from a quarterback who is making difficult throws, creating chunk plays and limiting mistakes despite a completion rate shaped by aggressive downfield attempts and a few too many drops around him. [Read more 🡒]