Expectations are high for West Virginia football this season. The Mountaineers had their best season under head coach Neal Brown in 2023, winning nine games. The team also throttled North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. While many are not expecting West Virginia to win the Big 12 conference this season, here are a few reasons why those expectations are unreasonable. A closer look at the Mountaineers finds that this team is as good as any to win the league.
West Virginia football has the best rushing attack in the Big 12
The first reason why WVU has a great chance to win the league is because of the running game. The Mountaineers return a treasure trove of great backs this season. CJ Donaldson is returning, as well as Jahiem White, who had a fabulous freshman campaign in 2023. White finished the 2023 season with 842 yards, and four touchdowns. He did that on just 109 carries.
Donaldson is a truly interesting rusher. He is reminiscent of an H back, a bulky type of runner who can also get extra yards catching passes out of the backfield. He joined the program as a tight end, but found a lot of success getting used under center during his freshman year in 2022. In his very first college game, he ran for 125 yards against Pitt on just seven rushes. In his second season with the team, he gained 798 yards and 11 touchdowns.
West Virginia football has great depth in the backfield as well. The team's third running back is Jaylen Anderson, who has already spent two years with the program. He played in seven games during the 2023 season, and started one. WVU led the Big 12 in rushing in 2023, per league stats, with nearly 229 yards per game on the ground. The team should do the same in 2024, as three rushers return for the Mountaineers.
The Mountaineers also return their starting quarterback. Garrett Greene is entering his fifth year in the program, among the most experienced in the league. Greene is yet another excellent rusher to give even more depth to the West Virginia rush offense. In his career, Greene has 1,394 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground. His versatility adds yet another wrinkle to the offense, and any West Virginia fan will tell you that Greene knows how to win.
The defensive transfers are under the radar
Strong defense is always needed for a team to win a conference championship. The WVU football defense had a solid season in 2023, and the team found a great group of transfers to keep that momentum going. West Virginia added an under the radar linebacker transfer in Reid Carrico, who played at Ohio State. The Mountaineers also picked up two solid defensive backs in Garnett Hollis Jr. and Jaheem Joseph, who come from Northwestern.
There's a lot to like about these three players. Hollis and Joseph both played significant snaps for a Northwestern football team last season that finished with a winning conference record in the Big Ten. The Big Ten is home to defending national champion Michigan, so these two guys had to go up against some high-octane offenses. It doesn't hurt either that West Virginia hit gold with the last Big 10 transfer they poached on defense, in Beanie Bishop.
Hollis started in all of Northwestern's games during the 2023 campaign. He finished the year with 49 tackles, and had five tackles five separate times for the Wildcats. All of those games were against Big Ten competition, so he doesn't get intimidated. Joseph got six starts for the team. He finished the year with 24 tackles, and picked up three interceptions. These two guys have experience, which will prove invaluable. Hollis and Joseph should both end up starting for a WVU secondary that also returns experienced safety Aubrey Burks. This Mountaineer defensive backfield is going to impress some people.
The most interesting addition is Carrico, who didn't see much action at Ohio State. He is very talented, however, as he was named the Ohio high school state defensive player of the year in 2019, by the state's sportswriters. He was a highly touted high school recruit in the 2021 class, ranked no. 57 nationally by 247 Sports that year. A former four star recruit, Carrico is going to show the Big 12 what he is capable of.
West Virginia has been in the Big 12 for more than a decade, but never made the conference championship game. It certainly is an exciting time to be a West Virginia football fan, because the team has a really great chance at making it this year.
West Virginia has a non conference slate that includes meetings with Pitt and Penn State. The team plays its first conference game on September 21 against Kansas.
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