West Virginia running back room getting healthier

The West Virginia running back room is getting healthier at the right time according to Rich Rodriguez.

The Mountaineers had five running backs practicing Wednesday which is the most that the program has had since camp started according to the veteran head coach.

That is critical because running back is the one position where you do normally play more people. That isn’t always the case if one has the hot hand as Rodriguez won’t remove a player just for the sake of doing it, but he wants to have at least two or three ready to go at all times.

The Mountaineers have junior Jahiem White, redshirt junior Kannon Katzer, sophomore Cyncir Bowers, sophomore Clay Ash, redshirt freshman Diore Hubbard and redshirt senior Tye Edwards on the roster, while redshirt freshman Andre Devine was expected to join the program.

All of those outside of Edwards should be practicing now as he awaits the legal process seeking an immediate injunction in order to play this coming season. That hearing is set for Aug. 19.

The revelation that the room is getting healthier is especially important given the fact that SMU running back transfer Jaylan Knighton isn’t expected to be eligible this season due to an academic issue with one class.

“Yeah, don’t expect to have him. And we really liked him. I thought he was, you know, he was a good player. And the, it’s just that one issue came up, which is kind of a little bit of a surprise to everybody. So, yeah, he won’t be playing this year,” Rodriguez said.

West Virginia has been open to using the transfer portal to bolster depth at spots of concern on the roster, but Rodriguez said at this point if you’re adding somebody there are challenges at running back.

For one, you must hope that they’ve been training all summer and can arrive in shape because they’ve missed not only the summer conditioning but a bulk of the fall camp practices.

“There’s probably still a couple guys out there. But most, I mean not right now, it’s just pretty rare to find guys,” Rodriguez said.

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