Spring practice has concluded, and now the next stage of the off-season begins for West Virginia.
The Mountaineers wrapped up drills with the Gold-Blue Showcase and now will spend the majority of this week meeting with players to discuss their futures with the program.
“To kind of let them know where they’re at,” he said.
West Virginia is looking to get down to 105 roster spots as part of the pending House Settlement and while those decisions don’t have to be official until the week of the first game the process is already in motion.
The coaches plan to evaluate each of the players on the roster in order to determine where they’re at on the depth chart as well as in regard to their status.
“Most of them we’ll tell them where they’re at, give them an opportunity if we suggest they go in the portal that they have time to get in the portal,” Rodriguez said.
That will largely be done by what unfolded in front of the coaches over the course of the 15 practices as well as evaluating individual cutups.
Those cutups will be available for every player on the roster that features one-on-one drills, seven-on-seven drills and live team reps both the good and the bad, throughout the course of the spring.
“This has got to be a football type of decision based on those – what we’ve seen every day and then also what we see on those cutups,” Rodriguez said.
As Rodriguez as alluded to all spring, that’s going to force some difficult decisions for the coaching staff as some players might have to leave to make the roster size work even though they’re doing everything right.
“They’re competing at all that. We just don’t have room at that spot or that position to keep them and that’s why I think it’s crazy that you’ve got to cut them down,” he said.
The second transfer portal window is set to open April 16 and stay that way through April 25, which means that after the program sorts through its own roster, the Mountaineers will then get to work on filling out their remaining needs both for depth and to address concerns.
“You know, if the rev share thing goes as they think it will be in July, we need to have our – in my mind, our 105 rosters done in July,” Rodriguez said.
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