West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez made it crystal clear that the spring was going to be critical for evaluations and determining the next steps when it comes to the roster construction for the Mountaineers football team.
But working under the belief that the 105 roster limit will be in place this fall that meant that there were going to be some difficult decisions that had to be made all around.
The second transfer portal window is set to open April 16 and the coaching staff spent time in the wake of the closure of spring practice meeting with players on the roster to let them know where they’re at in the roster.
Those meetings were designed to give the players transparency on their standing and where they fit into the picture. It seems that’s exactly what has been unfolding.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that with spring ball in the rearview mirror, there has been some significant roster turnover already with 28 players either being removed from the official roster or announcing their intentions to enter the transfer portal when that window opens.
Now, it’s impossible to say that each of those departures were created equally as the reasoning could vary for each player in that category with some of them potentially making the choice to exit due to their fit. Remember it’s a new coaching staff that didn’t recruit the majority of the holdovers so that’s only natural.
But it’s still not the least bit surprising that Rodriguez and his coaching staff are looking at more roster reconstruction once that second portal window opens to address key needs and bring in more competition.
Currently when you include all of the players currently listed on the roster combined with the 19 that have already signed but yet to enroll, the Mountaineers only have a handful of spots available to hit that magic 105 number if that is indeed the threshold once the House Settlement is approved.
Given the needs that remain at spots across the football team it isn’t a major leap to suggest that the departures aren’t quite over yet as Rodriguez and his coaching staff attempt to put together the best football team possible with the spots that they have available to them.
It’s a nature of the beast in today’s college football and while it’s not something anybody, including a very vocal Rodriguez throughout the course of spring football, has to like – it’s what the parameters are when it comes to building a roster in this transactional environment.
The expectation is that the West Virginia football roster isn’t close to a finished product and with that will come movement with players in order to put the best football team on the field.
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