Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. (3) warms up before the start of an NCAA college football game against LSU Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

It’s been two weeks, and the transfer portal has closed. West Virginia has significantly slowed down adding transfers, and it seems the Mountaineers are most likely to add only one or two more players this cycle. WVU has added a lot of players, and most of the positions are set for 2026.

One position is at quarterback.

The quarterback situation in 2025 was a mess, and there’s no doubt it negatively impacted the season as a whole. Rich Rodriguez didn’t name a starter through the spring, the summer, and up until the first game. Rodriguez didn’t know who the quarterback was going to be. He kept subbing out QBs through the first four games.

It seemed Nicco Marchiol would be the starter going forward after he helped WVU to a comeback win against Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. Then, Marchiol got injured, and Rodriguez went to Jaylen Henderson, and he was hurt. Then he went to Khalil Wilkins, and he got hurt.

All that was left was quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. The true freshman, who was recruited by Neal Brown and decided to stay on with Rodriguez. Fox looked the best out of every quarterback that played and won two games, including an upset against Houston. Fox made the Mountaineers competitive and looked to be the QB1 of the future. He led WVU with 1,276 yards and seven touchdowns through the air. Fox also had three more scores on the ground.

Then, the Texas Tech game happened. Fox didn’t look the best, and the Mountaineers were shut out for the first time in 2025. The loss wasn’t all on Fox. It was an all-around team loss, and the offensive line did him no favors.

But, it brought back up the question if WVU can win in the future with Fox. Rodriguez never said Fox was the guy, but he never said he wasn’t.

Nonetheless, Rodriguez said he was going to add an experienced quarterback in the portal.

“We will probably still look at one for the portal,” Rodriguez said on National Signing Day. “Get an experienced guy because of what we went through this year.”

A couple of weeks later, WVU landed Oklahoma backup quarterback and former 4-star high school recruit, Michael Hawkins Jr. Hawkins fit the mold of a Rodriguez quarterback. He was fast, mobile and could throw if he needed.

Hawkins also had experience. He started in a couple of games in two seasons with the Sooners and won some games as an SEC quarterback.

But Hawkins had his flaws and still needed to work on his accuracy, which was similar to almost every quarterback in 2025 for WVU.

Hawkins was good enough and had enough experience for him to compete with Fox for the starting signal caller. Which is a good and a bad thing. Having someone to push Fox, or vice versa, is good, but it’s also bad because the Mountaineers have another QB competition heading into the 2026 season. The 2025 quarterback battle played a part in the disappointing season.

It should be interesting to watch in the spring, and hopefully, Rodriguez can decide on someone before the first game this year.

The rest of the quarterback room consists of some returners like Charlotte and Florida transfer Max Brown, who is still listed on the roster. Walk-on Max Anderson, whose brother just signed with WVU, is also still in the room. Henderson, Marchiol and Wilkins have all transferred out.

WVU signed two quarterbacks, who are listed as QBs, 3-star Wyatt Brown and Jyron Hughley. The Mountaineers also signed John Johnson, who is listed as an athlete, but played quarterback in high school. All three of those QBs will be a work in progress and should play for WVU down the road, but if the season goes like last year, maybe one or two of them will start a game.

“The guys we saw in this class are good throwers, but they’re elite runners,” Rodriguez said on the high school recruits. “We’ll see how that shakes out.”

If you don’t count Johnson, WVU is expected to have six quarterbacks for the 2026 season, and only two have a real shot at starting. That’s definitely an improvement from last year, where Rodriguez gave Marchiol, Wilkins, Fox, Brown and Henderson starting reps, creating a carousel throughout the season.

WVU still could add a quarterback, but this seems to be the room for 2026.