MORGANTOWN — Wide receiver Cam Vaughn was one of the talented players that West Virginia didn’t want to lose in the offseason. He came over from Jacksonville State with Rich Rodriguez and was a dynamic playmaker. Vaughn might’ve had his bad moments, like giving up on plays, but those outweighed the fact that he was a talented receiver.

At the end of 2025, Vaughn announced he’d be entering the portal, and once the portal opened, he transferred to Miami. WVU’s leading receiver was gone.

“We lost a couple we didn’t want to lose,” Rodriguez said.

Looking at the statistics from last year, Jaden Bray has the most yards out of returning players for 2026, and he only played in two games, missing most of the season with an injury.

Receiver was a rough position for WVU in 2025. Rodriguez picked up a few in the portal, but after Bray went down, it was kind of the Vaughn show, but it’s easy to double-team if there’s just one guy. Idaho State transfer Jeff Weimer kind of found a role late in the year.

Without a lot of production coming back, Rodriguez completely rebuilt the receiver room. He added a couple of portal receivers with varying experience, some of the top JUCO wideouts and picked up a bunch of freshman receivers.

Rodriguez needed to add more size and speed to compete with some of the talented offenses in the Big 12.

“We want to get faster, bigger, right?” Rodriguez said. “And we did. We got some size with Prince and some of those guys. Some experience, like with John Neider, D.J. I mean, they’re some size with some of the young guys we’ve got coming in. It is a really good group. They’re still learning.”

Rodriguez made a couple of big splashes in the portal. LSU former 4-star wide receiver TaRon Francis was a big pickup. He didn’t do much in his true freshman season, but as a highly touted high school recruit, he has talent. Rodriguez said adding him was a big help to the room. Rodriguez also mentioned Troy transfer D.J. Epps and UConn transfer John Neider are two veterans who will help.

Bray, being one of the veterans and returners, is expected to have the biggest role in this remade receiver room. He’s been injured the past two seasons after transferring over from Oklahoma State. Returner Cryrus Traugh, who is a West Virginia native, is expected to make a step up. He didn’t play much in his first season in Morgantown.

“Jaden Bray’s back, and he’s healthy, so that helps,” Rodriguez said. “Cyrus Traugh is returning, and he’s done a good job. Just to get two days into it, they made some really good catches today.”

However, more than one receiver needs to make an impact. Some of these transfer guys have to take some pressure off of Bray. Based on his expectations after the roster was pretty much set, Rodriguez hopes to have a couple of impact receivers for this season.

“Coach (Ryan) Garrett, coach (Logan) Bradley, they’ve done a good job with them,” Rodriguez said. “Like to have six or seven that you’re able to roll in there.”

Through just two practices, the receivers have made some impressive plays. There’s a long way to go. That’s good in the sense that the room should only improve. But it also means there’s more opportunity for injuries. So far, so good.

“Some of those freshmen we signed are good players,” Rodriguez said. “I feel good about where they’re at. I don’t think, unless, knock on wood, someone gets hurt, that we need to go out and get any more. I think we’re pretty good at receiver.”