MORGANTOWN — West Virginia football’s secondary was hit the hardest this offseason with graduations and transfers. Do-it-all defensive back Fred Perry ran out of eligibility, and so did corner Michael Coats Jr., who, for part of the regular season, was one of the higher-rated corners.

With all the departures, Rich Rodriguez had to overhaul the secondary, especially at corner.

This time around, Rodriguez and cornerbacks coach Rod West focused on adding size and length on the outside because that was one of the reasons that WVU’s secondary struggled, especially against Big 12 offenses that really spread it out.

The Mountaineers had two of the nine corners under 6 feet. This offseason, West and WVU picked up Da’Mun Allen, Chams Diagne, Rayshawn Reynolds Jr., Alex Adebayo and Makhi Boone, who are all at least 6-foot tall. Diagne, who is one of the more experienced transfers, coming over from Georgia State, is 6-foot-3.

“A lot of new faces,” West said. “A point of emphasis was wanting to get some bigger guys. I think we definitely addressed that. We have several guys that are 6’2, 6’3 corners. In this league, people spread you out a lot and make you be in some one-on-one matchups. We just think philosophically having some more length can win some of those matchups.”

There’s a balance to size, though, because usually the bigger the athlete, the slower and less twitchy they are. West said it’s a sliding scale, and they focused more on size because it can make up for mistakes.

“For us, I think the length shows up a lot obviously on a vertical ball, the one-on-one balls, but also I think the biggest area that gets overlooked is the open field tackling,” West said. “When you’re a smaller guy, you almost have to be perfect in almost everything just to get a bigger dude on the ground in space. The game of football is tough enough. Open field tackles are very difficult, especially with the caliber of athletes in this league. Obviously, the more size you have, the little bit more room for error. You don’t have to be perfect, and you can still get the guy on the ground.”

West was looking for more than just size, even though it was a big factor. West wanted players who could make an immediate impact and produce. Diagne and Jaire Rawlison both played a lot of snaps at their previous schools.

“We wanted size, but we also wanted guys who were productive at their prior school,” West said. “When we hit the portal for guys, we don’t just recruit off of potential, we like recruiting production. Everyone we brought in was highly productive players at their prior schools.”

WVU still has some smaller corners on the roster. West pointed out that you still need some twitchy, smaller players in case the opposing team has a smaller speedster.

The coaching staff feels it has enough depth to play a corner based on the matchup, so the room has some variety.

“When I put together my position room, I think about it like constructing a basketball roster because you are going to have different matchups,” West said. “We may face someone that has a 5’10, 5’11, ultra quick, twitchy, outside receiver.”

From what West has seen, WVU’s new corners are grasping the playbook well so that they can play the matchup game this fall. They are also learning the culture, and West is “pleased” with the progress his group is making this spring.

“Obviously, it’s a long time before the first game,” West said. “Still have a lot of work to do. We have a variety of young men who can help us win football games in different facets.”