Only 50 Days Until WVU Football Kicks Off, Yet There’s A Lot To Do
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MORGANTOWN -- On July 17, West Virginia football released a hype video on its social media platforms. It showed moments from the past, including Tavon Austin, Pat White and Pat McAfee, and showed some highlights from last season. The 17th of July marked 50 days until the Mountaineers run out onto the field to play against Coastal Carolina. It seems like just yesterday the baseball team was playing in the College World Series semifinals, and now it’s almost football season.
In a few weeks, Rich Rodriguez will be blowing his whistle and yelling on the practice field behind Milan Puskar Stadium, and speaking with the media, most likely answering a daily question about the quarterback situation for the second straight year. That’ll mark the start of the Mountaineers’ fall camp before they play in front of 60,000 fans wearing white, honoring White for his jersey retirement.
With now 47 days until kick, WVU still has a lot of preparations to make, on and off the field.
A lot to do with higher expectations. The expectations of fans were already high when Rodriguez was announced as the coach of the Mountaineers in December of 2024. Fans remember the days White and Rodriguez led them to multiple top 25 seasons and four-straight bowl games. With Rodriguez’s return, the expectation was that he was going to get the team back on track.
But that wasn’t the case. WVU finished 4-8, losing to Ohio, and won just two games in the Big 12. It was a bad season, below expectations for most, but it was Year 1. There were a lot of transfers moving in, making it hard for the team to be competitive. In Year 2, now that Rodriguez has a year to get settled, winning four games won’t cut it, especially with the coaching carousel greatly impacting the Big 12 and the impatience of fans and athletic departments.
To improve on last year’s four wins, the next 47 days and a month of practice will be crucial. The first matter of business is making sure the team gels together.
Last year’s excuse was that there were a lot of transfers coming in a short amount of time, but if you look at the roster this year, it’s pretty similar. It’s not all transfers, but there are a lot of new players coming in for the 2026 season. That means players who haven’t played alongside one another or worked as a team before.
There was a spring to get to know everyone, and when talking with most players, there’s a lot of familiarity within their respective position rooms, so the team has a jump on that. But the preseason camp will be important to tighten loose ends before the season starts.
One of the ways the team will get closer will be by competing in practice, and there should be competition at almost every position with not a lot of returning starters. Even if there is a returning starter, Rodriguez used the transfer portal to bring in someone to push the starter and make sure they aren’t comfortable.
“We wanted to have competition at every position and legitimate competition, and we wanted guys that had production, not potential,” Rodriguez said.
There are multiple position battles to settle.
The glaring one is at quarterback. Just like last year, WVU hasn’t named a starting quarterback heading into fall camp. At least this year, the field is a lot smaller. The race is between returner sophomore Scotty Fox Jr. and new Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. There’s been some buzz around Hawkins being the favorite, but nothing is official. Fox started in multiple games last year as a true freshman and won two games, including against ranked Houston. Hawkins has the skill set to be a great quarterback in Rodriguez’s offense and started multiple games in his two-year stint with the Sooners.
A major reason for some of WVU’s failure last season was the revolving door at quarterback, so I think Rodriguez names one before camp is concluded. If not, it could be like last year, and the whole world will know at the same time when WVU has its first offensive possession against the Chanticleers.
There’s also the offensive line that needs to be decided during the fall. Can Kevin Brown steal a spot from some of the veterans as a true freshman? There are a lot of intriguing pieces for new offensive line coach Rick Trickett to fix a bad line from last season. The defense lost a lot of players from last season, with just a few returning starters. The defense struggled at times, too, so that’ll have to be ironed out in camp to ensure a 49-0 loss to Texas Tech doesn’t happen again at home.
Then, there’s the off-the-field stuff. It’s not as impactful for this football season, but the Mountaineers still haven’t announced a jersey patch sponsorship. That should come in the coming weeks. Or, how the school is going to fund the press box renovations, which will likely have some sponsors. Those two will provide a big boost for the future teams down the road.
For fans, they have to take inventory of their gameday supplies, make sure the tickets are purchased, the tailgate spot is picked and the grill isn’t rusty, while at the same time, studying up and learning 70-plus new players’ names for a second-straight season.
That’s a lot, and there’s more not listed. There are only Wilnerson Telemaque jersey number days (there’s one for you to learn) until the season starts, and everyone has something to do.