Last week some of my buddies that are WVU fans and alums, but don't quite follow the team as much as most in here... asked me to give them a breakdown of this year's team in our friend group chat. They've been hearing ESPN and other national media talking heads say 4 and 5 wins for this team and its got them feeling a little down.
So I gave them my opinion on this team. I figured I'd share it here with you guys since it took me a few minutes to write.
It's long... so if you don't like reading - move along now. Anyhow... here we go...
This year is a really weird year for the national media's opinion of WVU. Everyone is superrrrr down on us.
But they're lazy and look at the players we lost like LB Josh Chandler, starting QB Doege, RB Leddie Brown.... then all the turnover on our secondary. They pretty much only look at returning production and then say 5 wins lol I listened to like 4 guys on espn all pick the under of 5.5 wins for us yesterday. It’s comical.
The thing about the players we lost is they were not very good. (Except Akeem Mesidor) and we've replaced them with better players (imo) that have proven themselves at the college level already.
So, what I’ve done for you is give my opinion on each position group and whether they’re an upgrade, downgrade, or same as last year.
Leddie Brown RBs- He was overrated and slow. The second half of the season Tony Mathis was hitting the holes quicker and with more authority and it showed on his ypc. I felt like Mathis beat out Brown by the end of the season. LB didn't get drafted and he's currently 6th string on the Chargers. J. Johnson is supposed to be a young next level back that has the speed to stretch the field and ready to take the next step. Tony Mathis, Justin Johnson, and Jaylen Anderson is abetter backfield than last year. Not to mention a true freshman RB CJ Donaldson, 6’2” 240lbs. CJ Donaldson’s name has been said more than any other name in camp outside of JT Daniels. I doubt he has a big impact year 1 though as a true fresh. This backfield is better than a 4.64 Leddie Brown. (Upgrade)
Doege QBs- Sucked butt. Every QB on our roster is better than him this year. 5-star JT Daniels will be a huge difference in distributing the ball. Nicco, Crowder, and Greene are all capable of outplaying 2021 Doege as well. Haven’t heard the buzz we had with Grier, but that may be due to Grier playing practice squad his first year. Everyone expects JT to be announced the starter. He supposedly throws a nice accurate deep ball and has a completion percentage of over 70% the last 3 years. Nothing can be worse than Doege, nothing. (Massive Upgrade)
Chandler and LBs - He was an average to below average LB and undersized. Picked up Lee Kpogba. I think he's going to be a huge upgrade and the leader on our Defense. Dude is massive and shredded so that has to account for something too, right? Everyone else on the LB returns and should be much improved. Barlett came on strong last year and is a big dude too, and Lance Dixon will be in his second year with us. A 4 star with a high ceiling. Also picked up 4 star tyreke Austin cave transfer, albeit he is unproven. Exree loe is back again for his 17th season. He's an ok backup. Most talented and best looking LBs we’ve had here in a long time. (Upgrade)
Offensive Line - Everyone returns. Milum supposedly made the biggest leap and Brown said he'll play In The NFL. Once Nester recovered from his injury last season, he was a top 10 tackle according to PFF Grades. Right tackle is still up for grabs, so could be weaker there. Overall this unit was probably below average last year while starting a true freshman and a statue at QB. There's no doubt they'll be improved this year. How much IDK… but they couldn’t have regressed. (Upgrade)
WR - Everyone returns minus Winston Wright (who has a long recovery from car wreck injury right now- WVUs transfer curse) and Sean Ryan. The whole squad should improve by being a year older and not having Doege as QB. Word on the street, newcomer Cortez Abraham is supposedly turning heads in practice and newcomer Jeremiah Aaron has next level speed, but didn't get here until summer, so needs to learn the playbook. Prather should have a breakout year. Overall, they can't be worse than last year, they’re all a year older and they've added some pieces to make the loss of wright moot. Side note - I can’t stand Bryce Ford-Wheaton… dude is like 6’4”, jacked and sucks at high-pointing the ball. Charmin soft. Hopefully he mans up this year and has a Kevin White season… (Same or slight Upgrade)
Secondary CB - The trash dbs all left. CB Charles woods stayed. He was rated the #1 corner in the entire country last season grading at 90.3 once he became starter in week 8. He locks down one side of the field for us. For the other CB spot we brought in some solid dudes. Rashad Ajayi played in 37 games as a starting corner for Colorado State. He was solid in his time there. He has a ton of experience. Also brought in Wesley McCormick who played 49 games for JMU. Ton of experience, but can he make the leap in competition? A name that continues to come out of camp is sophomore Andrew Wilson Lamp. Seems he’s ready to make the jump to playing time / starter. We need 1 of those 3 to be better than last year’s Jackie Matthews… and they will. We also have freshman Mumu Bin-wahad and Jacoby Spells that have done some good things, but they’re just true freshman. Floor is average for this group, but they have a very high ceiling if the cb opposite to Woods can get it together. (Upgrade)
Safeties - Gone are Alonzo addae, Scottie young, and Sean Mahone. Sean mahone was here forever and was below average in skill/ability. Addae was average and Scottie Young was maybe a little above average. All of them together were just meh…Everyone we’re playing now in the secondary is over 6ft, longer, and faster (supposedly). Let’s break down some that we brought in…
Spear: 1) Jasir Cox: Won 3 national championships as the starting safety/LB for NDSU while winning post season awards. Has played in 47 games. Ton of experience and he’ll likely push to start or back up a guy named Davis Mallinger, RS Fr. Mallinger is the most talked about player on Defense this year. He’s one of our recruits from two years ago. Karl Joseph’s name has been thrown out there as a comparison for the mentality he plays with. He also is the fastest player on the team winning Florida State track championships a few years back. He’s young though… so it’ll probably be a mix of experienced Jasir Cox and the new missile (hopefully) Davis Mallinger at Spear.
Other Safety Positions: 2.) Marcis Floyd: Came from Murray State, multiple year starter, earned All-American honors and two-time 1st team All OVC at corner there. Ton of proven experience already, just needs to do it at this level. The other safety position may come down to SO Aubrey Burks and RS SO Hershey McLauren. Both have supposedly make massive improvements and are ready for the spotlight. Both unproven though.
Overall, the secondary is a bunch of veteran guys that have played 30+ games and won national championships, all americans, and 1st team honors for lower level schools... mixed with some of our best young athletes on our team (malinger/burks/lamp). We’ve already have one of the best corners in the BIG 12 in Charles Woods locked in. I think this group’s floor is the same ceiling of last year’s group. I guess it could be total disaster if everyone stinks… but that not the vibe coming from camp. I feel like they have the potential to be average like last year’s secondary. However, the ceiling should be much higher. We have much better athletes and speed in the secondary. (Same as last year, with potential for a nice Upgrade)
D-Line: Everyone is back minus Mesidor. Big loss, however… this is the deepest i’ve ever seen our D Line. We’ve got dudes and bodies we’ve never had before. Even with the loss of Mesidor I think we look better this year due to everyone being older, bigger, and stronger. Hopefully Stills goes crazy. I’m going to grade this one out as same as last year. (Same)
OC: Graham Harrell - This should also make a MASSSSSSSIVE impact, because Brown’s play calling sucked. Should allow Brown to better the team overall as well by having more oversight.
So… my predictions. I think this is an 8-win team with potential for more. Under 8 wins and it should be considered a disappointment. I mean we won 6 games last year with Doege and lost 3 games by a combined 12 points. Yeah, we have a lot of new players… but they’re not completely unproven. These aren’t guys brought in based off their star rankings in HS. These have all been productive and award winning players at their previous collegiate spots, albeit lower level (but so was Charles woods)… not to mention 99% of the players we lost sucked sack last year. We’ve upgraded just about everywhere besides DT. QB is the biggest upgrade.
Having and offensive coordinator with a new, much better QB and everyone else around him returning, should mean a better Offense. Our Defense has potential to be way more athletic and better as well. I don’t see them being worse… Even if they’re the same as last year. That means we should win a few more with a better offense.
8 wins is my guess. VT sucks balls and just named grant wells their starting QB. Pitt will be a challenge with their entire O Line and D Line returning. ESPN's talking heads of a 4 win season is stupid. We'll learn a lot week 1.
So I gave them my opinion on this team. I figured I'd share it here with you guys since it took me a few minutes to write.
It's long... so if you don't like reading - move along now. Anyhow... here we go...
This year is a really weird year for the national media's opinion of WVU. Everyone is superrrrr down on us.
But they're lazy and look at the players we lost like LB Josh Chandler, starting QB Doege, RB Leddie Brown.... then all the turnover on our secondary. They pretty much only look at returning production and then say 5 wins lol I listened to like 4 guys on espn all pick the under of 5.5 wins for us yesterday. It’s comical.
The thing about the players we lost is they were not very good. (Except Akeem Mesidor) and we've replaced them with better players (imo) that have proven themselves at the college level already.
So, what I’ve done for you is give my opinion on each position group and whether they’re an upgrade, downgrade, or same as last year.
Leddie Brown RBs- He was overrated and slow. The second half of the season Tony Mathis was hitting the holes quicker and with more authority and it showed on his ypc. I felt like Mathis beat out Brown by the end of the season. LB didn't get drafted and he's currently 6th string on the Chargers. J. Johnson is supposed to be a young next level back that has the speed to stretch the field and ready to take the next step. Tony Mathis, Justin Johnson, and Jaylen Anderson is abetter backfield than last year. Not to mention a true freshman RB CJ Donaldson, 6’2” 240lbs. CJ Donaldson’s name has been said more than any other name in camp outside of JT Daniels. I doubt he has a big impact year 1 though as a true fresh. This backfield is better than a 4.64 Leddie Brown. (Upgrade)
Doege QBs- Sucked butt. Every QB on our roster is better than him this year. 5-star JT Daniels will be a huge difference in distributing the ball. Nicco, Crowder, and Greene are all capable of outplaying 2021 Doege as well. Haven’t heard the buzz we had with Grier, but that may be due to Grier playing practice squad his first year. Everyone expects JT to be announced the starter. He supposedly throws a nice accurate deep ball and has a completion percentage of over 70% the last 3 years. Nothing can be worse than Doege, nothing. (Massive Upgrade)
Chandler and LBs - He was an average to below average LB and undersized. Picked up Lee Kpogba. I think he's going to be a huge upgrade and the leader on our Defense. Dude is massive and shredded so that has to account for something too, right? Everyone else on the LB returns and should be much improved. Barlett came on strong last year and is a big dude too, and Lance Dixon will be in his second year with us. A 4 star with a high ceiling. Also picked up 4 star tyreke Austin cave transfer, albeit he is unproven. Exree loe is back again for his 17th season. He's an ok backup. Most talented and best looking LBs we’ve had here in a long time. (Upgrade)
Offensive Line - Everyone returns. Milum supposedly made the biggest leap and Brown said he'll play In The NFL. Once Nester recovered from his injury last season, he was a top 10 tackle according to PFF Grades. Right tackle is still up for grabs, so could be weaker there. Overall this unit was probably below average last year while starting a true freshman and a statue at QB. There's no doubt they'll be improved this year. How much IDK… but they couldn’t have regressed. (Upgrade)
WR - Everyone returns minus Winston Wright (who has a long recovery from car wreck injury right now- WVUs transfer curse) and Sean Ryan. The whole squad should improve by being a year older and not having Doege as QB. Word on the street, newcomer Cortez Abraham is supposedly turning heads in practice and newcomer Jeremiah Aaron has next level speed, but didn't get here until summer, so needs to learn the playbook. Prather should have a breakout year. Overall, they can't be worse than last year, they’re all a year older and they've added some pieces to make the loss of wright moot. Side note - I can’t stand Bryce Ford-Wheaton… dude is like 6’4”, jacked and sucks at high-pointing the ball. Charmin soft. Hopefully he mans up this year and has a Kevin White season… (Same or slight Upgrade)
Secondary CB - The trash dbs all left. CB Charles woods stayed. He was rated the #1 corner in the entire country last season grading at 90.3 once he became starter in week 8. He locks down one side of the field for us. For the other CB spot we brought in some solid dudes. Rashad Ajayi played in 37 games as a starting corner for Colorado State. He was solid in his time there. He has a ton of experience. Also brought in Wesley McCormick who played 49 games for JMU. Ton of experience, but can he make the leap in competition? A name that continues to come out of camp is sophomore Andrew Wilson Lamp. Seems he’s ready to make the jump to playing time / starter. We need 1 of those 3 to be better than last year’s Jackie Matthews… and they will. We also have freshman Mumu Bin-wahad and Jacoby Spells that have done some good things, but they’re just true freshman. Floor is average for this group, but they have a very high ceiling if the cb opposite to Woods can get it together. (Upgrade)
Safeties - Gone are Alonzo addae, Scottie young, and Sean Mahone. Sean mahone was here forever and was below average in skill/ability. Addae was average and Scottie Young was maybe a little above average. All of them together were just meh…Everyone we’re playing now in the secondary is over 6ft, longer, and faster (supposedly). Let’s break down some that we brought in…
Spear: 1) Jasir Cox: Won 3 national championships as the starting safety/LB for NDSU while winning post season awards. Has played in 47 games. Ton of experience and he’ll likely push to start or back up a guy named Davis Mallinger, RS Fr. Mallinger is the most talked about player on Defense this year. He’s one of our recruits from two years ago. Karl Joseph’s name has been thrown out there as a comparison for the mentality he plays with. He also is the fastest player on the team winning Florida State track championships a few years back. He’s young though… so it’ll probably be a mix of experienced Jasir Cox and the new missile (hopefully) Davis Mallinger at Spear.
Other Safety Positions: 2.) Marcis Floyd: Came from Murray State, multiple year starter, earned All-American honors and two-time 1st team All OVC at corner there. Ton of proven experience already, just needs to do it at this level. The other safety position may come down to SO Aubrey Burks and RS SO Hershey McLauren. Both have supposedly make massive improvements and are ready for the spotlight. Both unproven though.
Overall, the secondary is a bunch of veteran guys that have played 30+ games and won national championships, all americans, and 1st team honors for lower level schools... mixed with some of our best young athletes on our team (malinger/burks/lamp). We’ve already have one of the best corners in the BIG 12 in Charles Woods locked in. I think this group’s floor is the same ceiling of last year’s group. I guess it could be total disaster if everyone stinks… but that not the vibe coming from camp. I feel like they have the potential to be average like last year’s secondary. However, the ceiling should be much higher. We have much better athletes and speed in the secondary. (Same as last year, with potential for a nice Upgrade)
D-Line: Everyone is back minus Mesidor. Big loss, however… this is the deepest i’ve ever seen our D Line. We’ve got dudes and bodies we’ve never had before. Even with the loss of Mesidor I think we look better this year due to everyone being older, bigger, and stronger. Hopefully Stills goes crazy. I’m going to grade this one out as same as last year. (Same)
OC: Graham Harrell - This should also make a MASSSSSSSIVE impact, because Brown’s play calling sucked. Should allow Brown to better the team overall as well by having more oversight.
So… my predictions. I think this is an 8-win team with potential for more. Under 8 wins and it should be considered a disappointment. I mean we won 6 games last year with Doege and lost 3 games by a combined 12 points. Yeah, we have a lot of new players… but they’re not completely unproven. These aren’t guys brought in based off their star rankings in HS. These have all been productive and award winning players at their previous collegiate spots, albeit lower level (but so was Charles woods)… not to mention 99% of the players we lost sucked sack last year. We’ve upgraded just about everywhere besides DT. QB is the biggest upgrade.
Having and offensive coordinator with a new, much better QB and everyone else around him returning, should mean a better Offense. Our Defense has potential to be way more athletic and better as well. I don’t see them being worse… Even if they’re the same as last year. That means we should win a few more with a better offense.
8 wins is my guess. VT sucks balls and just named grant wells their starting QB. Pitt will be a challenge with their entire O Line and D Line returning. ESPN's talking heads of a 4 win season is stupid. We'll learn a lot week 1.
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