By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
It’s almost time for kickoff in Morgantown as we are rapidly approaching single digit days until college football back on the television all day long on Saturday’s.
With that comes a new, yet familiar face leading the charge for the Mountaineers football program. Rich Rodriguez returns to be the lead man of the football program in nearly two decades since his departure.
Rodriguez was West Virginia’s coach from 2001-2007 before jumping ship, breaking every Mountaineers heart, as he left Morgantown to become the head coach of Michigan. Since his stay at Michigan, Rodriguez was the head coach of Arizona, the OC/QB coach at Ole Miss and held the same title for Louisiana-Monroe before being named the head coach of Jacksonville State in 2022.
Rodriguez brought his running attack with the Gamecocks that brought in the ground and pound style of running that most football fans know from Rodriguez’s offensive game plans.
Rodriguez’s Gamecocks finished third in the nation for rushing each of the last two seasons, averaging 236 yards per game in 2023 and 251 during last season. The run game was a key piece of Jacksonville State’s ability to win the Conference USA title last season, 52-12 over Western Kentucky in a game where they would rush for 386 yards and five touchdowns.
Since returning to Morgantown, Rodriguez and his staff have hit the ground running on the recruiting trail. They have 23 commits in the 2026 class and all 23 commits are rated as three-star prospects per 247Sports.
West Virginia ranks, per 247Sports, at No. 43 nationally and as for the rankings inside the Big 12, out of the 16 teams, WVU is ranked No. 6 behind Texas Tech, BYU, Kansas, TCU and Arizona State.
Rodriguez and his staff have done a stellar job at getting recruits to not only commit to the program, but to buy in to the program as well. It seems as if the staff have built up solid foundations already in such a short time frame.
The only position that will be in question as to how many stay committed to the program will be the safety position. WVU currently has (6) players committed which is the most positioned players in the current 2026 class.
Photo: Kelsie LeRose / WVSN
