by: Brandon Walker
With less than two weeks until the annual Gold-Blue Showcase, the WVU football team returned for spring practice on Tuesday as critical roster decisions loom for their returning head coach, Rich Rodriguez, and his staff. Here are some highlights and talking points from Tuesday’s press conference.
Roster Building
Roster sizes for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs will likely decrease from 105 players to 85 in July
thanks to the House vs. NCAA settlement. While it will provide an extra 20 scholarships to athletes by allowing all 105 players to be on scholarship, it does have a downside. It limits the opportunities for walk-ons as schools look to build a roster that is funded responsibly with the revenue sharing money that is also expected to be part of the House settlement.
As college football becomes increasingly more geared to a more professional model, Rodriguez,
61, is still trying to adjust to the new way of roster management.
“We are definitely trending toward a pro model, but we don’t have all the structures the NFL has,
and in my opinion, that’s what we need to have,” Rodriguez said. “Let’s copy them as much as
we can, and let’s not pretend that they are college student-athletes. It’s a different dynamic. I don’t
know how you can pay guys and not have them under contract,” he stated. “It doesn’t make a
whole lot of sense. They are all on one-year deals. Saner minds will come and say, ‘This is kind
of crazy.'”
Final Roster Spots and Revenue Sharing
Rodriguez is concluding spring practice a week earlier than normal. This is because he is
staring down a balancing act that is evaluating players and selecting those final five to seven
scholarships. This gives Rodriguez time to judge the value of his top players before full revenue
sharing takes effect on July 1.
“We’ve got to give them an opportunity to show us what they can do while we’re still teaching
them our stuff,” he said. “It’s not going to be fun to reduce the roster to cut guys to make the 105.
If they are already here, they should be able to stay here. Either way, we’re going to have to do
some of that, and it’s not going to be fun.”
Player Versatility in Roster Building
Rodriguez indicated in Tuesday’s press conference that position versatility is the best way to utilize his roster flexibility at certain position groups. He will look for players who can play multiple positions. This will especially be a factor at positions such as the offensive line, defensive line, wide receiver, the secondary, and on
special teams.
“If you are going to have 85 on scholarship and then 20 more, will there be 16, 17, or 18
offensive linemen? How many quarterbacks? How many running backs? I know 105 seems like
a lot, but you might still need to have some guys who can maybe go both ways,” he explained. “I
think you will see a little bit more of that.” Rodriguez said. “There are probably guys on our
team now, or guys we are going to recruit, who can maybe play defensive end and tight end, or
linebacker and tight end,” he continued. “Maybe they can play wideout or safety, so that’s part of
our evaluations for the (2026) guys, for sure.”
Transfer Portal
Soon after the conclusion of the spring practice period comes the transfer portal window, which
will be open from April 16-25. During this period, players are allowed to enter the portal and then transfer to the school of their choosing. It’s similar to NFL free agency, just with no restrictions. Rodriguez has long
been an advocate of having only one transfer period instead of two, which was a three-
week period in December. For the 2025-2026 school year, the winter transfer portal window will
be from January 2 to January 12, 2026.
Rodriguez would like one window for roster transparency and to keep player engagement.
“At least then, you have an idea what your roster is,” he explained. “I hope we don’t lose too
many of the guys that you want to have. I think every team is probably going to lose some. To
this point, I don’t see any of our guys acting like they are half out of here. To their credit, they’ve
been really engaged.”
Benefits from Player Motivation
Rodriguez knows that he is coaching some players he knows will be a part of his program, and
some players will not. He’s also aware that some players love playing football for the love of the
game and some play primarily for the money. Rodriguez is in tune with how the players
across the board would benefit the program from his coaching.
“You can kind of coach them harder because they’re getting paid,” Rodriguez admitted. “They
can earn success, not only in playing time, but also financially. If money is your sole factor for
performing well, you’re probably not going to be as good as you can be.” Rodriguez said. “I hope
it’s because you want to be the best at what you’re doing and not just because you are getting a
bigger payday. Do you love football, and are you playing it because you love football? Or are
you just playing it for the money? I would hope we don’t have all guys who are just playing for
the money. I would like to think that.” Rodriguez said. “Guys that are going to play, have earned
success, and do well are going to be in a pretty good spot—probably a better spot than they’ve
ever been—and that’s the case across the country.”
Rodriguez elaborates that players who are just playing for the money aren’t for the program
because they will be bought and paid for down the road anyway.
“If it’s solely about money, then we are probably not recruiting him because he’s going to get
bought somewhere else probably and probably won’t fit here,” he said. “I want dudes who want
to help us win, period. Every decision we make is based on, does it help us win?”
Photo Credit: WVU Sports
