Breaking Down What WVU Has Actually Lost in the Transfer Portal in 2021

The Mountaineers aren't losing top-tier talent, but they are losing depth.

The transfer portal can be a great thing one day and the worst thing ever invented the very next day. Now more than ever, players are hitting the transfer portal and doing so very early in their career. West Virginia has had a number of guys transfer since the beginning of the calendar year. 

With the number of players entering the portal, fans are beginning to panic and feel like something is going wrong inside the Mountaineer program. However, this is the case just about everywhere, it's the new era of college football whether we like it or not. Most of the time it has nothing to do with what is going on inside the program or even the amount of winning that is going on. A lot of it comes down to how much playing time is being given out and when they don't play right away, they believe entering the portal will be the fastest way to earning that playing time they crave.

The days of building a three deep are all but gone, much less a two-deep. For example, West Virginia could have had one of the stronger secondaries in the country from top to bottom but transfers led them to being extremely thin in the back end. What folks need to realize is who the Mountaineers are actually losing. Aside from maybe two players, the portal hasn't taken away any star/potential star players from the Mountaineer program. Stop reading into the number of how many transfers there have been, yet look into why those kids left and where they went. 

So, let's do that.

Using COVID year elsewhere

LB VanDarius Cowan (has not announced new school)

WR Isaiah Esdale (has not announced new school)

Analysis: Losing these two hurts depth more than anything. If the COVID year never came into play, these guys wouldn't have been allowed to return in 2022 anyways. This isn't a perennial defensive player of the year or WR3 that West Virginia is losing. To not have them for an extra year won't alter this team's success next fall.

Buried on the depth chart

LB James Thomas (has not announced new school)

DE Eddie Watkins (has not announced new school)

LB Devell Washington (has not announced new school)

RB A'varius Sparrow (has not announced new school)

Analysis: James Thomas was a late addition to the 2020 class and in two years, he never really sniffed a rotational role. I'm not sure as to where he will land but I would be surprised to see it be another Power Five program. 

Watkins is one I'm unsure about. He had the measurables and the skill to develop into a good player down the road but he wasn't going to make an impact anytime in the next two seasons. 

Devell Washington flipped from being a wide receiver to linebacker, so he may want to go somewhere that wants him back on the offensive side of the ball. 

Finally, A'varius Sparrow is a back that just never seemed to turn the corner in his development according to the coaching staff. Running backs coach Chad Scott said he had a difficult time creating space. "If you don't understand how to run the tracks and bring defenders to your blocks and have the ability to one-cut. He had a bad habit of chopping his feet to change direction and at this level, if you chop your feet as opposed to one-cut to change direction, that defense closes on you fast."

Lost starting job/role

DL Darel Middleton (has not announced new school)

S Kerry Martin Jr. (has not announced new school)

WR Sam Brown (has not announced new school)

TE T.J. Banks (has not announced new school)

Analysis: Darel Middleton arrived to WVU not in the best shape which led to him taking a back seat to begin the season. I haven't been able to confirm this but I believe the main reason he left was because he wanted to play a full season, especially with it being his last year. 

Kerry Martin played some really good football as a true freshman. He sat out the 2020 season due to COVID and never regained his role this past season for whatever reason. Neal Brown said it took him a while to get back into game shape but he never saw the field once he did get back into shape. 

Sam Brown was one that tight ends coach Travis Trickett was super excited about, especially once they were able to get him to flip from Central Florida. The issue with Brown was consistency. He'd show some bright moments in practice but had too many practices where he didn't play his best. 

I'll be honest, T.J. Banks was a headscratcher for me. With Mike O'Laughlin missing a lot of time this season, he filled in at tight end and played well. Knowing that he is a capable starter, he likely hit the portal to have similar playing time to what he had this season. He wouldn't have received that in 2022 with O'Laughlin back healthy.

Key loss

DE Jeffery Pooler Jr. (Northwestern)

CB Dreshun Miller (Auburn)

S Tykee Smith (Georgia)

RB Alec Sinkfield (Boston College)

This group is the one that hurts most and really, I'd say just two hurt WVU - Tykee Smith and Dreshun Miller. They were exceptional pieces to the Mountaineer secondary that ranked atop the nation in 2020 before bolting to the SEC. 

Jeffery Pooler was a solid rotational defensive end but he wasn't going to start over Taijh Alston, given that he was healthy. 

For Alec Sinkfield, I mean, can you really blame him? He knew what the situation was and was not going to see many touches behind Leddie Brown. He had an increased role this season with Boston College.

Went down a level

OL Tairiq Stewart (North Carolina A&T)

OL Blaine Scott (Northern Colorado)

S Jayvon Thrift (Youngstown State)

WR Randy Fields (UT-Martin) 

Analysis: Not to disrespect these three guys but there's not much to say here. When you transfer down to the FCS, I think it pretty much explains itself. Good football players, just not at this level. 

Went to G5

OT Parker Moorer (East Carolina)

OL Briason Mays (Southern Miss)

WR Ali Jennings (Old Dominion)

DE Bryce Brand (Bowling Green)

LB Charlie Benton (UAB)

QB Austin Kendall (Louisiana Tech)

Analysis: Parker Moorer won the starting right tackle job out of camp but couldn't hold off talented true freshman Wyatt Milum for long. Now, he'll head back to his home state of North Carolina and almost certainly start for ECU.

I'm honestly surprised Briason Mays' transfer didn't happen sooner. He and former WVU QB Trey Lowe are super tight and played their high school ball together in Bolivar, TN. He reunited with Lowe at Southern Miss.

Ali Jennings had some bright moments in his brief WVU career but was buried on the depth chart and WVU had younger guys seeing the field before him. Could he have made it at WVU? Sure but maybe as a WR4 at some point. 

Bryce Brand bounced from Maryland to West Virginia to Bowling Green in a short timeframe. He didn't see the field much with the Terps and played in just two games at WVU. 

Charlie Benton was a guy that started at linebacker under the previous coaching staff but suffered a knee injury in the game against Tennessee in 2018 and never saw the field at WVU after that. It made sense for him to finish out his career elsewhere. 

Austin Kendall got off to a solid start at Louisiana Tech but ended up having just an okay season. I still think Neal Brown made the wrong decision to replace Kendall with Doege in 2019 but no one believed me at the time. That said, it may not have mattered considering how things played out at LT in 2021. 

Not currently playing

CB David Vincent-Okoli (N/A)

CB Jake Long (N/A)

Analysis: Once again, not much to be said here. 

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