CJ Donaldson Has Become an Offensive Jack-of-All-Trades

How will WVU capitalize on this offensive gem?

Julia Mellett | Aug 25, 2022

In the current college football climate, what Power-5 schools seek from tight ends, receivers, and running backs varies greatly. Whether it's height, weight, agility, or speed, it's an uncommon occurrence that a head coach could find versatility enough to cover all four in one individual.

WVU Football appears to have done just that in 6-2, 240-pound, true freshman CJ Donaldson.

Rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports, Rivals, and ESPN out of high school, he was already an offensive threat; at 4A's Gulliver Prep, Donaldson played wide receiver and tight end. His final two seasons in the navy, silver, and white, Donaldson accrued 1,409 yards and 19 TDs on 96 catches.

The notoriety that came from that kind of production allowed an 18-year-old Donaldson his choice of colleges.

In early May 2021, Donaldson committed to the Tulane Green Wave, but decommited when other schools joined the conversation.

He had offers up and down the East Coast from the likes of Florida, Florida State, Miami, Ole Miss, Appalachian State, and South Florida, and as westward as the Indiana Hoosiers.

A day after deciding against Tulane, Donaldson boarded a flight and jetted off to an official visit to the Mountain State. Five days later, on Dec. 15, 2021, he signed his national letter of intent to play at West Virginia. He joined a signing class ripe with talent, and as the most versatile offensive recruit, Donaldson stuck out.

Recruited as a tight end, his first Fall Camp issued in quite a shift for the newly-minted college player. Instead of either of the positions he had experience within high school, he found himself under the tutelage of running backs coach Chad Scott.

"He's a hybrid, and we knew that," Scott said. "He did a lot in high school with the ball in his hands. Wasn't really sure how he'd respond to [moving positions]. He was very open to it.

"He said, 'Coach, I'm just a ball player. Put the ball in my hand. I'm good.' It's been very impressive to see how well he's picked up on it. He's done a phenomenal job on studying the offense. He'll say, 'Coach, just quiz me. Test me.' We just throw him into the fire.

"I'll tell you. He's been impressive. Very smart kid. Got great versatility, so he's been really good," Scott said.

Tight ends coach Sean Reagan barely had a week with Donaldson before the change, but he said that the freshman is stunning the defense with his raw skill. He has a feel for the flow of the game that the coaching staff is unaccustomed to seeing in true freshmen; placing him with one singular position group has already proven difficult, and the positions coaches battled for him when Fall Camp began. An unusually-deep tight ends room put Donaldson in a unique position, one that Reagan indicated most likely won't be set in stone a year from now.

"He's going to be special," Reagan said. "He runs every play in our playbook that we've got in right now. I don't think there's anything we've limited him on. He's actually got a pretty high IQ in the football game, so it's going to be interesting to see what he does with it.

“I would see some time in the future that he probably could play at wideout, line up at the hip at tight end, play at running back,” Reagan said. “Kid’s a good player.”

Head coach Neal Brown remarked that Donaldson, who sits behind running backs Tony Mathis Jr., Justin Johnson, and Jaylen Anderson, will likely see the field frequently in 2022. He had the most carries against the first-team defense of the entire running back room during Fall Camp, and Brown says that his performance serves as a strong indicator of his potential.

"I've been really pleased with CJ Donaldson," Brown said. "I really felt like in recruiting, that was somebody who really got on in the fall, and he's a great indicator of how you play your senior year really matters. If you play exceptionally well as a senior, I was just intrigued by his athleticism.

"He played slot receiver, played a little bit of running back, a little bit of H-back there," Brown said. "He was just a really good football player, and the more I got to know him, I knew he loved football. Right now, we've got a need at running back, and that's where he's going to play. Man, he gives us a lot of versatility. He's just good with the ball in his hands and he makes plays... It's a great pick-up for us. He's going to make us a lot better offensively just with his versatility and his ability to do a bunch of different things."

Slotting Donaldson with Scott's group may be temporary, as the freshman acclimates to college football.

"CJ Donaldson is definitely going to help us there, but that's not the only position he's going to play," Brown said of defining Donaldson's area of contribution.

"He gives us a lot of flexibility," Brown continued. "He can play up to three positions. He can play tight end. He can play running back. He can play receiver. He'll play. You'll see him. He's going to give some defenses some personnel issues."

Though he's learning the playbook of offensive coordinator Graham Harrell's schemes, Donaldson is more focused on the simple improvements.

“The thing that we want to do with him is kind of grow his role," Brown said. "Going into it, will he be in a feature role? I’m not sure, but he’ll play. I feel really confident in telling you he’s going to play, but he’s a guy that I think his role will increase as he’s had success and gained some experience.”

That experience will come, and it may even be sooner than later. The coaching staff has done nothing but seed excitement about Donaldson, but the true freshman is just that: a freshman. It will take time to learn, but when he's ready, Mountaineer fans will know his name.

"Those kids are hard to find, and we've got a gem in him," Scott said.

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Published Aug 25, 2022

JULIA MELLETT