Donaldson's Strong Camp Sets Up Dynamic Debut

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell react to CJ Donaldson's performance and provide some insight on what's next for the freshman

Morgantown - CJ Donaldson has quickly become a household name in the Mountaineers season opener versus Pitt after the true freshman galloped a 44-yard run on his first collegiate carry – quite the jaunt for the young man who came into the program as a tight end.

“I knew he was a baller,” said tight end Mike O’Laughlin. “He was actually in our tight end room, like one of the first days. I was like, ‘I don’t know if this guy’s going to be a tight end but he’s going to be on the field somewhere.’ He just plays really hard. He’s just fearless. He’ll go after you.”

Donaldson finished the night with 125 yards and a touchdown.

“All camp he’s been tough to tackle and so the thought was, ‘let’s see if it shows up on gameday,’ and his first carry he splits it. So pretty quickly, you realize he’s probably tough for everyone to tackle,” said offensive coordinator Graham Harrell.

“The plan was to get him some touches,” added Harrell. “We thought we could get him five to 10 touches and that’s probably about what we got him. We wanted to just put the ball in his hands because we knew he was a tough guy to tackle, so that was kind of the thought.”

Sep 1, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers tight end CJ Donaldson (12) runs after a catch as defensive back Erick Hallett (31) and defensive back Brandon Hill (9) chase during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Donaldson had seven carries on the night. In addition to the 44-yard run, which provided a spark for an offense struggling to move the ball the first two drives. He also had bursts of 20 and 39 yards, averaging 17.9 yards per carry.

“You're always hesitant to put too much on a young player early on, but obviously in the first half he had the big run, and then we got him more involved there in the second half”, said head coach Neal Brown.

“We knew with the ball in his hand he had a chance to be special and that showed up quickly and it seemed every time he touched it, he did something special with the ball, said Harrell. “The biggest question for a young guy against a defense like that, that brings pressure as often as they do, what’s the protection side look of things look like that because that’s also a large part of what the running backs job is, is to protect the quarterback and he did a really good job of that.”

Brown added, “If we went back, we probably would have played him a little bit later.”

“When you get in the game and you’re in a flow, you have a plan and that was one of our concerns was in pass protection. Especially in the first game when you don’t really know what your opponent is going to do.”

Donaldson kept the Mountaineers' momentum in the third quarter. Following the defense holding the Pitt offense to a three and out on the opening drive of the second half, Donaldson broke through the line and blocked the punt, setting up the West Virginia offense at the five. Then, Donaldson punched it in on the first play of the series to give WVU a seven-point advantage.

“For like two weeks straight, every single day after practice, he stayed out there and did a little punt block drill – there’s a handful of guys that have been doing that every day after practice, but he was one of those guys and then it shows up. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence he went out there and had a really good game,” said Harrell, later adding. “The way he’s practiced is why I think he had the success as early as he did.”

Donaldson was and is still considered third on the depth chart behind Tony Mathis Jr. and Justin Johnson. However, the plan since his move to running back has been to find ways to get him the ball with options to line him up in a variety of ways.

“His role will continue to grow without a doubt,” said Brown.

“I think the key is as is with any young guy is make sure we feel comfortable that he can handle whatever we throw at him and if he does, then that will be his role,” said Harrell. 

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