ESPN's Greg McElroy Believes WVU is a Top 25 Team

A little preseason love for the Mountaineers.

Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Many college football analysts are not paying much attention to West Virginia despite coming off a nine-win season and finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference. In some ways, Neal Brown is fine with that. Last year, they were picked to finish dead last in the league and that added extra fuel to the fire. Perhaps it does again in 2024.

Greg McElroy of ESPN is one of the few who has the Mountaineers as a preseason top 25 team. On a recent episode of Always College Football, McElroy explained why he has WVU checking in at No. 23.

“Nine wins last year for West Virginia and now the next step is contending for a conference title in a conference that has now gotten a whole heck of a lot deeper with the addition of four new teams. West Virginia kind of established that ground and pound last year. We know who they are - they led the Big 12 in rushing and ranked foruth nationally behind Jahiem White who as a true freshman last year was a revelation. CJ Donaldson was also pretty dang good in the one-two punch. 842 yards for White, 798 yards for Donaldson, and 11 touchdowns for Daonalson as well. I think the running backs are going to be just fine. Jahiem White, get him the ball, see what he does with it. You know they’re going to be committed to running the football. But now it’s about rounding it into shape and becoming more balanced offensively. Garrett Greene, first year as a starter, pretty solid. 2,400 yards passing, 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions, added another almost 800 yards on the ground himself, so we know he’s more than capable with the ball in his hands. Accuracy will be part of his growth and development moving forward and consistency. They also added I think an impact difference maker potentially in Jaden Bray to the wide receiver room that last year I think did more than what most people anticipated.

“The defense is where they have to make some more strides They did make some last year. They actually finished in the top half of the Big 12 in yards and points allowed, but they don’t have a lot of depth and they’ve also had some turnover in the portal as well. They went out and tried to add some depth, but it was not like they went out and added ten guys. They added some, and I think some key pieces like Aydan Garnes, TJ Crandall, Garnett Hollis Jr., and Jaheem Joseph. Those guys should be pretty solid. They should have a solid group that does bring back a couple of safeties that at times had good moments in Aubrey Burks and Anthony Wilson. We’ll keep an eye on that group collectively, but I think that group has a chance to be pretty good. If they can ground and pound and they can shrink the game which is only going to help their defense and they can find a little bit more out of the passing attack, this team has a real chance to be in the mix for a Big 12 title.”

McElroy is on the right track here, but I don't believe he did his homework on West Virginia's defense. But he's right. They didn't add ten portal guys, they brought in nine. I'm not sure if he did a deep dive on the portal class or not, but it doesn't appear as if he did. The guys they lost in the portal were non-factors for the most part. Defensive linemen Mike Lockhart and Tomiwa Durojaiye were really the only pieces WVU would have liked to keep. The addition of Troy transfer T.J. Jackson and the continued development from Fatorma Mulbah and Hammond Russell IV should be able to make up for those two losses.

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