Ten young Mountaineers who stepped up during the bye week – Sports Illustrated

During the bye week, the West Virginia Mountaineers were able to get a closer look at some of their younger prospects, and there were a handful of players on each side of the ball who stood out during practice and scrimmage.

WVU head coach Neil Brown rattled off those who have impressed and talked about which guys could help them in the final stretch of the 2024 season.

“Diore Hubbard had two out of three days where he was really good. He was very good yesterday. Up front, Kyle Altuner was released and worked out in full swing last week and showed some good stuff. And then I thought Justin Terry and Lucas Austin, both young players did some nice things during the week. And then Brandon Rehman, he probably had his best day as a climber yesterday. He continues to get stronger and could potentially help us on special teams down the line here this month.

“Defensively on the defensive line, Elijah Kinsler, who was kind of our sixth man. He was right there on the brink of whether he would play in the final four or not. But I thought he had a really good week. At quarterback, Ricky Williams. He is coming. He missed most of fall camp with an injury, but he’s what we’re looking for at the linebacker position. And then the DBs, Aden (Tagaloa-Nelson) was good, we need him to step it up, so hopefully he can put himself in a position to play that last month. Jason Cross did a good job. He can run. He has a bright future. He needs to gain some weight. And Keyshaun Robinson, who was a really good special teams player for us on kickoffs and punts, he had a nice week as well.”

Linebacker Elijah Kinsler and defensive back Aden Tagaloa-Nelson are the two most likely to earn playing time here in the final month of the season. You can never have enough bodies on the defensive line, and the Mountaineers clearly haven’t found any answers in the backfield to this point. Zay Jennings will continue to see more opportunities, as will Israel Boyce.

Offensively, Hubbard could get work here and there, but he’ll likely be held to his four-game redshirt cap. I’m curious to see if Kyle Althuner gets any reps at center with Brandon Yates a little hit and struggling. Plus, he’s a guy who was expected to push for the starting job in fall camp before his injury.

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