West Virginia football found itself squarely at the bottom of the Big 12’s transfer portal standings after the first few weeks of the 2024-25 winter window. Not only were the Mountaineers dealing with losses from Neal Brown’s departure, but they were also transitioning into a new regime under Rich Rodriguez.
Simply put, the timing could not have been worse for West Virginia’s roster and after the first couple of weeks it looked like there might be a tough season ahead of them.
Then, after finalizing the major parts of his staff and getting the program on stable footing, Rich Rod and company went to work.
Since Monday, the Mountaineers have earned a total of 10 commitments out of the transfer portal, and three of the biggest additions have come in the last 24 hours.
On Thursday, WVU added Nevada cornerback Michael Coats Jr., a high-three-star transfer prospect who was also receiving interest from Kentucky.
Then, today, West Virginia added back-to-back commitments from UNI running back Tye Edwards and LSU defensive lineman Kimo Makane’ole.
Edwards rushed for 1,022 yards and six touchdowns at Northern Iowa last season and measures in at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds.
Meanwhile, Makane’ole comes over from LSU after a bit of an interesting career to this point. Out of high school, Makane’ole was a four-star offensive lineman and had offers from all over the country before committing to the Bayou Bengals.
He didn’t see the field much in his first three seasons in Baton Rouge, though, so he made the switch over to defensive tackle and saw action in nine games, primarily as a depth piece and on special teams.
With running back and defensive line both positions of need for WVU ahead of 2025, these are major additions that should address some issues right away.
After being ranked 16th in the Big 12 a few weeks ago, West Virginia has surged up to 10th in 247Sports’ Big 12 portal rankings and will climb even higher once the newest commitments get updated ratings.
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, December 9, 2024, and remained open until Saturday, December 28, with an exception for players on teams who play bowl games after the window closes. According to NCAA data, 2,273 FBS football players entered the transfer portal in 2023-24 school year, with 1,558 (68.5%) undergraduates and 715 (31.5%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 57% reported that they enrolled in another school, 8% withdrew their names from the portal, and 35% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.
