WVU football releases first depth chart of the season, brings back the ‘Ors’
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football released its first depth chart of the season Tuesday afternoon ahead of its first game of the season against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 5. Rich Rodriguez has been quiet about the depth chart, and just made mentions of it throughout the offseason, but now it's here.
Don't get your hopes up because, like last year, there are still “Ors,” 15 to be exact. The Ors mean one player may start or the other. The Ors, although they might be frustrating, are a good thing.
"If you have an 'Ors' and it's because you’re not sure either one of them is ready to do that, that makes it a little bit not so good," Rodriguez said. "But I think most of our 'Ors', and maybe probably all of them, are because we feel good about multiple guys at those positions."
Quarterback is Michael Hawkins Jr., or Scotty Fox Jr, but Hawkins is listed first (take that as you wish). Rodriguez spoke on his radio show Monday night that he knows who the starter is and will let the rest of the team know during the week. He's keeping the starter from the public because he doesn't see a benefit, and keeps Coastal Carolina guessing a little.
On3’s Pete Nakos reported the week before that Hawkins is expected to be the first quarterback out for WVU against the Chanticleers.
As expected, Cam Cook is the starting running back. He was the nation’s leading rusher in 2025, and Rodriguez has referred to him as the alpha in the room. 4-star running back Amari Latimer flashed a lot this spring, and is listed as RB2.
4-star true freshman Kevin Brown gets the start at left tackle, left guard is Nick Krahe, center is Wyoming transfer Wes King, right guard is Jacksonville State transfer Amare “Bubba” Grayson and right tackle is UConn transfer Carsten Casady. The starting receivers are UConn transfer John Neider, Troy transfer D.J. Epps in the slot and Jaden Bray out wide. Mike linebacker is Ben Cutter, who returns after seeing action last season.
Starting tight end is split between Clemson transfer Josh Sapp and returner Ryan Ward. Ward had been banged up this offseason. Placekicker is still between Western Kentucky transfer Jack Cassidy and returner Nate Flower. Will linebacker also has an Or between returners Cam Torbor and Ashton Woods. The defensive line has a couple of Ors, but returner Nate Gabriel will start at nose guard and Western Kentucky transfer Harper Holloman will start at Bandit.
4-star true freshman Matt Sieg is listed as an Or with Andrew Powdrell at free safety. Sieg is also listed as an Or for kickoff and punt returner. The rest of the secondary is Georgia State transfer Chams Diagne at corner and Nick Taylor opposite him, Wisconsin transfer Geimere Latimer at nickel and Memphis transfer Kamari Wilson as the boundary safety.
Rodriguez said the team is deeper this season than last year's 4-8 team, and that plays into a lot of the Ors, and the team has more quality depth.
Getting deeper was the goal this offseason. Part of that is because WVU dealt with so many injuries to the quarterback, running back and receiver room. The Mountaineers were on their fourth, or fifth, quarterback, and down to their last running backs. WVU had to use a defensive player at running back at some point.
If there are injuries, WVU should be prepared.
"You got to have a little luck, too," Rodriguez said. "Hopefully you don’t have two years in a row where you’re playing four or five quarterbacks or five or six running backs, and you can’t avoid it. Sometimes it’s just bad luck, but you know we’ll hope for good luck this year."
The cost of getting deeper meant there's a lot of roster turnover. A majority of WVU's roster is either a transfer, a freshman or a JUCO player. It's similar to last year in a sense, but it's a more talented roster on paper.
That means a majority of the roster will be trotting out in the gold and blue for the first time on Saturday. Rodriguez is a little anxious about what this group will look like against someone who isn’t wearing the same colors.
"It’s a little more anxious because we have so many new guys that, even let alone have played some college football, haven't played in this system, so that’s probably adding to the anxiety a little bit. I’m anxious for those guys. Worked hard. Got a hard week coming up. Get ready, and we’ll see what we have."
There aren't a lot of seniors on this roster, so the plan is that there won't be as much turnover next season, and there can finally be some continuity. Hopefully, that'll ease some of the nerves Rodriguez will have next season.
"Having this two years in a row, doing this much turnover in your roster is kind of crazy," Rodriguez said. "I don’t think anybody wants to go through that again."