West Virginia will open up their 2019 season in Morgantown on Saturday against James Madison. When they run out that tunnel they will be lead by new head coach Neal Brown. Brown will be replacing Dana Holgorsen who had some ups and downs with the Mountaineers but could never get over the proverbial hump. Brown comes to Morgantown from Troy where he had won 10 plus games the last three years including road wins over LSU and Nebraska. West Virginia will have to replace around 90 percent of their passing offense from last season with Will Grier, Gary Jennings, Marcus Simms, David Sills, and Trevon Wesco all moving on to NFL teams. Brown's first order of business was bringing in FBS quarterback transfers. Austin Kendall from inner Big 12 conference foe
Oklahoma and then Bowling Green 2 year started Jarrett Doege. Both are immediately eligible but Doege will redshirt after some offseason surgery. Kendall has officially won the starting job and will be behind center on Saturday. Not only did Brown make sure the qb room was bigger, he made sure to go out and do the same to the receiver room figuratively and literally. Temple transfer Sean Ryan is 6'4 and is a true sophomore he also is immediately eligible and is slotted to start on the outside. Former 5 star and 19th overall prospect out of high school 6'3 George Campbell comes to Morgantown by way of Tallahassee as a graduate transfer where he spent injury riddled years at Florida State. The running back room is loaded though in Brown's first season he has 4 running backs who have more than proven they can compete at a high level in power 5 football. Kennedy McKoy will lead the way while, Martell Pettaway, Leddie Brown, and Alec Sinkfield will all get formidable carries. Sinkfield will also be moved around at slot as well. One of Neal Brown's strengths at Troy was the ability to adapt to the type of team he had around him. When he won at LSU he was able to control the clock with the ground game and ultimately out "SECed" the Tigers. Brown also will bring longtime friend and Defensive Coordinator Vic Koenning to Morgantown with him. Koenning installs a more aggressive defense that will see more blitzing and risks to get to the quarterback. The defense will be very young and will have to replace the Big 12 defensive player David Long at linebacker but Alabama transfer VanDarius Cowan will step into that role but will have to sit the first four games from previous eligibility transgressions in Tuscaloosa. The defensive line will be the biggest strength for the Mountaineers as the Stills brothers Dante and Darius will anchor that. The secondary will feature 4 to 5 true freshman in the 2 deep and could prove to be a real problem in the free throwing Big 12. Brown will have his work cut out for him to get the Mountaineers to bowl eligibility in year one. West Virginia is one of only a handful of teams to play 11 power 5 schools this year.
WEST VIRGINIA SEASON PREDICTION:
1. James Madison W 35-10
2. @Missouri L 28-21
3. NC. State W 31-17
4. @Kansas W 45-10
5. Texas W 24-17
6. Iowa State L 27-24
7. @Oklahoma L 42-20
8. @Baylor W 38-21
9. Texas Tech W 42-35
10. @Kansas State W 30-17
11. Oklahoma State L 35-31
12. @TCU L 38-17
Analysis:
A 7-5 finish in Brown's first season would be seen as a success in West Virginia fans minds and there really is an opportunity to get to 8. Brown has proved he can take lesser talent and win games he shouldn't now he has better talent to work with and I can see him springing a big upset it just won't be against Oklahoma but instead a Texas team who is always over hyped. The cupboard wasn't left bare in Morgantown and it will show anymore than 7 wins this year and Mountaineer fans should be really excited about the future. Brown is a major upgrade in coaching over the skullet of Holgorsen