White, Donaldson, Greene lead West Virginia’s potent rushing attack in new-look Big 12

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! He’s flying under the radar.” Running back CJ Donaldson, a 240-pound junior, has made a similar impact but has yet to play a complete season due to injuries, missing West Virginia’s bowl win over North Carolina last season and sitting out five games in 2022. Brown expects a group of young wide receivers, including sophomore Hudson Clement, to make big steps and they’ll be joined by transfers Jaden Bray from Oklahoma State and Justin Robinson from Mississippi State. West Virginia defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said having a deeper lineup this season will allow for more player rotations “so that if there’s a performance lapse in a quarter, in a half, or in a game, we’re kind of going to be ‘next guy up’ as opposed to waiting until the next game to make some changes.” Unhappy returns West Virginia allowed kickoff touchdown returns of 96 and 93 yards in the same quarter to Baylor’s Richard Reese as well as a 100-yard return to Houston’s Matthew Golden. No other Bowl Subdivision team allowed three kickoff TD returns last season, and the Mountaineers’ average of 25.2 yards allowed per return ranked 125th out of 130 teams.