Between The Eers: Can WVU Retain Top Talent?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Good morning, everybody.
00:10 Skylar Callant here on Between the Years.
00:13 Mountain years now, and it's that time of the year.
00:17 Transfer portal has officially opened.
00:20 Guys are going in left and right.
00:22 Offers are being made left and right in every which way.
00:26 And we've got it all covered for you.
00:28 So don't fret.
00:30 We've all got it in one spot.
00:32 I actually made a transfer portal tracker,
00:37 I guess is what we're calling it.
00:38 So if you wanna go and find out who the mountaineers
00:42 are losing to the portal, who they have grabbed,
00:45 which they haven't got any yet, but it will be there.
00:48 And also who they are targeting.
00:50 It's all in one spot.
00:52 If you go to my Twitter or my ex account,
00:55 which is Callahan_,
00:57 it's the pin tweet at the very top of my profile.
01:00 So if you wanna check that out,
01:02 that'll give you all the information
01:04 that you pretty much need
01:06 in terms of the transfer portal coverage.
01:08 So the one question that I've kind of gotten
01:11 over and over again over the last couple of weeks
01:14 has been does West Virginia have enough resources
01:19 to be able to keep its talent?
01:21 And it's kind of a tough question
01:23 because we really don't know the actual numbers
01:27 to all of this.
01:28 People can say they know,
01:30 but the reality is it's just not the case.
01:33 Nobody knows except for the people that are in the trust
01:36 and that are actually handling the money.
01:39 So the sense that I've kind of gotten
01:44 is that they are in a much better position
01:46 than they were a year ago,
01:48 in a much, much better position
01:51 than they were two or three years ago.
01:54 So although I don't think it's quite
01:58 where they want it to be,
02:00 it can always get better.
02:01 I don't think that the fear is quite as high
02:06 as what it was.
02:07 And I don't feel like there's going to be
02:11 as much of a surprise when guys go to the portal.
02:15 There's always gonna be one or two
02:17 that take you off guard
02:19 and probably even take the coaching staff off guard.
02:21 And I think Neil even mentioned that
02:23 a couple of weeks ago on this coaching show.
02:26 It's gonna happen.
02:27 It's the world that we live in.
02:30 But for the most part,
02:31 they kind of have a really good idea
02:35 as to what guys are probably gonna enter the portal
02:39 and those who will.
02:41 They also probably have a good idea
02:43 as to which guys they're gonna be able to keep.
02:45 So I don't feel like you're going to see
02:50 a needle mover like we've seen in years past,
02:53 whether it was the Tyke Smiths of the world
02:57 or the Dreshawn Millers, the Akeem Messadors.
03:00 You can maybe even kind of throw
03:03 Caden Prather into that bucket as well.
03:05 I just don't sense that we're going to see
03:10 that type of a transfer happen out of the program.
03:14 It could, I'm not saying, I'm not gonna rule it out,
03:16 but I don't feel like that is what we'll see this year.
03:19 Most of the young core,
03:24 the Jaheim White, Rodney Gallagher's,
03:26 Trey Lynn Ray's, Trey Latham's,
03:30 Ben Cutter's, those types of guys.
03:34 They saw significant playing time earlier in their career.
03:37 They played exceptionally well
03:40 and they are already a part of what looks to be
03:43 the turn of this program.
03:46 Sure, there's going to be people
03:47 that come knocking at their door illegally.
03:50 And what I mean by that is teams are not allowed
03:53 to come in and start calling your players
03:55 when they're on your roster.
03:56 If they're not in the portal, they can't be called.
03:58 They can't be touched, but it's going to happen.
04:00 It happens every year.
04:02 But I don't feel like there's a necessary need
04:07 for those guys to look elsewhere.
04:10 In some guys' cases, you're taking a major risk
04:15 because you came in, you either started right away
04:19 as a redshirt freshman or true freshman,
04:22 or you kind of earned your way into that starting role.
04:26 And there's no doubt that you're going to have that next year
04:30 if you return.
04:31 Having to go somewhere else
04:35 and having to learn a new system
04:38 and compete for playing time,
04:41 compete for a starting role, it's a major risk.
04:46 And that's not to say that there's kids
04:49 that won't take that risk.
04:51 We see it every single day.
04:53 But I think with the major pieces
04:57 that fans are probably worried about,
04:59 Jaheim White, again, this is purely speculating here,
05:06 is probably going to get whatever he wants
05:10 in the NIL realm of this.
05:13 If it becomes a situation where folks within the trust
05:19 are concerned about him maybe flirting with the portal,
05:24 or if there's a fear that teams
05:27 are maybe going to start contacting him,
05:31 which they may have already done,
05:32 I have no idea, again, it's pure speculation.
05:36 That they're going to find out
05:39 what he needs to be taken care of.
05:41 Same thing with Rodney Gallagher,
05:43 same thing with Trae Lynn Ray.
05:45 And again, with these guys,
05:47 I don't think you're talking millions of dollars here.
05:51 Now, they could ask for that,
05:55 but I don't think they would get that here,
05:57 not at this juncture.
05:58 I just think it would be incredibly insane.
06:03 I mean, we heard Matt Rule say, I think last week,
06:06 that starting quarterbacks,
06:08 really good starting quarterbacks
06:10 are going for one, $1.52 million in the portal.
06:14 We're talking about guys that really didn't get
06:19 into that starting lineup
06:21 until the back half of this season.
06:24 Now, they're great talents.
06:27 Jaheim White may be a future All League back
06:31 and one of the best running backs in the country,
06:34 but he's only had a few games under his belt.
06:37 You can't really project that out and say,
06:39 yes, he's worth millions of dollars.
06:42 Can that be something he earns down the road?
06:43 Yes, absolutely.
06:44 He's going to be worth it, I believe, at some point.
06:48 But right now, I don't think that's where those numbers
06:52 are going to be coming in.
06:52 So I don't think you're going to have to worry about,
06:55 I mean, maybe some of these other big time schools come in
07:00 and they have the money to throw around and say,
07:03 hey, you can come on down here
07:05 and you may end up being our third string receiver
07:09 or running back or whatever the case may be,
07:11 but you're going to get $500,000, $600,000.
07:15 This is completely different in terms of
07:21 how much each school can pay for each position
07:28 and the type of player that you're getting.
07:30 Are you going to be willing to pay this much for a starter?
07:34 Are you going to be able to pay this much for backup?
07:36 Everyone's budget is different.
07:38 That's why it's really hard to gauge.
07:40 Plus the unknown, which is the money
07:45 that's going into these funds and these trusts.
07:49 But I think West Virginia will be fine.
07:54 I think when we get through the end of December,
07:56 which is pretty much the month
07:59 that everyone's kind of aiming to get through,
08:02 if you can get through the month of December
08:05 and you have the bulk,
08:10 I don't even want to put a percentage on it,
08:11 but if you have the bulk of your key contributors
08:14 and your starters back and they're not going anywhere,
08:19 you got to feel pretty good about where you sit
08:22 because you're going to be adding some pieces
08:24 in the month of December as well.
08:26 Most of West Virginia's transfer class last year
08:29 came in December or committed in December.
08:33 So you kind of had that figured out.
08:34 You also have signing day,
08:36 the early signing period for high school kids,
08:40 December 20th.
08:41 So you're really going to have a pretty good feeling
08:44 about what this roster will look like
08:46 at the end of December.
08:47 You're going to have a few stragglers
08:49 when we get to the spring,
08:50 but I think by then you can kind of,
08:56 manage at that point.
08:58 This is really when the floodgates open.
09:01 If you can get past this and you're in a good stance,
09:05 you'll like your chances.
09:06 The thing that I would say about
09:10 whether or not West Virginia has the resources or not
09:14 is I think the trust put out a couple of days ago
09:20 and they may have updated it since I'm recording this
09:24 here on Monday evening,
09:26 but I think there was about 800 or so people
09:31 that are members of the trust
09:36 that are donating either monthly or weekly or however it goes.
09:41 I'm honestly not too sure of how that system is set up.
09:44 I haven't really looked into it.
09:46 I don't know when the donations go in,
09:49 how often, all that good stuff,
09:51 but I do know it is very affordable.
09:54 And if you are one of those folks
09:58 that are able to contribute to that,
10:02 then I would suggest that if you're someone
10:07 that plans on having a very stern opinion
10:12 of what happens in the transfer portal
10:18 or what doesn't happen in the transfer portal,
10:21 then you need to contribute.
10:24 It's basically like the voting thing, right?
10:28 If you're gonna complain about what happens,
10:30 you better vote because at least you can say
10:33 you had your say in it.
10:34 You can't not vote and then complain about it later.
10:39 So I think when you look at how much passion exists
10:45 in this West Virginia fan base,
10:51 it trumps a lot of different schools in the area.
10:56 It trumps a lot of even pro teams in the area.
11:00 This is a place that has been known
11:03 for its strong and passionate fan base.
11:07 There's no reason why that West Virginia should struggle
11:12 in terms of this new era that we're going into.
11:20 And I get West Virginia is not one of the richest states
11:23 in the US, I get that.
11:26 But passion kind of really shows
11:30 when stuff like this happens,
11:31 where you have to essentially pay for your team.
11:36 And I don't know that we'll ever go back.
11:41 I don't think we ever will go back.
11:43 I mean, quite frankly, this is something
11:45 that should have happened years ago.
11:47 Now, I think that the structure of it
11:49 probably isn't the best.
11:51 It's got to have some policing to it.
11:54 And I think really the NIL was more set up
11:59 for the opportunities to go out and make money,
12:04 for a player to go and do a commercial
12:07 with a local business within the state
12:09 or within the community.
12:11 And I think that's what it was intended for.
12:14 Now we're getting this situation
12:17 where you're just getting paid to play
12:20 is what it has essentially become.
12:23 And that too, I don't know that you can walk back
12:26 from that either.
12:27 So this is the world we live in.
12:28 So again, if you're gonna have an opinion about it,
12:31 you have to be able to put your money where your mouth is
12:36 if you are able.
12:38 So I think 800 or so members of the,
12:44 or donators or whatever you wanna call it,
12:46 pledgers to the trust,
12:49 that's a low number in my opinion.
12:52 It can be significantly higher.
12:54 It should be significantly higher.
12:56 Why it's only 800 some, I don't know,
13:02 but I think that itself could be the saving grace
13:08 of this football team.
13:14 There's obviously the big donors out there
13:16 that'll still do their part.
13:18 And when things get down to it,
13:20 if something needs to happen,
13:22 I'm sure they'll be able to make those things work,
13:25 but there's no reason why this shouldn't be over a thousand
13:30 by the end of this month or 2000 or 3000, maybe even 4000.
13:37 This month is massive.
13:42 As I've detailed in an article on Mountaineers Now
13:46 about not only roster retention,
13:51 but adding guys through the portal,
13:54 getting the high school class in.
13:56 There's just so much that goes on this month.
14:01 And this is really kind of when you win games, really,
14:04 is in December,
14:06 because you've gotta be able to put
14:08 the best roster together.
14:10 And the majority of your roster
14:14 is going to be put together right now,
14:15 or finalized, I should say.
14:17 So if you want to have a part in that,
14:20 I would suggest taking a look at the trust
14:23 and seeing what possibilities you can go into.
14:28 So I think it could be better.
14:31 I think they're in a much better position.
14:33 Like I said, I don't think you're going to see
14:35 anybody's big or a big name player
14:37 enter the portal from West Virginia.
14:39 It could happen.
14:41 Don't tell me I was wrong when it happens,
14:44 because these things are hard to predict.
14:46 We're talking about 18 to 22 or 23-year-old kids.
14:50 I don't know how many times I could tell you
14:53 that I've been told something was going to happen
14:56 with a certain player, either on the team
14:58 or in the recruiting side of it.
15:02 And yes, it's a 100% definite.
15:05 And then the next day, something falls through
15:08 and plans have completely changed.
15:10 So it's going to be a wild ride
15:14 for the next three to four weeks.
15:15 So buckle up.
15:17 It's going to be crazy.
15:18 Like I said, we're going to have full coverage of it on X,
15:22 and we'll have it on our site also.
15:24 So we'll have some write-ups on the guys
15:27 that West Virginia's targeting.
15:29 If you want to look at where they're probably leaning
15:34 early on in this process, it's the secondary.
15:37 I mean, I feel like every two minutes I'm posting
15:40 on my X account about them offering a new DB.
15:45 And it's not shocking.
15:47 I mean, I think we kind of all predicted
15:49 that going into this thing.
15:51 But I would say probably 85 to 90% of these offers
15:55 that have gone out so far have been to that secondary.
15:59 You're losing Beanie Bishop, you're losing Malachi Ruffin.
16:02 Beyond that, there's some question marks.
16:04 There's a lot of inexperience.
16:06 You need to have some experienced guys in that room
16:08 or else you're going to get carved up.
16:10 So we'll keep you guys posted throughout the days,
16:15 and we've got a lot of cool stuff coming up.
16:20 So also want to take a second to plug
16:22 our National Signing Day show,
16:24 which will happen on December 20th.
16:27 Again, it's not National Signing Day.
16:29 We're going to stick to that old term
16:32 as the early signing period begins on December 20th.
16:35 Most of West Virginia's high school class
16:38 will be signed on that day.
16:40 So we will talk about that.
16:42 We'll go into great detail about it.
16:44 We're trying to nail down a couple of interviews
16:47 for you guys from some of the members of that class.
16:51 So it should be a lot of fun.
16:53 We're going to have Eugene Napoleon,
16:54 former West Virginia running back on the show.
16:57 He's going to do a couple of those interviews, I believe.
17:00 Christopher Hall, site publisher at Mountaineers,
17:02 now will be with us as well to break down the class.
17:04 So make sure you check that out.
17:07 I think we're aiming for a six o'clock release
17:10 on YouTube and on our site at Mountaineers now,
17:13 depending on how fast the upload thing works
17:15 and the craziness of wifi and how it likes to not work
17:19 whenever you want it to or need it to.
17:21 But keep your eyes out for that
17:24 and keep your notifications on.
17:26 If you follow me on X already,
17:29 go ahead and hit that notification button.
17:31 I know I probably tweet way more than I should,
17:33 but at this time of year, it's useful.
17:36 So I'll try not to flood your notifications
17:39 as much as I can.
17:40 So that's going to do it for me here today.
17:43 I'm Scott Calent here on Between the Ears,
17:46 and we'll be back maybe tomorrow.
17:48 We may make this a daily thing
17:50 or maybe an every other day thing here
17:52 over the next couple of weeks
17:53 'cause there's so much going on.
17:56 And then we'll have the backyard brawl on Wednesday night,
17:58 post-game show with Christopher Hall.
18:00 So thank you guys for watching.
18:01 Hit that subscribe button on YouTube @MountaineersNow.
18:05 We couldn't do it without your guys' support.
18:07 And also make sure to follow us on X at the same handle.
18:11 We'll see you guys here in a couple of days.
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