During the week off, the West Virginia Mountaineers were able to take a closer look at some of its younger prospects and there were a handful of players on each side of the ball who stood out in practice and scrimmages.

WVU head coach Neal Brown discussed who impressed and talked about the guys who could help them in the latter part of the 2024 season.

“Diore Hubbard had two days out of three where he was really good. He was really good yesterday. Up front, Kyle Altuner was released and trained hard last week and showed some good things. And then I thought of Justin Terry and Lucas Austin, the two young tackles did great things during the week. And then Brandon Rehmann, he probably had his best day as a climber yesterday. He continues to get stronger and could potentially help us on special teams this month.

“Defensively on the defensive line, Elijah Kinsler, who was kind of our sixth guy. He’s been on the sidelines whether he plays or not these last four games. But I thought he had a really good week. At linebacker, Rickey Williams. He’s coming. He missed most of fall camp due to injury, but he’s what we’re looking for at linebacker. And then DBs, Aden (Tagaloa-Nelson) was good and we need him to step up, so hopefully he can put himself in position to play that last month. Jason Cross did a good job. He can run. He has a bright future. He must gain weight. And Keyshawn Robinson, who has been a really good special teams player for us on kickoffs and punt coverage, had a good week as well.

Defensive lineman Elijah Kinsler and defensive back Aden Tagaloa-Nelson are the two most likely to earn playing time here in the final month of the season. You can never have enough bodies along the defensive line and the Mountaineers obviously haven’t found any answers at the back end so far. Zae Jennings will continue to see more opportunities, as will Israel Boyce.

Offensively, Hubbard can work here and there, but they will likely keep him on his four-game limit so he can redshirt. I’m curious to see if Kyle Altuner gets any reps at center with Brandon Yates a little banged up and struggling. Plus, he’s someone who was expected to push for the starting job in fall camp before his injury.

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