The West Virginia Mountaineers wrapped up their spring practice sessions on Saturday with the 2026 Gold-Blue Spring Festival at Milan Puskar Stadium, featuring a live scrimmage in front of the fans in attendance. It gave fans their first look at the Mountaineers after re-loading their roster with over 70 new players for the second consecutive season.
While you never want to take too much away from a spring game scenario – and you likely shouldn't – it's always fun to react to what we did see and what it could tell us. Here are our takeaways from the action.
These QBs can run the ball
We've already seen that that Scotty Fox Jr. can run the ball as a freshman, and in his one rushing attempt on the game, he darted downfield for 16 yards.
But freshman Jyron Hughley popped up for the play of the day onthe ground with a 60-yard touchdown run, and the unofficial stats (no official stats were kept by the program) have him finishing with five carries for 81 yards. Freshman John "Hollywood" Johnson reeled off four carries for 43 yards.
Max Brown took three carries for 22 yard, Max Anderson had three carries for 14 yards, and Michael Hawkins Jr. had three carries for three yards. Of the six quarterbacks that saw action, five recorded at least one carry of 12 yards or more.
Expect JUCO additions to make big impact
The first-team lineup for both gold/white team and the blue team offer a potential look at what a two-deep might look like at this point, and it was littered with many of the double-digit JUCO signees from this off-season.
Jeremiah Johnson at edge rusher, KJ Henson and Darius Wiley on the defensive line, and Rayshawn Reynolds in the secondary were among prominent fixtures in the first-team defensive lineups. Deshawn Woods was among the first-team offensive linemen for his team. Kedrick Triplett and Keon Hutchins each hauled in a reception on offense, and Martavious Boswell took four carries for 13 yards.
The offensive line looks different
The offensive line was a key point of contention for fans and for Rich Rodriguez last year, but that likely won't be the same again in 2026.
Kevin Brown is listed at 6-foot-6 and nearly 300 pounds, and handled pretty much everything the defensive line threw at him. Malik Agbo has added at least 20 pounds. Freshman LaMarcus Dillard also cracked the first-team lineup for the blue team. Landen Livingston, one of two returning starters from last year's line, played with the second-team unit on the white/gold team.
Five different players snapped the ball, three who have starting experience at the FBS level. It's hard to tell this early, as Rodriguez said, if this group will truly be different than last year's squad. But they certainlk different.
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