Pair of West Virginia natives headline first group of incoming transfers for WVU football

West Virginia football has begun to receive it's first round of commitments of incoming transfers over the past two days, with a pair of West Virginia natives amongst the players joining the roster to play under new coach Rich Rodriguez.

For those two native sons, Rodriguez will not be a new coach, though. Rodriguez will bring a pair of Jacksonville State players originally hailing from Martinsburg, W.Va -- tight end Jacob Barrick and wide receiver Jarod Bowie announced on Monday that they're following Rodriguez back their home state.

Bowie graduated from Martinsburg in 2020 and Barrick in 2022, but each have one season of eligibility remaining. Barrick has hauled in 9 receptions for 102 yards over his career, with 6 of those catches coming this past season for 70 yards. Bowie, meanwhile, began his career in-state at Division 2 program Concord and was an All-American and Harlon Hill Trophy Finalist in 2022 with 102 catches for 1,773 yards and 18 touchdowns. He recorded 13 catches for 209 yards this past season at JSU, including 4 catches for 107 yards in the season finale bowl game against Ohio.

Both Bowie and Barrick played ball at Martinsburg High School with Hudson Clement, the standout redshirt sophomore wide receiver who was the leading target last season for WVU but currently has his name entered into the transfer portal. Clement has yet to select a new school.

Joining these two at West Virginia will be a trio of players also coming from Group of Five programs -- former Tulsa offensive lineman Walter Young Bear, former South Alabama cornerback Jordan Scruggs, and former Eastern Michigan wide receiver Oran Singleton Jr.

Young Bear plays primarily at left guard but can shift across the interior offensive line, and was named Third-Team All-AAC this past season with the Golden Hurricanes. He held offers from six other Power 4 programs, including Cal, Pitt, Stanford, UCF, UNC, and Virginia.

Scruggs joins WVU after one season at South Alabama where he tallied 70 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, and one interception this season for the Jaguars. He originally would have had just one season of eligibility remaining, but should now qualify for a second after a Monday afternoon NCAA waiver granted former JUCO players an additional year of eligibility following the Diego Pavia court proceedings.

Singleton Jr. joins WVU after a sole season at EMU that ended with him reeling in 64 passes for 639 yards and 2 touchdowns. He'll also have two years of eligibility remaining following the NCAA wavier.

For more analysis on the incoming WVU football commits from the portal, stay tuned to HailWV.