West Virginia football adds depth on both offense and defense with four new transfer commits

West Virginia football further solidified their transfer portal class on Friday with four more transfer portal commitments, including a pair of experienced Power 4 athletes, an all-conference FBS linebacker, and an all-conference FCS running back.

The first commit on Friday came from Northern Iowa running back and All-Missouri Valley Football Conference running back Tye Edwards. Edwards provides a possible replacement for CJ Donaldson Jr. as the big, bruiser back in a multi-player rushing attack -- Edwards is 6'3, 240-pounds and rushed for1,012 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2024.

Edwards will provide a solid veteran presence in a rebuilding locker room, as he enters his seventh season of college football -- he began his career in 2019 and has used his initial four seasons of eligibility, his redshirt season, and the extra year of eligibility granted during the 2020 COVID season. However, he played multiple years at the community college level and was among those former non-NCAA players granted an additional season of eligibility following the Diego Pavia lawsuit ruling.

Edwards will not be the oldest player on the team, though, as that honor will likely fall to another commit from Friday -- safety Justin Harrington. Harrington will enter his eighth year of college football, as he was originally a member of the Class of 2018 alongside recruits such as Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and former WVU quarterback JT Daniels. He in another player who initially exhausted his eligibility (COVID year, four seasons, redshirt, and medical redshirt for a total of seven seasons) but formerly played JUCO ball and was recently granted another year of eligibility.

Harrington has prior Big 12 experience with four seasons at Oklahoma and also brings Big 10 experience having played in 2024 for Washington. He recorded 3 tackles in just 8 appearances with the Huskies and played in 19 games (making 2 starts) over a four-year stint with the Sooners, tallying 29 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 2 pass breakups. Following his JUCO career, he was a four-star JUCO prospect and rated amongst the Top 10 JUCO players in the portal entering 2020.

Another Power 4 veteran committing on Friday was lineman Kimo Makane'ole, who joins the Mountaineers with one season remaining after four years at LSU. Makane'ole made 10 appearances and 1 tackle as a defensive lineman for LSU in 2024 after switching positions to help combat depth issues on that side of the ball. He spent his first three seasons with the Tigers as an offensive lineman, however, making nine appearances and earning 67 snaps from 2022-2023 after redshirting in 2021.

Makane'ole was the 27th-ranked offensive line recruit in the Class of 2021 and was the 73rd-ranked player in the recruiting hotbed of Florida out of high school. It has been reported by EerSports that WVU views him as an offensive line recruit as opposed to defensive line, which will shore up depth in a seriously depleted position group. He also brings a unique skillset as an experienced two-way player in the trenches.

The final commit of the day came from Colorado State linebacker Chase Wilson, who has one year of eligibility remaining. Wilson is a two-time All-Mountain West Conference selection that has spent his five-year career entirely with the Rams. From 2023-2024, he started 25 games for Colorado States= -- he tallied 107 tackles (8.5 TFL), 3.5 sacks, 3 pass breakups and 1 forced fumble in his most productive season in 2023. He followed that up last year with 98 tackles (3 TFL), 4 pass breakups, 2 interceptions, and 1 fumble recovery.

With the quartet of new commits on Friday, WVU is now up to 21 transfer portal commitments this off-season. Current WVU offensive lineman Justin Terry also withdrew his name from the transfer portal Friday and will presumably return to Morgantown, adding further depth to the roster. Track the transfer portal effects on the WVU roster here.

MORE STORIES: