With last week's game at BYU, we learned that one WVU football player is available to play after missing back-to-back games with an injury –but we also saw that it still appears his injury is keeping him from being 100% on the field.
Mountaineers' running back Tye Edwards has been dealing with a hip pointer injury since the September 13 game against Pitt. Edwards recorded 25 carries for 141 rushing yards and three touchdowns in WVU’s 31-24 win in the Backyard Brawl. The former FCS player then missed the following game against Kansas, despite being dressed on the sidelines. Edwards would follow that up the next week by dressing but seeing no action against Utah.
Edwards returned to the field in Provo last Friday when WVU faced BYU. The Palatka, Florida, native was only given two carries and managed to get two yards on his two carries. It appears that the senior running back is still bothered by his hip pointer injury and is not fully healthy just yet.
So far in 2025, Edwards has 27 carries for 143 rushing yards, adding three touchdowns, and averaging 5.3 yards per carry on the season. Edwards did not get any carries through the first two weeks of the season against Robert Morris and Ohio. His breakout game against Pitt was his only opportunity this season to make his mark on the game, missing the first two games, then being unavailable on the sidelines for two games, before returning to the field for two carries on Saturday.
Pure speculation tells us that Edwards is still injured, and there is no official word on how much, or if at all, his injury is bothering him. Should Edwards go into the game against UCF next Saturday still not close to 100%, it would continue to be a huge blow to the WVU offense. Freshman quarterback Khalil Wilkins has shown his effectiveness on the ground, but running your quarterback 32 times in the past two games is a very risky strategy. Especially since former starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol is out for the rest of the season, and backup quarterback Jaylen Henderson missed the last game with an injury himself.
Bringing Edwards back into the fold at or nearly 100% would help take the load off Wilkins and give Hubbard or Cyncir Bowers a chance to take a step back into a supporting role, which could help them unlock more potential.
WVU fans are rooting for Edwards to be able to return to full strength for the UCF game and the rest of the season. Edwards can bring a consistent presence in the WVU running back room since the season-ending injury to Jahiem White. Let’s hope that Edwards finds his way back to his game we saw against Pitt.