We continue our West Virginia Mountaineers’ preseason coverage with our West Virginia 2023 running backs preview. We first looked at the quarterbacks.
West Virginia 2023 Running Backs Preview
Undoubtedly, the running back room represents a huge strength for the 2023 version of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Head Coach Neal Brown told us as much at Big 12 media days, and we agree.
Before last season, we predicted a sea change in the performance at this position, and we proved right. Indeed, despite averaging just three-and-a-half yards per carry in 2021, the Mountaineers added just over a yard per carry on average over the 2022 season. The room lost just one piece this offseason when Tony Mathis decided to transfer to Houston. Mathis averaged the least yards per carry among the Mountaineer running backs while yielding 38% of their carries.
Mathis’ decision, however, appears driven by this stark realization: despite playing four years in Morgantown, he seemed poised to take a back seat yet again to the Mountaineers’ promising young talent.
CJ Donaldson: The Star of the Show?
Donaldson was deemed the best returning running back in the Big 12 for 2023 in our best-of series. Despite suffering a season-ending knee injury last October, Donaldson appears ready to take on a bigger load in the offense. Although he only converted to running back from tight end a few weeks before his true freshman season, Donaldson broke out in a big way in the season opener. Against Pitt, he amassed 125 yards and a touchdown on just 7 carries. He eclipsed 100 yards in three of the remaining six games in which he played.
Surprisingly, despite his experience as a tight end, he featured only minimally in the passing game. We anticipate his role as a receiving threat out of the backfield to grow this season, and given his receiving prowess in high school, this could launch his achievements into the stratosphere. Donaldson’s explosiveness jumps out from the game film. Finding additional ways to get him the ball, especially in space, certainly will not hurt.
Don’t Forget About Anderson and Johnson
West Virginia’s 2023 backfield also returns sophomore tandem Jaylen Anderson and Justin Johnson, the pair of four-star backs from the 2021 recruiting class. Both earned plenty of snaps in 2022, though the staff leaned more heavily on Johnson.
Indeed, Johnson carried the ball 98 times for 430 yards and three touchdowns last season. He saw his role grow into more of a workhorse back after Donaldson went down with an injury. We anticipate that role to carry into 2023. Indeed, we would not be surprised to see Johnson finish the year with the most carries of the bunch to offer Donaldson some relief to minimize the chance of a recurrence of his knee injury.
Meanwhile, Anderson has not played as much as the other two, appearing in just five games last season after a delay in his enrollment before the 2021 season. That said, Anderson certainly displays some game-breaking skills. He celebrated his coming out party in the Mountaineers’ surprise win over Oklahoma State late last season. In that game, he rushed for 155 yards on 15 carries, good for over 10 yards per attempt. Anderson reached the end zone twice in the contest.
Anderson’s role will certainly grow, but we anticipate him being more of a change-of-pace back unless either of Donaldson or Johnson suffers an injury or proves ineffective.
Enter White and Oliver
To end our West Virginia 2023 running backs preview, we take a look at the true freshman newcomers: Jahiem White and DJ Oliver. They are similar to Anderson and Johnson in that they join in the same class and offer complementary skill sets. That said, the differences are probably even more stark in that White (5’7, 185) and Oliver (5’11, 240) truly look like a lightning and thunder tandem in the making.
White may have the early advantage as an early enrollee in last year’s class, but the staff has already expressed excitement with Oliver over Summer workouts.
The room may seem crowded for now, but the Mountaineers certainly face a good problem heading into their 2023 season: how can they feed all of these talented running backs? Should we see White and Oliver carve out meaningful roles outside of special teams this season, it would mean that one or both of those backs are too good to be left off the field. Even if they progress more slowly, however, West Virginia certainly has enough bodies to execute the run-heavy offense Brown wants to run.
Photo courtesy: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
