This is an undated photo of the interior of an empty classroom, including student desks.
As West Virginia looks to rebuild its football roster for 2023, it is scouring the transfer portal for some immediate help.
The first two commitments the Mountaineers gained from the portal were cornerback Montre Miller and receiver Ja’Shaun Poke, both from Kent State.
Then on Christmas Day, a third transfer announced his intentions of enrolling at WVU.
Kole Taylor, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound tight end, had spent the past three years at LSU, but on Dec. 8 revealed his decision to leave the Tigers in search of a new college home.
Two and a half weeks later, he found one.
“They had a need for a pass catcher at tight end,†said Taylor of the Mountaineers. “During my visit (to WVU), we watched a lot of film of the things they did with Mike O(‘Laughlin) and what they did at Troy and a lot of things they plan to do. It is a really good fit for me, and it seems like a place where I can thrive.â€
After three seasons with the Tigers, Taylor admitted it wasn’t easy to leave Baton Rouge, but he decided it was the best move for him.
“I made a lot of really good memories at LSU, played in a lot of memorable games. I wouldn’t change anything about my time there, but I felt I needed a fresh start,†Taylor noted. “There was no bad blood leaving there.â€
In his time with the Tigers, Taylor played in 32 games, starting seven of them. While at Louisiana State, he caught 17 passes for 159 yards with one touchdown. This past season, he played in all 13 games for the SEC West champions (9-4), starting twice while hauling in five receptions for 55 yards.
“This last season, I was more the run-blocking tight end,†said Taylor in an interview on the “MetroNews Statewide Sportsline.†“I adapted to it and grew to love it. That’s not necessarily easy for someone 6-foot-7, but I’ve put in the work in the weight room and have gotten bigger and stronger, which helped me become a good run blocker.â€
Taylor was rated one of the nation’s top 10 tight end prospects coming out of Central High School in Grand Junction, Colorado, in the class of 2020. He finished his prep career with 72 catches for 1,084 yards and 18 TDs. Such ability earned him scholarship offers from a couple dozen Power 5 programs, and he also had the academic prowess to gain interest from Ivy League schools as well. He took visits to Arizona State, Washington, Penn State, Missouri and LSU before committing to the Tigers in the summer prior to his senior season at Central.
“Coming out of high school, I was a lengthy tight end, but I was pretty skinny,†he acknowledged, as he weighed 225 pounds before arriving at Louisiana State. “I was mainly a pass catcher in high school, but playing for three years at LSU in the SEC, you learn pretty quickly that you have to be physical and be a good blocker. That’s something I’ve adapted into, and I feel it’s now a strength of my game. I feel I’m still a good pass catcher, so I have a balance of both.â€
With the departures of O’Laughlin and Brian Polendey from West Virginia’s roster, Taylor will join a WVU tight end room that is slated to feature five other scholarship players this coming year – sophomores-to-be Treylan Davis (6-3, 246 lbs.) and Victor Wikstrom (6-4, 258 lbs.), redshirt freshman Will Dixon (6-5, 230 lbs.) and true freshmen Noah Braham (6-2, 225 lbs.) and T.J. Johnson (6-4, 210 lbs.).
“There are already some good dudes in the room, and I’m going to come in and compete with them,†Taylor noted. “I think we’re all going to do our own specific things.â€
Taylor will bring size and plenty of experience to that tight end position for the Mountaineers. Their returning tight ends total barely half of Taylor’s college game reps, and most of those belong to Davis, who played in all 12 games for WVU this past season as well as four in 2021 as a true freshman.
With the need for experience and pass-catching ability at tight end, the Mountaineers searched the portal for someone who could fill those needs. They quickly ID’ed Taylor, setting off a speed-dating courtship.
“It was definitely a crazy process,†Taylor explained. “I put my name in the portal, and pretty much that same day I was talking to three or four different coaches. Throughout that first week, interest grew. I talked to West Virginia very early; they were right on the ball and contacted me fairly early. They were one of the first ones to actually offer me.â€
He didn’t go into the transfer blind, though.
“I got recruited by West Virginia in high school a good bit,†he noted. “Everyone grew up watching Tavon Austin’s mix tape, so I knew about West Virginia through that. I watched them some while I was in college as well, but then I got to know them even better through this recruiting process.
“It was good having been through the recruiting process before,†Taylor concluded. “I was able to take what I learned while being recruited in high school and use it – what I did good and what I did bad – this second time in making the right decision.â€
College athletics has the twin feature of living in the moment and also building for the future.
Recruiting has always been the lifeblood for college teams, though admittedly recruiting has changed a great deal in the last year or so.
The opening of the transfer portal a couple years ago followed by the ability of a student-athlete to be immediately eligible at a new school has created a great deal of movement in the college ranks.
Still, though, most NCAA athletic programs don’t want to depend on just transfers, as they want a mix of traditional high school recruits and older players who can help fill immediate needs.
“Things have changed a good deal,†noted WVU head coach Neal Brown. “It used to be you had a total of 85 (scholarships), and you knew what your initial number was going to be (with a max of 25 annually). You worked from that number, and while there could be a little variance to it, there wasn’t much. Now, you really don’t know, so I think it’s about more about how do you want to handle the percentage of high school compared to the percentage of transfers. That’s how you have to do your planning, and that’s where our numbers come from.â€
Last year the NCAA allowed for an expansion on the annual cap of 25 scholarships. It allowed an additional scholarship to be awarded to an incoming player to replace each scholarship player who left via transfer, and many expect that change to remain in effect for the future.
As for transfers, they will now have to enter their names into the portal in one of two windows — Dec. 4-Jan. 18 this coming year and then April 15-30 (the spring window had been May 1-15 but was recently moved up).
The additions to the annual scholarship numbers allow programs to get closer to the maximum total of 85, a target few reached in the past with the annual cap of 25.
Still, with so much attrition, figuring out exactly what is needed is high-level match.
“We have a ballpark, but you have to make an educated guess,†admitted Brown. “You have to make an educated guess on who is going to transfer out of your own program, and you make an educated guess who might use their extra year of eligibility and who might now, where you are going to have a position of need and where you won’t.â€
West Virginia is not in a position where it is going to focus exclusively on transfers or exclusively on high school recruits.
“We’ve got broad percentages — nothing I’d want to share publicly,†Brown explained. “It’s not like we’re going to take a straight 75%. It’s more about position rooms. At this position, we may want young bodies we can develop, while we may need an older person in this room.â€
West Virginia currently has commits from 17 high school prospects for the class of 2023. In that group are three defensive linemen (Justin Benton, Oryend Fisher and Corey McIntyre), three defensive linemen (Nick Krahe, Jonny Williams and Cooper Young), three wide receivers (Elijah Caldwell, Rodney Gallagher and Tory Johnson), two running backs (Jordan Louie and Jahiem White), three linebackers (Ben Cutter, James Heard and Josiah Trotter), one defensive back (Josiah Jackson) and two athletes (Noah Braham and Jordan Jackson).
Brown says WVU has room for more high school prospects in this class before it starts to look into the transfer pool.
“High school-wise, we’d like to be in the low 20s,†the fourth-year head coach said. “When you get into transfer season, whenever that new season is sometime in December, you’ll start to have an idea of what your needs are. The plan is we’ll stay consistent with that. We’d like to add a few more high school guys, and we also have to hold onto the (commits) we’ve got.
“We’re locked in on some high school seniors who are having really good years right now. We’re excited about those, and we’d like to ad a few of them.â€
Recruiting today also means securing your present roster and then adding new talent to that group.
“You’re always in an evaluation mode, both in terms of your own roster and what you can bring,†concluded Brown.
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉäians got their first look Wednesday at the city’s latest entry to downtown living.
Our first trip to the film room, more looks at Kansas and reviews/previews from Mountaineers coaches and players as we reach the mid-week plateau on our WVU - Big 12 trip around the web.
Film Room: West Virginia Mountaineers - Pitt Panthers
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This week in WVU sports history
Brown evaluates both the positives and negatives of WVU’s season-opening performance
No. 24 WVU cross country enters season with national rankings
WVU men's soccer bounces back, takes down American, 3-1
ESPN’s 'College GameDay' Adds Popular Ex-NFL Player to the Show
BU, OU and WVU Receive Weekly Accolades
Crooks Leads the Way in WVU Win
WVU tops in Uniswag week one rankings
Big 12 Teams Score Multiple Touchdowns On Blocked Punts, FG
College football strength of schedule: Phil Steele’s 2022 rankings
ENEMY ARTICLES
Lance Leipold addresses a new look at West Virginia matchup heading into week two
College football preview: Kansas at West Virginia
Kansas football team well aware that a tougher test awaits in Week 2 at West Virginia
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