MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez has gone back to his roots as a defensive back and has been surveying, communicating and tackling issues around his program.
The latest is the situation surrounding Jimmori Robinson, Tye Edwards, Justin Harrington and Jeff Weimer.
The four Mountaineers players were granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey to become immediately eligible, with WVU's season opener against Robert Morris looming on Saturday.
Robinson, Edwards, Harrington and Weimer, all new transfers to WVU, had filed a lawsuit earlier in August against the NCAA, under federal and state law, seeking eligibility after the NCAA initially denied their waivers to play.
That story arc has taken on a new chapter, as the NCAA announced Monday it was filing an appeal against those players to overturn the order granted last week.
That appeal doesn't immediately overturn the decision, meaning all four players are as of now eligible to practice and play for the Mountaineers.
The one outlier to this all is Robinson, whose eligibility is still up in the air due to academics.
"We're still waiting on him," Rodriguez said on Tuesday. "We have our general counsel that's working with the NCAA, Big 12 and our compliance department to make sure we're interpreting the judge's order correctly. Obviously, the order was favorable to those guys being able to play, but they're still discussing that.
"Jimmori has not practiced, but the other three are practicing."
Weimer, Edwards and Harrington have been able to participate in practice.
The veteran coach is optimistic about their level of play.
"They're all good players," Rodriguez said. "They're all older guys and guys that [we] thought had an opportunity to help us."
The next few days don't seem clear as to what will happen with Robinson before WVU takes the field for the first time on Saturday.
"It's hard for anybody, if you haven't had a lot of reps," Rodriguez said. "Everybody's a little bit different how quickly they learn. Part of it is on coaches."
Harrington, who has also had stops at Oklahoma and Washington, has caught the eye of Mountaineers defensive coordinator Zac Alley.
"I got to see him play in the spring," Alley said on Tuesday. "He was with me in Oklahoma for the spring I was there. I'm pretty familiar with Justin and his ability level. [He's a] tough kid. He'll hit you. He's long and brings a lot of range and size out there on the back end. He's very versatile. You can use him a lot of places.
"He can cover in space, fit in the box, blitz off the edge, play the post and man-to-man. It's good to have him back and get the kind of versatility you can use him for."
Weimer transferred to WVU after stops at UNLV and Idaho State, where he caught 75 passes for 1,016 yards and six touchdowns last season for the Bengals.
WVU receiver Jaden Bray has enjoyed having Weimer out on the field, which Bray believes has pushed others.
"Even though he hasn't been practicing, he came back like he's been out there the whole time," Bray said. "It's been great seeing him, especially battling what he's going through with all his eligibility and stuff like that. It can be hard on the mental of somebody.
"When he's around us, you can't tell he's down or anything. He's just continued [to] work hard. It is a big light in the room."
Edwards spent the last two seasons at Northern Iowa, where he appeared in 22 games. He recorded more than 1,500 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns with the Panthers.
