Neal Brown and West Virginia football take on James Madison on Saturday in the 2019 season-opener. Here are three bold predictions for the game.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: college football is back. And with that, the West Virginia Mountaineers are set to take the field for the first time under head coach Neal Brown. How will they fare against the visiting James Madison Dukes?
Austin Kendall has been named the starting quarterback, and the ‘Eers earned a boost on Friday when the NCAA granted Temple-transfer wide receiver Sean Ryan immediately eligible to play. The Two First Names Club is growing in Morgantown. Could we see these two lead the charge on the field?
You’ll hear plenty of other new names for West Virginia as they try to figure out what and who works where on the field, but there are some holdovers from a season ago. The running backs are well-known at this point — Leddie Brown, Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway — and the defensive line should be a stout group led by Dante and Darius Stills.
There are plenty of unknowns, though. Who fills in for the departed tackling-machine David Long? How much will All-Big 12 performer Kenny Robinson be missed? Who emerges at wide receiver to replace the production of Gary Jennings and David Sills?
We’ve got a few predictions that should satisfy these questions as the first game approaches.