Mike Asti’s WVU Football Spring Takeaways: Size Should Matter, New Impact Player?

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After keeping practice closed most of the spring period, the WVU football program shared a glimpse of what’s been going on with the media on Wednesday, April 8.

While we were able to watch a segment from the beginning of practice that day, there were several things that stood out.

• The 2026 Mountaineers are a bigger group. After being undersized in most matchups last season, the staff made a point to build a bigger and stronger roster.
• Kevin Brown, one of WVU’s freshman headliners, looks exponentially bigger than he was in high school or even when he first arrived in Morgantown. And beyond his size, he dominated most drills and appears to have every bit of the “it” factor that made schools like Ohio State and Penn State recruit him before he eventually flipped to West Virginia.
• Scotty Fox and Michael Hawkins Jr. were both out there in a black jersey and seemingly working more on run plays and scrambling than trying to complete passes. The team wasn’t live so the receivers would run routes and the quarterbacks would mimic throwing to them or taking off themselves. Fox had a brace on his leg.
• Andre Devine, son of WVU legend and current coach Noel, was trying out with the return teams. As Rich Rodriguez also said, his been impressing with his speed and could finally see the field in a game and impact the 2026 season.
• As older WVU fans know all too well, offensive line coach Rick Trickett was very fiery and appeared to be in midseason form as far as having command of his players.
• New WVU running backs coach Jay Boulware was teaching his backs how to maintain possession even when a defender is intentionally trying to strip the ball.
• Defensively, there was an aggressiveness and an increased size in the revamped unit, especially for the defensive line and secondary.

Watch highlights from the open practice below:

Find more coverage of the WVU Football program at WV Sports Now.