WVU Football HC Rodriguez Talks Receiver Depth, Expectations

WVU Football has seen an overhaul of new members ahead of the 2025 season, and that includes the receiving corps. Three of the receivers have played for Rodriguez at Jacksonville state, redshirt sophomore Cam Vaughn, redshirt junior Jordan McCants and redshirt senior Jarod Bowie.

While it’s no secret that head coach Rich Rodriguez has high standards, his three former Gamecocks have a higher bar to meet, as he detailed in a press conference Wednesday.

“The expectations for me or us are a little bit higher because they’d known the system, you know, know how the operation works. They should take the next step in their development this year,” Rodriguez said.

Vaughn, who was named to the Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List Wednesday, led Jacksonville State in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns last season. Rodriguez still sees room to grow for Vaughn

“Cam’s an athletic guy. He was a high school quarterback, had a pretty good year for us last year and still hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling. One of the fastest guys we got,” Rodriguez said.

One position group Rodriguez spoke highly of was the slot receivers, calling them one of the best slot groups he’s had while coaching.

“This is this is good a a selection of slots I’ve had. You know, when you look at Rodney Gallagher and Man-Man Singleton and Gerard Bowie and in even Armani Weaver… we got some pretty dynamic slots,” Rodriguez said.

Part of camp is reaching a conclusion on the team’s best players and narrowing down rotations. However, Rodriguez wants to see as many quality players as possible on the field this season.

“The reality is I hope we don’t have to narrow it down. It’s as crazy as that sounds. I mean, obviously, you gotta have you just you can only put 11 out there… I like to play 80 guys in every game, but you gotta be good enough to win with,” Rodriguez said. “We’re hoping over the next two weeks that we don’t just have, ‘Oh, we only have 15 guys on this side or 12 guys on this side of the ball ready to win with.’ I think we can have more than that.”

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