Zac Alley Preparing for Whatever Coastal Carolina Sends WVU’s Way

WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley shared his thoughts on Tuesday about preparing for the 2026 season opener against Coastal Carolina on Saturday.

In the age of the transfer portal, teams rarely share too many similarities to rosters from seasons past. This applies to CCU, which Alley said he and the staff are taking the best guess as to which players will be starting for the Chanticleers on offense.

“I’ve told our guys this week, we’re gonna watch all the guys we think could be in the top 22 on offense as far as a personnel standpoint,” Alley said. “I’m always honest with the guys, like, ‘I don’t know who’s gonna roll out there. We’ll find out when we get to game day, I guess.'”

Much like WVU, Coastal Carolina has yet to confirm who its starting quarterback will be, presenting a unique challenge to preparing on the defense for WVU.

“They’re different. They definitely are. You know, it matters who’s in the game. So we’ll see. I know they’re in a quarterback battle. Like I said, I think Saturday about 11:45, I’ll know which one’s playing,” Alley said.

Many consider redshirt freshman Deuce Bailey to be the leading contender for CCU’s starting job. Bailey completed 23-of-47 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns in three games for Missouri State last year. He also ran for 133 yards on 27 attempts.

“He’s a runner and an athlete. They can use him more in, in that capacity than, than they did at least with the other guy at Missouri State last year,” Alley said. “And so you see more quarterback design runs. He’s got scramble ability to get out of the pocket and hurt you with his legs.”

While Alley has confidence in his defensive personnel, Alley expects some fist-game nerves to impact play. However, he believes the defense will “settle in” over time Saturday.

“The plan’s in. The guys know it. You put them on the board right now, they can tell you what we’re doing,” Alley said. “But I think that when you get to actual performance and being in an environment like you get in our stadium here. I do imagine there’ll be some guys like, ‘Whoa,’ for the first time, and then we’ll settle in and, and kind of move from there.”

One aspect that makes Alley confident is the removal of the spring transfer portal, as he has had all of his players through the entire offseason.

“Obviously keeping them from spring ball to now helped. I think that we had, like, three starters from spring last year that actually started game one, which is crazy when you think about it,” Alley said. “I mean, that’s talking about most of your defense was changed over in the summer where they’ve had no practices. So, the consistency of having them the whole year certainly helps with my confidence in what we can do, what we can execute.”

Find more coverage of Zac Alley and the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.