MORGANTOWN — Linebacker Chase Wilson entered the transfer portal on Jan. 7 of 2025, after five years at Colorado State. His first stop after entering the portal was West Virginia.

Defensive coordinator Zac Alley and Wilson spoke and realized Wilson’s play style and Alley’s coaching style complemented each other. Wilson liked how aggressively Alley coached at Oklahoma, and Alley liked how Wilson played square and downhill, which is how Alley’s linebackers played.

After talking to Alley and seeing Morgantown, Wilson packed up in Fort Collins, shipped his car to West Virginia because he didn’t know if his car with 200,000 miles could make the trip, and announced his commitment on Jan. 10. Wilson appreciated his time at Colorado State, but wanted to move up to a Power Four conference.

“This was the first visit I took, and right after my visit, it felt a lot like Colorado to me, just more hills than mountains,” Wilson said. “But, I fell in love with it. Fell in love with the people, the game day atmosphere, the fan base, just felt like home to me.”

The story of how Wilson wants to end his career is a lot simpler than how it started.

Wilson arrived in Fort Collins in 2020, which was during the peak of the pandemic. He played in two games and was contact traced a couple of times, hindering his play time. Then in 2021, he played in three games before suffering a season-ending injury. The injury carried over to 2022. From there, Wilson started 25 games at linebacker and recently earned preseason third-team All-Big 12, according to Phil Steele.

“I think that’s why I really love what coach Rodriguez has going on here, because that hard edge started to kind of instill in me when I was younger, and a lot of the adversity that I faced through injury, through covid, this, that and the other,” Wilson said. “The hard edge was instilled in me before I even knew it was hard edge.”

Wilson isn’t the only player to recently join the squad. Wilson is one of the 70-plus transfers added to the team, with some coming in just the spring. The entire roster is also learning a new defensive scheme.

Wilson has been quick to make friends through the whole defense, but still making his rounds, getting to know everybody. To be fair, Rodriguez is still learning names, too.

“I think the best part of football at the end of the day is the relationships,” Wilson said. “This game is going to end one day, but those relationships will carry on for the rest of your life. That’s something I really love. Some of these guys are going to be there at my wedding, you know? That’s pretty awesome.”

Rodriguez said he’s still evaluating and looking for leaders, which is hard with no set starters. Wilson hasn’t been announced as a starter, even with his strong performance at his last stop, but there’s a strong indication, he might be one of the leaders on the defense in his last and first year at WVU from what he’s done so far after the first week.

“Just my experience is something I can bring to the younger guys,” Wilson said. “If I can help some of these young guys, whether it’s freshmen and sophomores, I want to leave this place better than how I am right now, right? If I can help those guys get ahead of the curve on year one, year two, I’ll be happy.”