MORGANTOWN — On Monday afternoon, news broke that West Virginia running back Jahiem White was planning on entering the transfer portal. White, who was the starting back coming into the season, rushed for 845 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024, earning him All-Big 12 preseason honors heading into the 2025 season. White went down with a season-ending injury in Game 2, but WVU was still planning on having him for 2026.

Plans changed. White isn’t expected to be on the roster in 2026, who was expected to be the starter once again. Then, his replacement for the second half of the season, just hours later, Diore Hubbard announced he’s also planning to enter the portal, too. Hubbard played in eight games and led the team in rushing with 335 yards and four scores.

The Mountaineers are heading into 2026 without two of their top rushers. So what’s left of the already bare running back room?

It starts with second-string running back Tye Edwards. Edwards was White’s backup and led WVU to the Backyard Brawl win over Pitt. He rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns. But that was it. Edwards rushed twice, a few games later against BYU, and was also out for the year with an injury.

Edwards would be the presumptive lead back for 2026, but there are questions surrounding his eligibility for next season. Edwards already had to fight in court to gain the right to play for the 2025 season. But he played two years in junior college, and there are a lot of lawsuits from players, claiming junior college shouldn’t count towards eligibility. Edwards also played in just two games. There’s a lot of clutter around if he can return, so WVU definitely won’t rely on him for 2026.

Without White, Hubbard, and potentially Edwards, WVU’s next man up is sophomore Cyncir Bowers, who was the 1B to Diore Hubbard in the final games of the season. Bowers took over as the lead back when Hubbard couldn’t play in the final game against Texas Tech.

Bowers is more of a small, speedy back at 5-foot-10, and he was used more as a third-down option. Bowers had the long touchdown against Arizona State, making that a close game, and finished the year with 249 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged four yards per carry.

If Bowers doesn’t hit the portal, he’d be the favorite to be the starter heading into 2026, with what’s currently on the roster.

The Mountaineers still have pass-catching back Clay Ash. WVU also has redshirt junior Kannon Katzer, who was banged up most of the year, and Andre Devine, son of Noel Devine, but he’s still a work-in-progress player, trying to put on weight. WVU did have bigger back, Tyler Jacklich, up until Tuesday when he announced he was portaling.

There’s also pass rusher turned running back Curtis Jones. It’ll be interesting to see if he sticks at RB, or he’ll go back now that WVU’s had an offseason to rebuild the room.

WVU is bringing in a couple of talented high school running backs to fill the room. The Mountaineers flipped 4-star Wisconsin commit Amari Latimer on National Signing Day, who was WVU’s third-best player in the class. Latimer was his high school’s all-time leading rusher with 5,332 yards and was a candidate for Georgia’s Gatorade Player of the Year, given to the best player in the state.

The Mountaineers also added 3-star SirPaul Cheeks, also known as “Jesus in Cleats,” and a couple others. There’s some good young talent coming in.

But WVU needs some experience in the room. Rodriguez said during his National Signing Day press conference that he obviously wasn’t going to use the portal as much as he did a year ago, but he still planned to add some players to patch some holes. Rodriguez mentioned WVU might add a running back.

The portal doesn’t officially open until Jan. 2, but there are a lot of players, like White and Hubbard, who already plan to enter their names into the mix.

WVU might not hit on some of the Texas running backs, like C.J. Baxter or Jerrick Gibson, but junior Hunter Patterson from West Liberty, one of the better backs in the portal now, could be a good fit. Patterson rushed for over 1,200 yards and 20 total touchdowns in 2025 and is from Chester, West Virginia. He’s a name to watch.

No matter what WVU adds or subtracts in the coming months, the room will look a lot different in 2026.