MORGANTOWN — If the storyline of Rich Rodriguez facing his old team in 2026 wasn’t enough, it just got better with West Virginia facing an old player.

Well-known Mountaineer receiver Rodney Gallagher transferred to conference opponent Arizona, according to his social media. WVU is scheduled to play the Wildcats at some point in 2026, and it’s expected to be a home game, making it a homecoming for the Uniontown, Pennsylvania, native.

Gallagher was with the Mountaineers for three seasons. He was a highly anticipated recruit out of high school as a 4-star and picked WVU over Penn State, along with a couple of others.

Gallagher immediately played in his true freshman season, playing under former WVU coach Neal Brown, making three starts in 2023. Gallagher had 10 catches for 74 yards and a long catch of 14 yards. He was also a threat on the ground, carrying the ball 15 times for 87 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per rush.

Gallagher had a bigger second year under Brown, playing primarily on offense, but also saw a couple of snaps on defense. On offense, he had 26 grabs for 288 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-winning touchdown against Kansas.

Last season, Gallagher wasn’t used as much under Rodriguez. He didn’t improve and had 243 yards, but couldn’t find the end zone. After a suboptimal season, Gallagher entered the transfer portal.

It was a bit of suprise when Gallagher made the announcement on New Year’s Eve that’d he’d be leaving, but he was just one of many well-known Neal Brown players to leave. Running back Jahiem White did earlier in the month, and quarterback Nicco Marchiol was a day after.

After Year 1, it seemed Rodriguez either didn’t want a lot of the Brown-coached players or Brown’s players didn’t like playing for Rodriguez in 2025. Rodriguez didn’t lose sleep and immediately filled those losses with strong transfer portal replacements. WVU has added four receivers in just a week of the portal being open.