Anonymous Big 12 coach expects West Virginia to struggle on defense in 2025

To kick off his second tenure as the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers Rich Rodriguez hasn’t been shy about setting expectations high. To reach those, though, he’ll need to find a way to rapidly improve on the defensive side of the ball.

Big 12 coaches around the conference have taken notice of West Virginia. At least one, however, still has concerns about the Mountaineers defense. They spoke anonymously to Athlon, breaking down why they expect some struggles on defense.

“I don’t think they have the bodies yet on defense, especially up front,” the Big 12 coach said. “They’re going to struggle on that side of the ball unless they can really jump out on offense and keep them off the field.”

While Rich Rodriguez is famed for his offenses, he is bringing an interesting new defensive coordinator with him to Morgantown. Zac Alley is coming over from Oklahoma. There, he spent a season as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He previously worked with Rodriguez in the same role at Jacksonville State. He’s also been an assistant at ULM, Boise State, and Clemson.

The West Virginia defense did struggle in 2024, though. The Mountaineers were 111th nationally in total defense, giving up 415.2 yards per game. They were also 110th in scoring defense, averaging 31.9 points allowed per game.

Throughout his career, Rich Rodriguez has been known for his offenses. There, coaches around the Big 12 have more confidence. At the same time, there is still a need to find the players to run his system ahead of the 2025 season.

“They need to find that group of backfield workhorses for the system to run. A lot of the guys they brought with them from Jacksonville State are at other positions,” a Big 12 coach said. “So the biggest thing to watch is how fast they lock on their ball-carriers and the QB. If that clicks, everything else will adjust quicker.”

To get West Virginia ready to play the kind of game that Rodriguez wants, he’s leaned very heavily on the Transfer Portal to flip the roster. The Mountaineers have the 59th-ranked recruiting class in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That’s a class with 46 players who have left the program and another 49 who transferred into the program.

Just what West Virginia looks like in 2025 remains to be seen. Fans will have a better idea on August 30th, when the Mountaineers take on Robert Morris. Later, they’ll begin Big 12 play with a road trip to Kansas on September 20th.