West Virginia Football: Forecasting the Mountaineers 2021 season

Renowned writer Phil Steele forecasted each team’s season in his annual season preview, including West Virginia football. Neal Brown has the Mountaineers headed in the right direction. After a 5-7 finish in his inaugural season, Brown led them to a 6-4 record in 2020. They return 17 starters from last year, including quarterback Jarret Doege. Below is a summary of what Steele thinks about the Mountaineers in 2021.

The Offense

The Mountaineers bring back nine players on offense. Of course there is Doege, who threw for 2,587 yards and 14 touchdowns this past season. He will have four of his top five targets from 2020 back as well.

Running back Leddie Brown is coming off of a 1,000-yard rushing season to go with 11 total touchdowns. He has a case to be one of the best backs in the Big 12. The two starters the Mountaineers lost were both offensive linemen however, so the running game may take a step back at least to start the year.

All in all, the pieces are there offensively to make this a competitive West Virginia football team.

The Defense

The Mountaineers boasted the best defense in the Big 12 this past season, giving up only 20.5 points per game.

They typically held opponents to 86 yards per game under their season average, which ranked 10th in FBS. The pieces are there to once again make this unit not only the best in the conference, but one of the top in the nation. They lose Darius Stills to the NFL and Tykee Smith to Georgia, but still return eight starters.

Dante Stills (9.5 TFL) and Akheem Mesidor (5 sacks) will lead what should be a terrifying defensive line. Alonzo Addae (66 tackles, 2 INTs) will take on a larger role in the secondary after the departure of Smith. Defense should once again be the strength of West Virginia football.

The Forecast

With ample offensive talent in the Big 12, the Mountaineers have fallen into the background.

The fact is, this is an elite defensive team and an experienced offense that has a shot to make some noise in the conference. They draw Oklahoma on the road, but other than that all of their toughest opponents are home games. This is Neal Brown’s third season at the helm, generally regarded as the breakout year for most coaches.

Steele is confident we will see West Virginia football in a bowl game, but says there is potential of a much higher ceiling.