West Virginia introduces "Country Roads" jerseys for Backyard Brawl matchup vs. Pitt
The West Virginia Mountaineers are preparing for the 2023 campaign much like the rest of the college football world. We’re only a few days away from kicking things off here in Week 0. To add some spice and excitement to their upcoming matchup with Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl (not that it needs any–Sept. 16 at 7:30 PM EST), the Mountaineers decided to unveil some special uniforms for the matchup.
Check those out below.
If you’d like to see some more detailed pictures of the “Backyard Brawl” jerseys, check those out below. The most noticeable part of the unis are the lightning bolts throughout the numbers, shoulders, and the collar.
Purchase the entire “Backyard Brawl” collection starting August 24th at 9:00 AM. Here is the website.
West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh in last year’s version of the Backyard Brawl, 38-31, in what was one of the most entertaining games of the 2022-2023 college football season. Pitt’s MJ Devonshire returned an interception 56-yards for a touchdown with 2:58 remaining to lift the Panthers to victory.
In his WVU debut, CJ Donaldson did not disappoint, erupting for 125 rushing yards and a touchdown on just seven carries, averaging 17.9 yards per touch.
West Virginia lost their quarterback from last year, J.T. Daniels, to the transfer portal, where he eventually ended up at Rice. Luckily, they didn’t lose the man that was an instantly an integral piece of their roster, their electrifying tailback, C.J. Donaldson. He battled through injuries last year and had his freshman year shortened early, but it’s clear that West Virginia’s offensive identity will once again revolve around their ground game.
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West Virginia is confident in their ground game
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is confident in his team’s running game. The 43-year-old head coach recently pulled back the curtain on his offensive predictions.
“Running the football is going to be the strength of our offensive team, but one emphasis on that is, we’ve got to be more explosive in our pass game, and I think that’s where we got to show some growth offensively, is we ran the football at times very successfully last year. What we didn’t do as good a job of is taking advantage of that run game with some explosive pass plays,” Brown said.
West Virginia has the experience to make any changes it needs. The Mountaineers return all five starting offensive linemen: Zach Frazier, Doug Nester, Wyatt Milum, Ja’Quay Hubbard and Tomas Rimac. Moreover, WVU also brings back three pivotal running backs: CJ Donaldson Jr., Justin Johnson Jr. and Jaylen Anderson.
Last season, Donaldson ran for 526 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
The Mountaineers’ quarterback battle has been between Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol. Neal Brown has said a decision has been made on who will start in the team’s season opener against Penn State (Sept. 2 at 7:30 PM EST) but hasn’t made an announcement publicly.
Let’s hope that this year’s version of the Backyard Brawl is as good as the 2022 version.
On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this article.