West Virginia transfer Josiah Harris commits to Akron

Former West Virginia forward Josiah Harris has committed to Akron according to a post on his Twitter account.

After two seasons with the Mountaineers Harris returns to his home state of Ohio, commuting to the Zips after entering the transfer portal one week ago.

In his true freshman season Harris appeared in 17 games off of the bench for West Virginia where he averaged 1.8 points in his 6.4 minutes per game. Logging double-digit minutes and six games with a season-high eight points against No. 5 ranked Texas.

Harris took a jump in his sophomore season for the Mountaineers, appearing in all 32 games with 13 starts last season. He averaged a career-high 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in his 19.1 minutes per game, scoring in double-figures five times with a career-high 15 points versus Central Florida in January. Shooting an impressive 81% from the free throw line on the season along with 51% from the field and 42% from three-point range during conference play.

Harris was a three-star prospect out of Richmond Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. Ranked the No. 154 overall player and No. 26 power forward in the 2022 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Harris is the fourth West Virginia player to enter the transfer portal this offseason and the third to commit to Akron, joining James Okonkwo and Seth Wilson as Mountaineers turned Zips. All parting way with the program after moving on from interim head coach Josh Eilert and hiring former Drake head man Darian DeVries.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

Report: West Virginia hires Oklahoma State’s Nelson Hernandez as general manager

Now at a Big 12 job in West Virginia, new Mountaineers head coach for Darian DeVries has decided to hire a general manager for the program.

According to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein, DeVries has tapped Nelson Hernandez for the position, who had been on Mike Boynton’s staff at Oklahoma State before he was let go this offseason. Here was Rothstein’s tweet Saturday morning that news:

“Source: West Virginia’s Darian DeVries has hired Nelson Hernandez as General Manager. Hernandez was on staff at Oklahoma State last season.”

Hernandez only joined the Cowboys’ staff in August of 2023 just ahead of this past season. Boynton hired him as OSU’s Director of Player Development, giving the following statement when bringing him on board:

“Nelson will be a valuable addition to our staff. He has a ton of experience in various roles around college basketball. He will be responsible for many tasks that are vital to a program’s success, including on-campus recruiting, team travel, student-athlete development and more. I look forward to seeing his immediate, positive impact.”

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this report