The breezy, pleasant spring has begun showing its rear end. The transfer portal that directly follows spring camp has both its proponents and its cynics. The Nico Iamaleava ordeal that just went down at Tennessee is a microcosm of why it can be problematic. Players do not reciprocate the time and resources programs invested in them, leaving them to dry. However, there are unequivocal benefits to having a portal window right after camp, too. Try telling that to Rich Rodriguez, though, who’s just lost a player to it.

This time of year, there’s an air of uncertainty mixed in with the breezy weather. From a player’s perspective, you don’t know what kind of role you will command within the team come fall. You don’t know where you sit on the depth chart or how heavily you will be featured. Even an overarching assessment of where the program sits ahead of the season is difficult. A mere 15 non-contact practices, where coaches keep their intentions confidential, don’t provide significant insights. As such, the transfer portal allows for a redo. This provides a fresh start in a new environment. Something tight end and departing WVU Mountaineer Johnny Pascuzzi is chasing with his decision. However, this decision also casts a shadow over Rich Rodriguez’s first off-season since his return to West Virginia.

Pete Nakos of On3 reports Johnny Pascuzzi has entered the transfer portal. This largely comes as a shock, given he only came to WVU mere months ago. But scratch the surface, peel back the layers, and it becomes clearer why Pascuzzi has chosen to depart Morgantown. For starters, he’s got one final year of eligibility left. In case he was staring down the barrel of a compromised role with Rich Rod’s plans, something he may have become privy to during spring practice, it makes sense to cut your losses and roll the dice rather than sit around and squander your last season. Notably, Pascuzzi joined the program following Rodriguez’s announcement as head coach.

Conceded, Johnny Pascuzzi by himself isn’t a blow to Rich Rodriguez in the grand scheme of things. He was never quite the starter at his previous program, Iowa, and apparently wasn’t tracking to be one with West Virginia either. However, zoom out and peep at the Mountaineers as a collective. There’s a wider, more daunting issue brewing.

Rich Rod’s arrival was always going to coincide with wholesale changes, as is the case with every head coaching hire. However, Rodriguez’s roster turnover is more drastic than most. 247Sports reports that up to 27 players are either facing cuts or entering the transfer portal. A large chunk of these players arrived in Morgantown after Rodriguez. This is mostly general housekeeping, filtering out quality. However, the sheer volume also implies that spring camp may not have been ideal in preparation for fall, given that so many participants have been deemed surplus to requirements. With the maximum size of rosters going from 120 to 105, owing to the House Settlement, it becomes more palpable. Rich Rod himself has addressed this attrition within his player personnel.

Rich Rodriguez voices his frustration with the spring transfer portal

A West Virginia native hailing from Grant Town, Richard Rodriguez isn’t just one name in a long lineage of coaches at the school. He essentially put the nation on notice while in charge of the Mountaineers in the 2000s. A run that included a tryst with the National Championship in ’07. However, Rodriguez has been adamant that he’s not back at WVU for nostalgia or pageantry. It’s to get them back to the pedestal he built himself. That said, it hasn’t been smooth sailing so far.

“We had a combination of seniors that started for West Virginia last year who were leaving, and then a handful of backups got in the portal as soon as they had an opening. So, that’s going to be a problem for anybody that’s taking over a new program,” said Rich Rodriguez during spring camp. As aforementioned, the spring portal is one of the more polarizing advents in what’s already a polarizing sport in its entirety. The college football traditionalist that Rodriguez is, he’s not a fan. Not because of its modernity, but because of the tangible issues it causes for coaches such as him.

“I think the transfer portal in the spring makes no sense. I mean, we have to get the calendar right and the roster management piece right from the NCAA. But, wherever I got told by the coaches, the goalpost will move; we got to move with it, you know. If you want to win, you better adapt the best you can, and that doesn’t make it easy,” he said. Less than a fortnight on from these comments, Rodriguez and his program are right in the midst of this adaptation. He’ll look to offset this mass exodus out of Morgantown with some fresh blood coming the other way through the portal.