On Thursday night, the West Virginia football team announced that tight end Jacob Barrick and cornerback Jason Chambers were back in the fold, “participating in team activities.” Both were given a jersey number, and it seemed like their return would round out West Virginia’s roster.
Not so fast. Not even a full 24 hours later, head coach Rich Rodriguez revealed that one of them had decided not to play.
“He (Barrick) just decided he wants to coach now, so he’s not going to be the first player/coach since Dusty Rutledge. Also, part of the decision was to pursue his master’s degree and go that way. It’s going to be good to have him on the staff, and I think our tight end room is going to be pretty solid once we get everybody healthy.
Chambers, however, is slowly working his way back, and the familiarity he has with the system, along with the trust he built with the staff last year, makes it a fairly smooth reacclimation process.
“Jason’s been good,” Rodriguez said. “He’s slowly getting into shape, and I don’t know if anybody knows if that’s going to hold up next week. I hope everybody gets some clarity on the eligibility of all those guys, but we’ll find out next week. Jason started for us last year, and he’s a pretty good football player. He’s in pretty good shape. He missed a few months with our strength staff, obviously, but he’s a smart, competitive guy and he’s played a lot of football. He certainly can help us.”
Could Chambers challenge for a starting spot?
It may not happen right away, but thanks to a fairly light schedule the first two weeks of the season, they don’t need to rush him into that role, or even heavy snaps, for that matter. Between Chams Diagne and Nick Taylor, they should be good at the two starting corner spots. Jaire Rawlison, ChaMarryus Bomar, Keyshawn Robinson, and the two JUCO products — Da’Mun Allen and Rayshawn Reynolds Jr. will also be in the mix.
By the time the Virginia game rolls around in Week 3, that’s when we will start to get some clarity on Chambers’ role and whether or not he challenges for a starting spot. If all goes well, I think you’ll see Diagne and Taylor remain as the team’s starters. Chambers can push for one of the top rotational spots.
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