Spring break ended Tuesday for West Virginia University football players, as they returned to spring practice and the home stretch of that period. WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said that, for his staff, there wasn’t much of a break.

Mountaineers coaches spent the break evaluating several aspects of the program, Rodriguez said – how the players had fared so far, how the coaches had done teaching the roster new schemes, and even which high school standouts should be the prime targets for the 2026 signing class.

“I had about 110 (high school) guys where I hadn’t evaluated their tape,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. “So I got all that done and did a little bit of evaluation of our current players.”

Those current player evaluations will continue through the Mountaineers’ April 5 Gold-Blue Spring Showcase, the culmination of the spring practice season. Rodriguez said he reminded the players at a Sunday team meeting that there will be some hard decisions to be made in order to get the roster down to 105 players, the new NCAA-mandated limit.

“I said to them that it’s not going to be fun to have to reduce the roster down,” Rodriguez said. “I still think the NCAA should allow us to grandfather guys … I think if you’re already here, you should be able to stay here.

Rodriguez said he’ll structure practices in the homestretch to have more competitive situations, so that he and his staff can have a better understanding of who should make the cut.

“The NFL may only have a 53-man roster, but if somebody gets hurt, they just bring a guy off the practice squad or get him off the street,” Rodriguez said. “That’s why you have to be really intentional about how you fill your roster.”

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While Colorado Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter stepped away from the norm by excelling last year at both receiver and defensive back, Rodriguez said that the new roster limitations may force coaches to look more toward recruiting players who can contribute both on offense and defense.

“You may need to have a few guys who maybe could go both ways,” Rodriguez said. “I think you’ll see a little bit more of that.

“There are guys that are probably on our team now that could play maybe tight end and defensive end or linebacker and defensive end or maybe wideout and safety,” he added. “That’s part of our evaluation of our Class of ’26 guys, for sure.”

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WVU’s leading rusher in 2024, running back Jaheim White, practiced Tuesday, Rodriguez said, but was clad in a green jersey, signaling that he was limited in what he could do. White worked individual drills, but didn’t participate in the team periods.

As a back who totaled 845 yards and seven touchdowns last year for the Mountaineers, White’s return will be a major boost for a running back group lacking a lot of on-field experience for WVU. Rodriguez said he’ll remain patient and make sure White returns to full health.

“Jaheim is a proven guy,” he said. “We know what his ability is. He just hasn’t had a lot of reps in our system. So we hope over the next few practices that he can learn the system.

“I’m not worried about him getting tackled or doing anything live,” Rodriguez added. “I just want him to learn this stuff and, when he’s 100% healthy, he’ll be in.”