Between The Eers: DJ Oliver Departs
Between The Eers: DJ Oliver Departs
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Good Friday morning.
00:11 It is another episode of Between the Ears.
00:13 I'm Skylar Callahan with Mountaineers Now.
00:16 And last night, we found out some news that
00:20 Paramount years are no longer with the football team.
00:23 Offensive lineman Charlie Katerinsek and offense, excuse me, running back DJ Oliver.
00:29 >> We've kind of known a little bit about Katerinsek for quite some time now.
00:33 Oliver was kind of a question mark, but Katerinsek had some knee issues
00:38 throughout his first two years, at least from what we were told.
00:43 And just wasn't able to stay healthy, kind of stunted his development.
00:48 And it sucks for him.
00:51 I know that the offensive line was really kind of high on him and
00:58 believed that he could develop into something down the line and
01:02 could be someone that they could count on.
01:04 But next man up there, and
01:08 considering the depth that they have on the offensive line,
01:11 I think that they're not panicking by any means.
01:15 But the running back one, excuse me, DJ Oliver,
01:20 that's the one that's gonna grab the attention.
01:23 Everyone, for the most part, amongst the fan base knew DJ Oliver,
01:28 knew who he was, knew his background.
01:30 And we're kind of surprised by this move.
01:35 Now, I would say, if this was December and
01:40 this came out, I would be surprised.
01:47 Because you have the uncertainty surrounding Jalen Anderson,
01:54 Justin Johnson, heck, even CJ Donaldson and Jaheim White.
01:59 You don't know what their situation is.
02:02 Are they gonna be guys that bounce in the portal?
02:04 But the fact this comes in January/February, it's not all that surprising.
02:13 I mean, since then, they've added two running backs,
02:15 Tre'Veon Dunbar and Dior Hubbard that signed out of high school.
02:19 Both guys in which West Virginia is extremely high on and
02:23 believe that they can be impact players early in their career, specifically Dior Hubbard.
02:28 And when you have somebody that can come in and
02:31 make an impact almost immediately, and you throw him into the mix with two guys
02:38 that are really, really respected around the league, and Donaldson and White,
02:44 it's kinda hard to see where DJ Oliver's gonna open up and get some playing time.
02:49 So I 100% completely understand the move.
02:54 Again, in this world, it sucks because you start to,
02:58 I think look at some of these young guys, you fall in love with their potential,
03:03 their game, and think they could be stars at some point down the line.
03:08 And it's just not how it really works anymore.
03:12 You get a year in and if there's not much playing time there already or
03:18 if there's not a path for playing time in the future, a clear path,
03:23 it's hard to see those guys stick around, just the way it works.
03:28 So the one thing I'll say about DJ is he's an incredibly talented kid.
03:36 Neil Brown was extremely high on him.
03:40 Even considered playing him in the final few games of the season before saying,
03:44 you know what, we'll just hold off, not burn that year of eligibility.
03:49 He did play in the bowl game.
03:50 So if you're wondering why he's got five games, he played in the bowl game,
03:55 as you know, and that does not count towards eligibility,
03:58 which is a really good thing because that's, I mean,
04:02 especially with all the opt outs now, you're gonna need those guys to be able
04:07 to play, but coaching staff love DJ Oliver.
04:14 And there's a lot of, there's good reason for that.
04:20 Hard working kid, he's big, he's physical.
04:25 He's kind of a somewhat of a version of CJ Donaldson,
04:31 just in the way that he's such a load to bring down to the ground.
04:35 He runs a different style, of course, but
04:37 someone's gonna get a good running back, that's for sure.
04:42 The one thing Mountaineer fans shouldn't do is panic.
04:45 As I've said before many, many times, and
04:48 I think we even dedicated a whole episode to it.
04:51 Don't panic when these things start to come out,
04:55 because they're over scholarship limit already.
04:58 I think with Oliver and Katerinsek leaving,
05:02 I believe there's still two scholarship spots over, maybe three.
05:08 I'll have to double check on that, but
05:12 I didn't get a confirmation text before I started recording.
05:16 So I've got to make sure that that's right.
05:19 So it's either two or three over.
05:22 So there's still gonna be some more changes that come along the way.
05:25 At some point over the next couple of months,
05:29 there's gonna be guys that bounce and they're probably more than two and three.
05:33 To be honest with you, that's just the nature of college football.
05:38 After spring football, you're probably gonna see a full handful of guys that
05:43 bounce and you're also gonna see a handful of guys that come in too.
05:49 So it's gonna even out, they're gonna get to their 85 and everything will be dandy.
05:56 Also, again, the reason not to panic is because you feel really damn
06:01 good about the running back room right now.
06:04 CJ Donaldson is for the most part healthy and
06:09 going into the off season, which he wasn't a year ago.
06:14 And you feel like after kind of somewhat of a sophomore slump,
06:20 he's gonna bounce back and have a really strong third year.
06:24 And then obviously, Jaheim White and what he did as a true freshman, I mean,
06:29 one of the most talented players in the country at his position.
06:34 And really in all of college football as a true freshman, electrifying.
06:40 Every time he touched the ball, you felt like he was gonna do something with it.
06:44 I mean, there for a while he was averaging dang near a first down every time he got
06:48 the ball.
06:50 So the little lightning thunders kind of duo that they have with Jaheim and
06:55 CJ have to feel really good about that.
06:58 But obviously, as fans that have watched college football for
07:04 how many years, you gotta have more than two guys.
07:08 That's just, I mean, if you're gonna play winning football in November and
07:12 get into the month of December to have a chance of playing for
07:17 more than just a conference championship, you've gotta be able to have more than
07:20 two guys that can run the football.
07:22 And outside of the quarterback position, of course.
07:25 So Travion Dunbar, Dior Hubbard, Dior is kind of that slasher
07:33 who really is tremendous in space.
07:37 I mean, really good contact balance.
07:40 He's got great burst.
07:42 He could run in between the tackles.
07:43 He's not necessarily a physical runner like a CJ Donaldson,
07:49 but he's not necessarily your all out speed guy.
07:53 He's not gonna just blow you away with his speed like Jaheim does.
07:57 He's got a little bit of in between with him.
07:59 But he is something else to watch.
08:04 And maybe at some point this offseason,
08:05 we'll do just a full breakdown of Dior Hubbard and Travion Dunbar.
08:10 I know we talked about him on the National Signing Day show.
08:13 Here I'm out here's now what you can find on this very channel, but he is special.
08:20 And I think he's got a chance to be somewhat involved in that running back
08:25 nucleus in 2024.
08:28 Travion Dunbar, same thing.
08:31 He had an injury that kind of everyone was nervous about.
08:34 That's why he was lightly recruited there at the end of his high school career.
08:39 But I mean, the kid ran for, I don't even know how many,
08:44 it was like 3,000 yards, something stupid.
08:47 And when you watch him, it's full blast,
08:54 full go, in between the tackles, downhill in a hurry.
08:58 No one wants to tackle him.
09:00 I mean, that's the one thing that really stood out when I watched his tape is like,
09:04 you can tell how good a running back is by one thing.
09:09 Is there any interest in tackling the kid?
09:13 And from what I saw on tape, there wasn't a whole lot of people lining up to go
09:20 put a smack on him.
09:21 So the running back room will be just fine.
09:26 Dior Hubbard, Travion Dunbar, they'll come in,
09:28 they'll make their contributions if needed.
09:33 And then there's also Jalen Anderson, right?
09:35 There's the guy that pretty much everyone pegged as,
09:39 he's gone at the end of the season, including myself.
09:43 And there's still a chance that he could do that.
09:47 He could be one of those guys that bounce after the spring.
09:50 But as of right now, he's still on the team.
09:52 And if he sticks around, good for him.
09:57 He got put in a tough spot where he had that pass at Houston where,
10:04 had the wheel route going up the sideline, had a touchdown in his hands.
10:09 Drops it, goes right into the hands of Houston Cougar defender for
10:14 the interception.
10:15 Completely changes the dynamic of that game at least at that point in time.
10:19 And then he also fumbled.
10:22 I believe it was the, was it the Baylor game?
10:28 Can't remember which game it was, but there was a, he had a, no, it was UCF.
10:34 He came in and had the trick play where he caught the ball,
10:38 was gonna pitch it, and he had the fumble.
10:40 And those were, I believe, his last two plays until we got to the bowl game.
10:46 So he lost a ton of playing time,
10:49 a ton of burn to a true freshman in Jaheim White.
10:53 And normally when stuff like that happens, guy's gonna bounce.
11:00 So if he ends up sticking it out, tip of the hat to him because that's,
11:05 that shows dedication and commitment and I guess also confidence.
11:11 Like, hey, I'm gonna bounce back from this.
11:14 I'm gonna have a strong off season and get back into the mix here in the running
11:17 back room.
11:17 So we'll see what happens with Jalen Anderson.
11:20 I'm still kinda being cautious with it because I think there's a good chance.
11:26 I shouldn't say a good chance, but there's a possibility that he could be
11:31 amongst those that leave in the spring.
11:33 And even if he does, you're still, I mean, you're talking,
11:40 you lose Justin Johnson, you lose DJ Oliver, and if you lose Jalen Anderson,
11:46 you lose three scholarship running backs, yet you're still 4-D.
11:49 And feel good about those four.
11:54 That is exactly what I think Neil Brown and
11:59 Chad Scott dreamed about, right?
12:03 Like you could lose some guys in the portal and still feel good, and
12:06 that's a dream scenario.
12:08 And it also kinda goes to show the work that Chad has done with that room.
12:12 Doesn't get talked about enough.
12:15 So anyways, that'll do it for us here today on Between the Ears.
12:19 We thank you guys for tuning in.
12:21 Monday through Friday here on Mountaineers Now.
12:26 That'll wrap us up for the week.
12:27 We'll be back tomorrow on the Mountaineers Now post game show with Chris as we
12:32 recap West Virginia and BYU.
12:35 And that'll take us into the weekend for us here on Mountaineers Now.
12:40 So be sure to hit that subscribe button.
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12:51 And also give us a follow on X at Mountaineers Now.
12:55 I'm Skylar Callahan.
12:56 You've been watching Between the Ears.
12:58 We'll see you tomorrow for the post game show.
12:59 [MUSIC]