West Virginia’s thin running back room received some unfortunate news on Wednesday morning.

Rich Rodriguez announced SMU transfer running back Jaylan Knighton isn’t expected to play in 2025.

“He had an academic issue with one class,” Rodriguez said. “It doesn’t look like he’s going to be eligible.”

Knighton was a big addition in the transfer portal for Rodriguez’s squad. He played three years at Miami, where he racked up 1,000 yards, and recently, two years at SMU, where he had almost 1,000 yards in 2023. He didn’t play much last year because of injury. Knighton brought a lot of experience after announcing his transfer to WVU in the spring.

Knighton had been trying to get his waiver passed by the NCAA so that he could play another season of college football, but it looks like he won’t

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