The terms of the deals that West Virginia quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. and running back Cam Cook received aren't public, but between those two, the Mountaineers had to have spent a good bit of coin.
That, plus revamping the offensive line, also cost a good bit of money. But still, the Mountaineers didn't spend significantly more money on the offense than they did on the defense, according to head coach Rich Rodriguez.
“That’s fiction," Rodriguez said on his radio show when asked if more was spent on offense. "That’s probably social media fiction, I would think. If you really want to find out what the untruth is, follow on social media most of the time. But no, I don’t mind saying that the money spent on both sides of the ball is really close. It’s right within the same… It’s almost identical. Now, there’s a little bit more money that’s not playing defensively than offensively, mostly because of injuries. There’s a pretty good chunk of change that’s not playing because of injuries, but that number’s not that outrageous or separate either. And actually, probably going forward, it will lean more defensively than offensively.”
Knowing that the dollars spent are close doesn't make anyone feel better, especially because it could mean they overspent on some guys if the defense continues to play the way it has the last three weeks. And while no one is expecting a miracle to be made on that side of the ball, there is still time to figure out enough answers to play competitive football and win games. If that happens, then the dollars spent on defense won't be as heavily criticized by the fans.
Injury-wise, though, I'm not sure who Rodriguez is referring to.
Defensive lineman Darius Wiley is the only one that we know of who is out for the year, and he's a guy that I could see being paid pretty nicely. Other than that, I have no idea who it would be since the only other player who has been ruled out on the availability report each week is true freshman nickel/sam Emory Snyder.
We haven't seen DL Jaylen Thomas, LB Malachi Hood (Illinois transfer), or much of JUCO corners Da'Mun Allen and Rayshawn Reynolds Jr. this season, but none of them have been on the availability report during practice week.
But for future spending, I think Rich Rod is spot on — lean more toward the defense because the offense is almost always going to be there with this system. You can never have enough help defensively, and plus, you're likely going to play more guys on that side of the ball anyways.
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