These are the 2025-26 WVU Mountaineer Mascot finalists
The following students have been chosen by a selection committee based on their applications. They will all don the buckskins and coonskin caps during the WVU men's basketball game against TCU on Feb. 25, and the winner will be announced during the on March 8.
Justin Waybright, from Parkersburg, is a senior majoring in mining engineering who serves as the 2024-25 alternate Mountaineer mascot. He is a three-year member of the Gold Cheer Team, a member of the Society of Mining Engineers and the president of the Mine Rescue Team in the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
Does the WVU Mountaineer Mascot have to be from West Virginia?
Rachel Morgan, a senior marketing major with minors in professional sales and strategic social media from Bridgeport, serves as a student video intern for the WVU football team and as a member of the Project 168 Society and Delta Gamma, where she engages in various community service projects, and professional and leadership development. She is also the secretary of the Country Line Dancing Club and a former 4-H Extension camping instructor.
Cade Kincaid, a member of the Honors College from Fayetteville, is a junior accounting major minoring in finance, business data analytics, and business ethics and prosperity. He serves as a peer mentor and ambassador for the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics and as a member of Delta Sigma Pi, where he engages in various community service projects to benefit the Ronald McDonald House and Empty Bowls Monongalia.
Thaiddeus 'Ted' Dillie, from Weirton, is a third-year medical student at the WVU School of Medicine who served as the 2019-20 alternate Mountaineer mascot. A first-generation college student and recipient of the Order of Augusta, he earned his bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 2020 and a Master of Business Administration in 2021 from WVU. Dillie volunteers his time to the No One Dies Alone Program and Camp Kno-Koma, a summer camping experience for children with Type 1 diabetes in and around the state of West Virginia.
You can read quotes from each of the finalists here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Dominion Post
Ross Hodge finalizes WVU hoops roster with Evans Barning's commitment
MORGANTOWN — The WVU men's basketball team completed its roster late Friday with the addition of forward Evans Barning, a high school prospect out of Archbishop Carroll in Washington D.C. Evans Barning Barning, 6-foot-8, announced his commitment to the Mountaineers on social media. 'I'm excited. Go WVU,' he said. And there is the added bonus that Barning will be reclassifying from the 2026 cycle in order to enroll this fall and give the program another versatile roster piece. Head coach Ross Hodge had previously said that West Virginia wanted to fill the remaining roster slot with the best player available and Barning fits that mold. Barning is a prospect who is oozing with potential given his combination of size, length and athleticism. This past summer Barning performed well at Peach Jam with Team Durant scoring 29 points in one game and averaging 8.8 points and 4.3 rebounds during the event. A skilled forward, Barning can finish above the rim and understands how to get to his spots to score. He also is a plus rebounder on both ends of the floor. The addition of Barning gives the Mountaineers 15 players on the roster for the 2025-26 season, and he represents the second prospect to reclassify in this cycle along with point guard Amir Jenkins. — Story by Keenan Cummings
Dominion Post
2 days ago
- Dominion Post
Offensive lineman Walter Young Bear looks to honor heritage after transferring to WVU
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia offensive lineman Walter Young Bear walked on to Tulsa, meaning he had to pay the $69,266 each year. Young Bear went to his grandmother to borrow the money. Football wasn't a well-known sport in his family. Young Bear comes from the Native American tribes Kiowa, Comanche, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara in Oklahoma. His Native American name is Say Tay Oy Day, or meaning Heap O Bears. Most of his family members were actually basketball players. 'A bunch of Indians are big basketball players,' Young Bear said. 'Not too many Indian football players. My grandma was very supportive.' Young Bear was taking a big risk playing football, but the pressure pushed him to earn a scholarship. 'Pressure builds diamonds,' Young Bear said. 'Under pressure from that moment, and what I wanted to do, what the scholarship meant to my family, and how it would honor them, and how it would glorify God, that definitely pushed me. Even after I got the scholarship, there was still work to do and glorify God.' Young Bear didn't see much action in his first year. In year two, he finally played some snaps, mostly on special teams. After playing 11 games last year at left guard, he wanted to move up to a bigger conference and entered the transfer portal. The portal process can be chaotic, but Young Bear had some help. Former West Virginia player Ryan Stanchek and former WVU coach Greg Frey coached Young Bear and knew Rich Rodriguez was returning to Morgantown. The two recommended Young Bear look into WVU as a possible landing spot. Young Bear's first game was also against Rodriguez's led Jacksonville State, so the writing was on the wall. 'A lot of the time in the world, it's about who can you really trust?' Young Bear said. 'Everybody's trying to sell you something, but you don't really know until you actually get there. I was sold partially because I had two former coaches who told me what West Virginia is going to be.' Young Bear transferred in December and has already started to make an impact. Offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. said the linemen are swapping around, but Young Bear said he's primarily been playing left guard for Rodriguez, looking to start once again. The biggest adjustment for most offensive linemen is adjusting to Rodriguez's tempo because it's a lot of movement for the big fellas. However, the tempo was similar to the offenses Young Bear played under at Tulsa, so it hasn't been too big of an adjustment. 'I'm used to a high-tempo offense, but even this offense is super high tempo,' Young Bear said. 'But all the conditioning we do with coach Mike, and our O-line coaches. They do a good job.' Young Bear has a couple of goals he wants to accomplish for the 2025 season. The two biggest are personal to him, tying into his Native American roots. Young Bear keeps his roots pretty private and hasn't shown off any of his traditional dances to the team because he said he feels awkward performing them. 'My two goals playing this sport are one to glorify God, and then I do want to honor my tribe and my family,' Young Bear said. 'My tribe's been there most of the time when I was growing up. My grandpa was the chairman. He was a treasurer for 40-plus years. I'm really close with my tribe.' His team's goal is pretty simple. It's not winning the Big 12 or a national championship. In his four years at Tulsa, he never had a winning record, so that's all he's shooting for in 2025. 'All I want to do is see how far we can go, because unfortunately, I've never had a winning record in college, and I believe we can,' Young Bear said. 'I think our chemistry is very good, and I just can't wait.'
Dominion Post
3 days ago
- Dominion Post
WVU inside WRs coach Logan Bradley brings adopted hard edge to small room
MORGANTOWN — Liberty football was favored by 30-plus points against Louisiana-Monroe in 2021, and deservingly so. The Flames had Heisman Trophy hopeful and projected first-round pick Malik Willis at quarterback and former Power Four coach Hugh Freeze. Current West Virginia inside wide receivers coach, Logan Bradley, was standing on the Liberty sideline, and across the field was Rich Rodriguez, who was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. The underdog Warhawks offense hung a 28-burger in the third quarter, leading to a big upset for ULM, 31-28. Bradley was shocked. 'What's the saying?' Bradley said. 'You can't beat them, join them. We were favored by all these points. ULM beat us. We were favored by 30-something points. Man, something up with them. Why are they out playing us? There's no way they should have.' Logan Bradley Bradley called up current WVU wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett, who was a ULM graduate assistant. The two worked together at Ole Miss for a couple of years prior. Bradley was in disbelief and wanted to know how that just happened. 'We just had this mindset, that we were just going to out-physical, y'all,' Garrett said. 'Play harder than y'all, and we did.' Bradley always wondered what Rodriguez's secrets were, so when he received the opportunity to join Rodriguez's staff, coaching inside receivers, as a late spring addition, he couldn't pass it up. 'I've always wanted to since,' Bradley said about coaching for Rodriguez. Bradley hasn't been at WVU long, but has already started adopting Rodriguez's hard edge that he admired from afar, and instilling it in his small group of inside receivers. 'All you guys gotta look in here and find out what hard edge means to you,' Bradley said to his receivers. 'To me, hard edge is no matter the situation, circumstance, we don't fold. We play our standard.' When Garrett spoke earlier this camp, he said most of the inside and outside receivers were mixing, figuring out who should play where, but Bradley provided an insight into who his core players were. Bradley listed junior Rodney Gallagher III, Jacksonville State transfer Jarod Bowie, and Eastern Michigan transfer Oran Singleton Jr., or ManMan, as Bradley called him. 'The moment I got here, everyone was calling him ManMan,' Bradley said. 'It's just been ManMan. The whole team calls him that.' Gallagher highlights the small room. He was a four-star prospect and the third-best player in Pennsylvania in 2023, picking the Mountaineers over multiple Power Four schools, most notably Penn State. Gallagher hasn't lived up to his potential, only scoring three touchdowns in two seasons. Part of it could've been the scheme, and Bradley thinks Gallagher, whom he calls 'consistent Rod,' really fits into Rodriguez's offense because he can think quickly, which is important in a tempo offense. 'He does that,' Bradley said. 'Coach Rod wants someone who has a hard edge to them, and wants to be coached hard, and that's [Gallagher]… We live by the next play is the most important play. He has that mindset. He understands that, so in this offense it fits him well.' Bradley said Gallagher's strengths are his ability to flush mistakes and putting his foot in the ground to get up for the contested catches, even with his smaller 5-foot-10 height. He also provided some insights to his other two slot receivers. 'ManMan, his route running is special,' Bradley said. 'When he's on, he's on. At any moment, he can make a route look special. I like to tell him it's coaching, but I tell him all the time there's something in that Florida water… [Bowie] does a great job of getting upfield immediately, putting his foot in the ground and getting upfield, and no dancing. At any point, he can turn a bubble into a 12-yard route, getting you a first down.' His receivers are still messing up here and there, which is what camp is for. Bradley's even messed up, and Rodriguez got on his case. Bradley wasn't phased, though, and was happy that Rodriguez is the type of coach who just says his piece and moves on, as long as it's fixed the next time. Despite the mistakes, Bradley is happy with what he's seen with his group. 'All three of them are very talented,' Bradley said. 'I've been impressed with all those guys since the moment I got here in the spring. All three of them, I believe, have the ability when they get the ball in their hands to make a play. They are good as gold. You can't ask for a better group. They push each other. They can make a play at any point in the game.'
