West Virginia’s hire of Neal Brown was met with near-universal praise this offseason but it would appear not everyone is on board with the new direction of Mountaineer football.

In a span of only 36 hours, three of the team’s veteran safeties entered the NCAA transfer portal. It started with Kenny Robinson, who earned All-Big 12 honors last season. Following Robinson’s decision, Derrek Pitts entered the portal and finally Eugene Brown added his name to the list. All three players are safeties, meaning if they all depart, the Mountaineers expect to be thin at the position in Brown’s first season in Morgantown.

It should be noted that players that enter the NCAA transfer portal are eligible to return to the team, however, it is the first step in leaving via transfer.

So far, nine of West Virginia’s scholarship players have entered the transfer portal this offseason — defensive lineman Tyrese Allen, offensive lineman Matt Jones and Dontae Angus, receivers Dillon Spalding and Marcus Simms and defensive back Jordan Adams are the other players considering their options elsewhere in the portal.

Based on these decisions, Neal Brown and his staff may have more of a rebuild on their hands then they realized when they took over the program in Morgantown.