That guy has spent seasons building his roster so he doesn’t have to recruit an army of junior college transfers and rely on freshmen. When the plan has worked, the team has been better. When his hand has been forced, the team has had the expected issues.

The Mountaineers have nine freshmen on campus already who were with the team for the spring, and a couple of them are going to play in the fall, more because of skill than because of circumstance, though certainly a combination is involved. The team will welcome 18 high school grads and junior college transfers during the summer who did not do spring football with the team.

So here’s a fun over/under: How many of the 18 will play in the fall?

Think hard about this, and use an assessment from defensive coordinator Tony Gibson as a guide:

“We narrowed it down last week as a staff, and we feel like where we’re at, we have about 17 guys right now who are Big 12-ready,” Gibson said. “Some of the 17 are sub guys — this guy’s going to play third down, this guy can do things for us maybe as a pass-rusher — but we need 25 or 26 guys, so we’re going to keep coaching and developing these guys and maybe one or two we have here, the light will come on, and maybe we get some help coming in from recruiting.”

Let’s start with the offense. WVU has all its quarterback recruits on hand but will add three offensive linemen. Only junior college offensive tackle Craig Smith has a chance to play, and the line needs another tackle. He has two years left to play two seasons, which figures to get him in the lineup somehow.

Two running backs are on the way, and Justin Crawford, the reigning junior college player of the year, will play while freshman Martell Pettaway will get a chance because of numbers. (Aside: Marcus Simms is wearing No. 8, and that might be a sign as it relates to Donte Thomas-Williams.)

“The thing about Crawford is he played in an offense similar to what we do, so his curve and his learning should be OK,” running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “Martell is a lot like Kennedy, a very smart kid, 3.8 or 4.0 GPA. I think knowledge-wise, he should be able to come in and pick things up quickly.”

At receiver, Steven Smothers is the only recruit not yet enrolled, and tight end Trevon Wesco has an opportunity because there’s no player like him on the roster. Reports about his knee, which you know I knew about, are promising. But he missed last season after playing in 2015, which means he has three years for three seasons.

All of the defensive line recruits are here, but linebackers Brendan Ferns, the prize of the class, Zach Sandwisch and Adam Hensley can see the field if they adapt quickly. Sandwisch and Hensley, though, are coming back from offseason shoulder surgeries, but Gibson needs players, especially in middle, which is where Ferns projects to play.

At cornerback, Elijah Battle and Mike Daniels have an advantage, because they’re junior college transfers, whereas the other yet-to-appear recruits are freshmen. At safety, junior college transfer Kyzir White is the whispered-about wildcard at spur. Fellow juco Toyous Avery will play, possibly as a bandit, if only because he’s already redshirted and has three years left for three seasons.

Even the kicking game can get a boost, because Jonn Young is a useful combination of versatile and accomplished. WVU has kicker covered with Mike Molina and/or Josh Lambert, but will be using a new punter and kickoff specialist. The plan is for Young to focus on two of the three disciplines, and it seems pretty clear what those two are.