William Crest, who chose in January to transfer out of the program, has had a change of mind and heart and is back with the team. I’ve no idea where he’ll go or what he’ll do, but the fact West Virginia allowed him to do this speaks to the caliber of teammate he is. A player transfer is not uncommon. A program acknowledging the move and commending the player is, but that’s the sort of treatment Crest received — earned, I should say. He’ll be a redshirt junior in the fall.

This developed recently and quickly. It wasn’t too long ago when it seemed he was still on the way out of town, but conversations commenced and this is the conclusion. Early last week, it was a TBA deal at the Puskar Center. I’m also not sure why or how he didn’t catch on somewhere else, but he did try, and he and the football office maintained a bridge to one another.

He’s joined by a more traditional acquisition.

The Mountaineers are the fourth team to give Brenon Thrift a helmet. He began at Temple, transferred to Lackawanna College and then went to Penn State. He has not played a snap at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, but he was a regarded recruit some time ago. He was a linebacker back then. He’d a defensive tackle now. He’ll sit out the 2017 season.

Here’s how he looked while at Lackawanna.

That’s not where we’ll end today, though. Receiver Steven Smothers and offensive lineman Dontae Angus are no longer with the team. Smothers played a tiny piece of one game last season and redshirted in his first year on campus. Angus, who was a redshirt sophomore last year, about never played for the Mountaineers. Both were hailed as recruiting wins for WVU and both were held out of spring football because of academic concerns.

And now, the scholarship question. Crest is on scholarship. Thrift is not. By my count, WVU has 81 players on scholarship for the fall. There are four available. Maybe Thrift gets one this fall. Maybe it’s next fall. WVU has in the past let some walk-ons have scholarships for the summer, and that could very well be what the spares are used for.

Clearly, though, the Mountaineers are still scouring the pool of available players.