NEWPORT, R.I. - With players scheduled to report Thursday and begin practice Friday at West Virginia, a handful of additions and subtractions are key to the equation.

The additions? Well, they aren't really that as much as merely changes of status. Nose guard Jorge Wright will apparently begin practice along with everyone else and Jake Spavital is no longer a graduate assistant but a full-blown member of the coaching staff.

The subtraction? Well, it doesn't figure to affect the product on the field unless disaster strikes, but third-string quarterback Brian Athey is no longer a member of the team.

It all adds up, of course, to more fairly minor changes in comparison to the major switch, which is Dana Holgorsen conducting his first practice later this week as WVU's head coach.

"None of it is major,'' Holgorsen said Tuesday during the Big East's annual media day. "There are always changes.''

The situation with Wright - who exited spring practice as the No. 1 nose guard but then was immediately suspended due to his arrest on charges of possession of marijuana and a gun - is perhaps the most significant event. Back in June, Holgorsen said he was still compiling information regarding Wright's arrest and that his future had not been determined.

Tuesday, though, Holgorsen said that Wright has been taking part in summer workouts just like everyone else on the team and that when practice starts there is no reason to believe Wright won't be on the field. He did not, however, discount the possibility of Wright's status changing.

"That's being handled internally, but I've talked to his lawyers and it's an ongoing process,'' Holgorsen said of Wright. "I'm comfortable right now with what they've told me the situation is. He'll start camp and then if anything happens from a legal standpoint we'll address it at that time.''

Wright was suspended at the end of spring practice after being arrested for possession of marijuana in a traffic stop during which an unloaded handgun was also discovered in his vehicle. The incident happened just before the spring game on April 30, Wright played in the game and then was suspended afterward.

Holgorsen wasn't involved in the suspension - Bill Stewart was the coach at the time - and said in June he had to get caught up on Wright's situation, including where he stands academically and legally.

But on Tuesday, Holgorsen said Wright had been reinstated, apparently shortly after Holgorsen took over.

"I'm comfortable with where he's at,'' Holgorsen said of the 6-foot-2, 281-pound junior from Miami, whose presence is significant because of the loss of veteran nose guard Chris Neild to the NFL. "I've talked to a lot of people involved on it and I'm OK with him proceeding as a football player. If anything changes from a legal aspect we'll handle it then.''

While Wright stands to make an impact assuming he plays this season, Athey is a different matter. Holgorsen said Tuesday that the 6-4, 216-pound Minnesotan has decided to transfer to an FCS-level school. Athey enrolled as an early-graduating freshman in January, just as did Paul Millard from Texas.

In spring practice, though, Millard quickly emerged as the backup to starter Geno Smith and Athey, because he is in the same class as Millard, apparently saw the handwriting on the wall.

"That's the nature of having two quarterbacks in the same class,'' Holgorsen said. "It happens everywhere.''

Indeed, but West Virginia had little choice but to recruit two quarterbacks in the same class because there were no other backups to Smith. Both quarterbacks recruited the year before, Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson, left the team after one semester.

And that's why Athey's departure is potentially troublesome. Smith does not have the best track record of staying healthy - most notably two broken feet in the last two years - and if something happens to him, Millard is the only backup.

There are two other players on the roster who were recruited as quarterbacks, but both Brad Starks and Coley White have been moved to receiver spots.

Holgorsen said there was no thought of moving White back to quarterback as an emergency option, but also admitted that if he can't find a third quarterback something like that might have to be considered.

For now, though, Holgorsen is looking everywhere for a late addition, joking that he was ready to send Smith and Millard to the school's rec center to scout for draftees.

"We're trying. We're calling everybody in the world,'' Holgorsen said. "I don't have an answer for you. It's a terrible situation that we're trying to work out. We're looking at junior colleges, prep schools, wherever we can think of.''

And as for the case of Spavital, that's the one change that actually won't change anything. Spavital has been Holgorsen's right-hand man as a grad assistant the past two years and was to fill that role this season, too.

But when Holgorsen replaced Stewart in June, it opened Holgorsen's spot as one of the NCAA-allowed nine full-time assistant coaches. Holgorsen said when he was elevated to the head coaching role that he wasn't concerned about the opening because he was going to remain the offensive coordinator and Spavital was still around to help with the quarterbacks.

Apparently, though, in early July Spavital was hired to fill the full-time opening. He has been designated the quarterbacks coach. But the school never announced the hiring.

"His role won't change at all. He will do exactly what he did in the spring and what he's always done,'' Holgorsen said. "The only difference is for him. He won't have to go to class this fall.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.