MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As West Virginia’s football team comes down the homestretch of spring practice, basically all the top-line players have been examined to the nth degree by BlueGoldNews.com.
Still, there is another batch of lesser-known Mountaineers who very well may be contributors this fall, whether that’s on offense, defense or special teams.
“We’re in the evaluation piece,” noted WVU head coach Neal Brown. “We’re trying to get a good picture of where our personnel is — Who has gone from a redshirt (to contributor)? Who has gone from a backup and could potentially play a lead role? Who is the guy who was off the radar but now may be ready to be a core special teams player? Those are some of the decisions that we are making at this point.”
West Virginia has a number of individuals who haven’t seen a whole lot of game action in the past but seem to be putting themselves into position to assume bigger roles in the near future.
“From a special teams standpoint, I’d like to prioritize some of those,” explained Brown when asked about the team’s fast risers. “On offense, Jaylen Anderson (RB, 5-11, 220 lbs., Jr.) has never played much on special teams here, and that’s really been a want-to deal. We stressed to him in January that he needed to be a complete football player and be able to help on special teams. He’s come in this spring and done really well there.
“T.J. Johnson (WR, 6-3, 223 lbs., RFr.) redshirted last year, and now he’s coming out and doing a lot of good things. We do a lot of competitions in the spring, which are really controlled competitions for special teams, and T.J. has been a pleasant surprise with that. Colin McBee (FB, 6-0, 239 lbs., Soph.) is another guy there.
“Reid Carrico (LB, 6-2, 232 lbs., Jr.) has put several nice days together on defense and special teams. He’s going to be a factor on both,” continued the six-year WVU coach.
“Derek Berlitz (DL, 6-1, 258 lbs., Soph.) is a guy who I think is going to help us in our punt shield and on the backline on kickoff returns. He’s been in our program going on his third year, and he’s showing signs of being one of those guys who can help us.
“I think Jordan Jackson (CB, 5-11, 183 lbs., RFr.), defensively and on special teams, is showing some growth.”
Eight true freshmen, including a couple of walk-ons, enrolled at WVU in January, and they are currently going through their first set of spring drills at the collegiate level. The adjustment for those young players isn’t easy, but Brown likes what he’s seen from a number of them during the workouts.
“Zae Jennings (S, 6-0, 185 lbs., Fr.) is a really good football player. It’s still happening for him really fast on defense, but you can see his ability on special teams. He’s a guy who is playing his way into a role there,” explained the coach. “Israel Boyce (S, 5-11, 190 lbs., Fr.) is another one who is coming along.
“Nate Gabriel (DL, 6-3, 315 lbs., Fr.) is a big athlete. He’s still learning, but physically he’s ready to help us at that nose position and could give us some snaps there in the fall.
“(Elijah) Kinsler (6-3, 260 lbs., Fr.) is getting more reps. He’s going to be a really, really good player. We’re moving him around because he’s a smart guy, and he could get some reps (in the fall).
“I’ll tell you, Jake Sammarco (TE, 6-5, 238 lbs., Fr.), he’s got to continue to get stronger, but he shows signs. He’s getting a lot of reps because Kole (Taylor, WVU’s senior tight end who is injured) isn’t going. I don’t know if it will happen for Jack as quickly as this fall, but he’s going to be quality tight end for us. He has really good hands, and as he gets stronger, he’s going to be very good (as a blocker) at the point of attack.”
West Virginia will add to this group of true freshmen in the summer. From the Mountaineers’ 22 signees in their class of 2024, 16 of them are slated to enroll at WVU after the spring semester. There will be additional walk-ons who join the program at that point as well.
It’s never easy for a true freshman to earn a significant role in his first season of college football, but last year West Virginia had four such rookies who not only played but wound up starting games in linebacker Ben Cutter (6-0, 225 lbs., Soph.), wide receiver Rodney Gallagher (5-10, 178 lbs., Soph.), wide receiver Traylon Ray (6-1, 195 lbs., Soph.) and running back Jahiem White (5-7, 191 lbs., Soph.).
Thus you can’t overlook any of the youngsters when it comes to playing key roles in 2024.
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