MORGANTOWN — As the West Virginia University football team comes down the homestretch of spring practice, a batch of lesser-known Mountaineers are looking to become contributors this fall, whether that’s on offense, defense or special teams.
“We’re in the evaluation piece,†WVU coach Neal Brown said. “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.â€
West Virginia has a number of players who haven’t seen much game action in the past but seem to be putting themselves into position to assume bigger roles in the near future.
“On offense, Jaylen Anderson [running back, 5-foot-11, 220 pounds, junior] has never played much on special teams here, and that’s really been a want-to deal,†Brown said. “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 [wide receiver, 6-3, 223, redshirt freshman] 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 [fullback, 6-0, 239, sophomore] is another guy there.
“Reid Carrico [linebacker, 6-2, 232, junior] has put several nice days together on defense and special teams. He’s going to be a factor on both,†the sixth-year coach continued.
“Derek Berlitz [defensive lineman, 6-1, 258, sophomore] is a guy who I think is going to help us in our punt shield and on the back line 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 [cornerback, 5-11, 183, redshirt freshman], defensively and on special teams, is showing some growth.â€
Eight true freshmen, including a couple of walk-ons, enrolled at WVU in January, and they are going through their first set of spring drills at the college 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 [safety, 6-0, 185, freshman] 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,†Brown said. “Israel Boyce [safety, 5-11, 190, freshman] is another one who is coming along.
“Nate Gabriel [defensive lineman, 6-3, 315, freshman] 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, freshman] 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 [tight end, 6-5, 238, freshman], 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 a 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.â€
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. Additional walk-ons will join the Mountaineers at that point as well.
Last year, West Virginia had four such rookies who not only played but wound up starting games: linebacker Ben Cutter (6-0, 225, sophomore), wide receiver Rodney Gallagher (5-10, 178, sophomore), wide receiver Traylon Ray (6-1, 195, sophomore) and running back Jahiem White (5-7, 191, sophomore).
