Frequent Myles?
August 16, 2004 02:27 PM | General
August 16, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Brandon Myles makes a quick move up field, outruns his defender, reaches high up in the air to haul down a pass before completing the play with a tight-rope impression along the sidelines. A few minutes later he breaks free on a skinny post and catches a 35-yard touchdown pass, once again easily gliding past his defender. For regulars watching fall camp, it seems like Myles makes an eye-opening catch just about every day in practice.
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| Junior Brandon Myles is making a case to be the team's second wide receiver with a strong fall camp
(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
His performance has not gone unnoticed by the man he needs to impress the most.
“He’s one of the better athletes we have on the team,” remarked Coach Rich Rodriguez. “He hasn’t played a lot of football for us but he’s got his chance now and I’m excited to see what he can do.”
Myles is getting more opportunities because of hamstring injuries to seniors Miquelle Henderson and Eddie Jackson. Henderson has been a fixture in the Mountaineer offense for the past three seasons and Jackson was a touted transfer from Washington.
But with both of them watching practice in red jerseys, Myles is making a strong case to be the guy at 'Z' receiver, especially if he can transfer what he’s doing in practice onto the field this season. If that happens then West Virginia is going to have something.
The Mountaineers already have something on the other side in junior Chris Henry. The almost 6-foot-5, 200-pound Henry burned defenses to the tune of 41 catches for 1,006 yards and 10 touchdowns last year as a sophomore. Defenses began taking Henry into account during the latter part of 2003 and Mountaineer receivers coach Steve Bird has every reason to expect that to continue in 2004.
Therefore, it is imperative that West Virginia find someone on the other side to keep defenses from concentrating solely on Henry. Bird thinks Myles is capable of being that guy.
“We’ve got kids who can step in there and do it and I think they are all going to compliment each other,” said Bird. “Brandon can get down the field just as well if not faster (than Henry).”
Rodriguez says West Virginia must be able to throw the football to both sides of the field. “That’s why it’s so important for an emergence of a Brandon Myles or an Eddie Jackson who we can split out on the opposite side so Chris won’t be constantly double-teamed,” he said. “Sometimes the run game helps but it sure is a lot easier calling plays when you can throw it to both sides effectively.”
Myles has pretty good hands and his size (6-foot-3 and 185 pounds) is above average, but his biggest asset is his 4.35 speed. That puts him among the fastest players on the team.
“I’d say I’m up there,” Myles softly said after last Friday’s practice.
Myles has flown under the radar screen for a couple of years after excelling at Goochland High School in Goochland, Va., located near Richmond. Myles was an all-metro football player for Coach Joe Fowler and also excelled on the basketball team, scoring more than 1,800 points for his career.
But he didn’t have a qualifying SAT score and schools like Virginia and Virginia Tech were more interested in him going to prep school for a year before offering him a scholarship. In the meantime, West Virginia gave him the opportunity to come in and sit out his first year -- an offer he couldn’t pass up.
“I thought I should just come here and catch on and learn,” said Myles, who also considered attending Fork Union Military Academy.
Myles spent the 2002 season concentrating on academics. He couldn’t practice with the team and devoted nearly all his time to his school work. “We didn’t really do too much but work out and basically going to school,” he said.
Last year, he spent most of the season playing catch-up.
“We thought a lot of him when we recruited him and brought him here,” said Rodriguez. “It was just slow going last year. He was really confused as most first-year players would be.”
Myles says the first two years here were tough sitting and watching: “I was coming back from not playing football for a year and it was basically me learning the offense, running routes and stuff like that,” he said.
Myles was also handicapped by the fact that he spent a good portion of his high school career playing safety. He didn’t know for certain that he was going to be a wide receiver until he arrived at school in 2002.
“I heard kind of at the last minute that they were planning to use me as a receiver because of my size. I just had to get prepared for that,” he said.
Consequently it has taken him a while to get adjusted to playing wide receiver. He says he is still developing wide-receiver instincts.
“I am just getting really familiar with playing receiver,” he said.
Myles came on strong during spring drills and made the wise choice of staying in Morgantown for the summer to workout with the other wide receivers and quarterbacks.
“Being here in the off-season has made me really become better,” he said.
Rodriguez admits Myles is only comfortable playing one position but envisions a point in his career when he can be versatile enough to play several wide receiver spots.
“Eventually when he gets to the point where he can learn both outside receiver positions he is going to be really effective for us,” Rodriguez said.
Myles says there are plenty of things for him to work on before the regular season opener on Saturday, Sept. 4, against East Carolina.
“I still need to work on things like coming off my cuts, moving my hands when I’m coming off my route … just little things I really need to work on,” he mentioned.
If Myles can get those things down, look for him to be a nice compliment to Chris Henry on the other side of the ball.
Random Camp Notes:
“Let’s not forget he is still going to play quarterback as well. There are some things he does better than the rest of the quarterbacks,” said Rodriguez. “Obviously Rasheed is the starter and they’re all chasing him. But if his performance dips or Charles elevates his to the point where they both can contribute at certain areas at quarterback then they’ll both play quarterback.
How many Division I programs can say their quarterback is one of the fastest players on the team?
“He can’t be afraid to make a call or make a suggestion during the course of a game. Calvin knows the offense well enough to stand up at the table during the week and say, ‘Hey, we need to do this or that.’ And I’ve got to listen to him, which I will.”
