MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - When I think of West Virginia University senior safety Jeremy Tyler, I think of my uncle Bryl, one of the handiest people I know.

 

If there is something that needs built or fixed, old uncle Bryl is the first person we usually call.

 

Those build-it-yourself furniture sets from Ikea? Bryl is the one who always follows the directions to the letter and completes the task the way it is supposed to be completed - without leaving any spare pieces.

 

Drywall, plumbing or electrical wiring? Bryl, Bryl and Bryl.

 

He’s a true Picasso with a crescent wrench.

 

Me? I'm a regular Patches O'Houlihan with a wrench in my hand. I learned early in life from my late father that if something can’t be fixed with a hammer then you better get someone else to fix it.

 

Fortunately for Jeremy Tyler, he’s a lot like my uncle Bryl - a true handyman.

 

Tyler came to West Virginia four years ago from Martin Luther King High in Lithonia, Georgia, with the hopes of becoming the Mountaineers’ next great free safety.

 

But soon he was shipped off to spur safety to back up KJ Dillon when WVU had depth issues there, and then later to bandit safety where he played behind Karl Joseph and then Jarrod Harper last season.

 

And when Harper was on the mend last spring recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, it was Tyler who manned the bandit safety position - and played it to the letter just the way my dependable uncle builds those Ikea furniture pieces.

 

Now, West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson has a veteran guy who can play bandit, spur and free safety - a three-for-one player. Talk about bringing value to the table!

 

“He’s a guy that’s going to play a bunch, whether it’s bandit, spur or wherever it may be,” Gibson said. “If he’s one of our best 11, we’ll find a spot for him.”

 

Tyler knows the West Virginia defense, and players who know the defense always make their coaches feel more secure.

 

“The difference between the bandit and the spur, at spur you are more likely to be around the box area and not rolling to the post, but at bandit you are rolling to the post and you are also in the box area,” Tyler explained. “It’s a mixture of being able to roll to the post and playing in the box, or playing run in the box and playing pass in the post."

 

West Virginia’s remodeled secondary is going to have at least three new starters this year with both starting corners gone (one in Daryl Worley, who could wind up starting for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers this fall) and three-year starting spur safety Dillon taking his talents to the NFL with the Houston Texans.

 

The two corner positions have gotten most of the attention this summer, and rightfully so, but of equal importance to the defense is how that spur safety spot is going to shake out.

 

It’s no secret that the spur is the position that really makes this defense go because of what he is required to do in the run and pass game. It’s really a hybrid safety-linebacker position requiring a bigger, more athletic-type player who can hold up in the box to defend the run game and also be athletic and quick enough out in space to cover fleet wide receivers downfield.

 

If West Virginia can’t find one guy capable of doing both, that means the Mountaineers will be subbing in certain situations, which means Gibson will be tipping his hand to the defenses that he’s calling.

 

That’s why having a four-down player like Dillon at spur was so valuable to West Virginia last year.

 

Right now, WVU has junior Marvin Gross Jr. and freshmen Deamonte Lindsay, Jovanni Stewart and Dylan Tonkery working at spur, and the Mountaineers also went out last winter and signed one of the most coveted junior college safety prospects in the country in Kyzir White, the younger brother of Kevin and Ka’Raun White.

 

In early practices so far, White certainly looks the part and has drawn praise from the coaches for his immense physical skills. Still, he hasn’t played in a Big 12 game, he hasn’t covered a Baylor wide receiver out in space or stepped up and took on one of Oklahoma’s pulling guards.

 

Bandit safeties Tyler and Harper, and junior free safety Dravon Askew-Henry, have.

 

“With those guys being seniors they understand the defense,” first-year safeties coach Matt Caponi explained. “They know those positions and a lot of times those spur and bandit positions mirror each other. One just has to play in a little bit more space out on the field.”

 

Caponi has told his guys from their first day together that he’s starting the best three safeties, whoever they may be. But he also wants to develop some depth because it’s not realistic to expect the safeties to play the entire game, plus any special teams they may be on.

 

“We can’t get into a situation where a guy is playing 80-90 snaps a game because over the course of the year it’s going to take its toll,” he said.

 

Consequently, a versatile guy like Tyler could be one of West Virginia’s most valuable players this fall, especially if the coaches are not comfortable with what they are getting from their young, unproven spur safeties.

 

“Jeremy Tyler would probably be the first guy we’d try there if we get to that point just because he’s played it,” Gibson admitted. “Harper and Jeremy could both go, but I’m happy with those guys right now (at bandit). They are doing a great job understanding what we do and how we do it.”

 

For Tyler, he said he had an understanding and feel for Big 12 football from the moment he arrived on campus back in 2013. Coming out of high school, Tyler said he had 35 different scholarship offers before paring his list down to three schools - Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and West Virginia.

 

“I had Texas Tech in there, too, but I didn’t go on a visit there,” Tyler recalled. “I came to Morgantown by myself on my official visit, so I kind of got a feel for how it’s going to be by coming up here by myself. It felt like family and I felt like I fit in.”

 

Tyler also fit the way they play football in the Big 12 - fast, athletic and relentless. “The Georgia ball I played in was up-tempo, so I always felt like I could do this,” he said.

 

Spending two seasons playing behind Dillon at spur safety, and then Joseph at bandit safety, has taught Tyler a lot from the way they prepared themselves during the offseason to the way they prepared themselves to play football games to the way they prepared for the teams they were playing against.

 

Incidentally, both guys are in the league right now making real money for a living.

 

“Preparation is very key, so I watched how those guys prepared for games and how they took care of their bodies,” Tyler said. “They film studied every day just to try and get to know their opponent and just realizing what you need to work on and what your body needs to work on. That’s what I picked up from watching them.”

 

That’s pretty handy information for West Virginia’s handyman, Jeremy Tyler, to utilize this fall.

 

Now, Jeremy, about that new build-it-yourself desk I'm thinking of buying online …