MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – These last two years spent at West Virginia University have been eye opening to Sean Ryan.
 
One, because he's from Brooklyn, New York, and two, because his time spent here playing for the Mountaineers has helped him understand better what it takes to be a good Division I football player.
 
"During my high school years and my previous year at Temple, I felt like I struggled with immaturity and not really being consistent and not really understanding how to embrace the role of being a factor on the field or in a game," Ryan admitted Tuesday afternoon. "I feel like these last two years, the coaches have accepted me and I've accepted my role on the team and what I bring to the table."
 
What helped him come to a better understanding was observing what his teammates were doing on a daily basis – how they took care of themselves after practice and what they were doing in their lives away from the football facility.
 
"I wanted that," Ryan admitted. "I wanted to see what that felt like, and I just kind of embraced my role.
 
"I've done a lot of growing and a lot of self-evaluating over these last two years and seeing the changes I've made with myself and my body, I'm figuring if I buy in 100% everything will go the way that I want it to go," Ryan added.
 
Ryan's personal growth process meant being willing to take constructive criticism – something he didn't always embrace when he was younger.
 
"You are thinking you're doing everything perfectly when you are really not, so to hear the truth from my coaches and accept the truth is kind of what made me look in the mirror and say, 'It's time to step up and do a lot of things better and do a lot of things right,'" he said.
 
Ryan said consistency is what matters most and those are things that also apply outside the Puskar Center in everyday life.
 
"I just wanted to stack days. I wanted to put weeks and months together and not just a few days or short periods of time," he admitted. "I've always been a player where I've had a good month or two and going through the years, I've come to understand that's not good enough if you want to be great, or be a part of a great team. 
 
"I'm surrounded on this team by a lot of guys who want to be great players, and I realized it was time to change if I wanted to fit in with those guys," he added.
 
At the same time, it's not like things have gone poorly for Ryan. The junior appeared in 11 games for Temple during his true freshman season in 2018 and he caught 12 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown, including three catches for 44 yards in Temple's 56-27 loss to Duke in the 2018 Independence Bowl.
 
However, during the summer in 2019, he chose to move on and transfer - a decision he said he didn't take lightly.
 
"Being in the locker room, you get close to those guys," Ryan said. "You build a bond with them and those are the guys you are with every day. I tell the guys here, 'I spend more time with you guys than I do with my girlfriend.' You talk and you practice and the things that you go through and they help you get through, you never really want to leave those guys. At the end of the day, it was a business decision and (transferring) was the best for me and my family."
 
Ryan admitted he wasn't necessarily looking for a rural setting, but making moves from Brooklyn to Philadelphia and then to Morgantown, West Virginia, turned out to be exactly what he needed.
 
The wide receiver mentioned the sense of community and hometown pride that exists here is sometimes missing in much larger places.
 
"I needed the structure of being in a small, hometown kind of place where everybody knows everybody - where everybody is cheering for us and wants us to win and as soon as you step out of your door everybody supports you," he admitted. "That's the biggest thing I saw when I came here is that they're for the players and the guys and they want to make you the best player you can be."
 
Since his arrival, the Erasmus High product has gotten progressively better, going from 19 catches for 219 yards in just eight games in 2019 to 25 catches for 264 yards last season.
 
In two games so far this year, he's caught six passes for 125 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown in last week's 66-0 victory over Long Island. It was the first time he's gotten into the end zone as a Mountaineer, and he said it was a special feeling because there were lots of people in the stands to help celebrate it.
 
"You work so hard for it. Every game you line up to score a touchdown and you go out there with the intention of scoring a touchdown and if it doesn't come, you're not really disappointed in yourself, but you know you could have done better," he said. "To go out there and execute it and get your first one in front of these fans it felt great."
 
Ryan said he is willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.
 
"I'm not afraid to make a catch across the middle or make a big play for my team when it's needed," he said. "I feel like I'm a third-down guy who can move the chains.
 
"The best thing about Morgantown is they have accepted me with open arms. I love the fans here. The culture here is just so huge," he concluded.
 
West Virginia meets longtime rival Virginia Tech this Saturday at noon at Milan Puskar Stadium in a game that has been sold out since the summer. 
 
It will be the Hokies' first appearance in Morgantown since 2005 when Tech defeated the Mountaineers 34-17. Virginia Tech is seeking its fourth straight win in the series, something it achieved one other time from 1998 to 2001.
 
FS1 will televise the contest nationally.