Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Transfers Set to Bolster Mountaineer Secondary
August 02, 2022 05:55 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Depending upon how things shake out this month, four of the five backend positions in the secondary, including the nickel back, could be made up of recent four-year transfers.
If Phil Steele's projected two-deep turns out to be accurate, and Phil seems to be pretty wired in these days, he has Murray State transfer Marcis Floyd penciled in at one safety position, Colorado State transfer Rashad Ajayi and Illinois State transfer Charles Woods at the two cornerback spots, with North Dakota State transfer Jasir Cox penciled in at West Virginia's nickel position.
Then, there's James Madison transfer Wesley McCormick, who was also added to the mix to battle for one of the starting cornerback jobs. Of these five guys, just Woods saw game action for the Mountaineers last season, so, clearly, there are some concerns outside the program about the experience level West Virginia has in its secondary.
But are they really inexperienced?
Ajayi made 34 career starts with 76 tackles and 13 pass breakups in four seasons at Colorado State. Floyd accumulated 101 tackles, 20 pass breakups and seven interceptions in 25 career starts at Murray State. McCormick played 41 games over a three-year period at JMU before opting to sit out his senior year to preserve his final year of college eligibility. Cox was in on more than 100 tackles during his last two years at North Dakota State, which claimed the 2021 FCS national championship. He was a part of three national championship teams during his four-year tenure there.
So, yes, they might be inexperienced playing West Virginia's defense, but college football is certainly not foreign to them. And, if Woods' production last year is any indication of what these guys are capable of doing, then Neal Brown might have struck gold once again in 2022.
One thing is for certain, they are going to get every opportunity to prove they can play this fall.
"They have to help. That's why we got them," Brown said yesterday. "That's something we needed. That was clear coming out of the spring that we needed some experience. We like our guys. We like (redshirt freshman) Andrew Wilson-Lamp. I thought he really showed some signs during the spring, but we needed some experience in that room to match Charles."
On Monday, it was McCormick who showed up and made some plays.
"(McCormick) and (junior college transfer wide receiver) Cortez Braham really went at each other, and I like the way both of those guys play. They both came in during the month of May about the same time," Brown said.
"Rashad and Wes are going to compete to play," he continued. "We brought them in here for two reasons. One, we thought they could compete for starting spots at the corner position and also help us on multiple special teams."
Cox is another guy who was brought in to give West Virginia some help at the spear position and also contribute in some of the Mountaineers' sub packages.
"He gives us some flexibility when we go to our six DB package," Brown explained. "He made one really nice play (Monday). He's got the ability to get off blocks as far as our field edge guy, and he's really a smart football player, too."
Indeed, these are smart, savvy players who are not fresh out of high school.
"You look at the number of snaps these guys have that we brought in," Brown noted. "You look at all of these preseason things where people are having some question marks on us and they are not necessarily taking into (account) that we added over a thousand live snaps.
"James Madison, last time I checked, they play pretty good football. North Dakota State plays pretty good football. Then we got Rashad from Colorado State, that's more than a thousand live (game) reps in the secondary. So, while maybe they haven't played for us, they've played football at a really high level, and those three guys, they have to be ready to play for us, and I believe they will."
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said getting experienced players from high-quality, championship-level FCS programs is also important.
"Yeah, it plays a big role," he admitted. "Experience is one thing and what you are accustomed to culture-wise is another thing, and that definitely played into our evaluation of those guys. Most of your FCS guys are making that move for a reason, and that reason, the majority of the time, is to prove something in the twilight of their college career. 'Hey, I can compete against higher-level competition.'"
He continued, "These guys tend to be very, very hungry and eager to prove themselves. For whatever reason, maybe from high school to junior college, there were things they were told they couldn't do. Now, they have the opportunity to show they can do it. Guys that have that mentality and mindset are a lot of fun to coach."
West Virginia spent about two hours on the Steve Antoline Family Practice field this morning with media invited to watch a portion of practice. The team concluded this morning with a kicking contest to end practice.
Yesterday's work ended with a long-snapping accuracy contest.
"We always do something with the specialists, and how I equate it is to being at the first tee for anybody who has ever played golf," Brown explained. "All eyes are on you, and you've got a narrow spot that you've got to hit the ball so it's a little bit nerve wracking. To get some practice under pressure we try to mimic that as much as we can. Today we had the longest kick and both guys (Danny King and Parker Grothaus) hit it well."
Briefly:
* Today's practice was a little bit warmer than Monday's, but the thermometer didn't reach 80 degrees while the team was on the practice field.
* The two coordinators spent about 20 minutes each with media following today's workout. Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was asked how many reps he needs to see from each quarterback before beginning to make decisions on who gets the majority of the reps. He said when he begins to "see separation" is when the time comes to make that decision.
His counterpart up at Pitt, Frank Cignetti, Jr., is also evaluating multiple quarterbacks during the early portion of fall camp with USC transfer Kedon Slovis and holdover Nick Patti battling for the starting job.
* Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley reiterated today that he really likes coaching his group of guys. "I like the pieces we have and this is a fun group to coach," he said.
* One interesting physical aspect to Georgia transfer J.T. Daniels is that he has long arms. I'm not sure if that means anything, but Graham did admit that it might help him spin the ball a little bit better on his passes. Daniels has also displayed the ability to make throws from different arm slots.
* Among those observing practice today was former Mountaineer safety Jarrod Harper, who recently became a father for the first time. Jarrod told me he has gotten out of the coaching profession and is living in Morgantown and working for Compass Realty. He said he not only sells homes in Morgantown but also in Frostburg and Deep Creek, Maryland. Jarrod lettered four seasons for the Mountaineers from 2013-16.
* According to Brown, the team will be in shells Wednesday morning and then will have a light recovery practice on Thursday.
"It will be the same structure of practice. We will gradually get into a little bit of contact and then on day four it will be really light, under an hour, and we'll primarily focus on special teams," he said.
If Phil Steele's projected two-deep turns out to be accurate, and Phil seems to be pretty wired in these days, he has Murray State transfer Marcis Floyd penciled in at one safety position, Colorado State transfer Rashad Ajayi and Illinois State transfer Charles Woods at the two cornerback spots, with North Dakota State transfer Jasir Cox penciled in at West Virginia's nickel position.
Then, there's James Madison transfer Wesley McCormick, who was also added to the mix to battle for one of the starting cornerback jobs. Of these five guys, just Woods saw game action for the Mountaineers last season, so, clearly, there are some concerns outside the program about the experience level West Virginia has in its secondary.
But are they really inexperienced?
Ajayi made 34 career starts with 76 tackles and 13 pass breakups in four seasons at Colorado State. Floyd accumulated 101 tackles, 20 pass breakups and seven interceptions in 25 career starts at Murray State. McCormick played 41 games over a three-year period at JMU before opting to sit out his senior year to preserve his final year of college eligibility. Cox was in on more than 100 tackles during his last two years at North Dakota State, which claimed the 2021 FCS national championship. He was a part of three national championship teams during his four-year tenure there.So, yes, they might be inexperienced playing West Virginia's defense, but college football is certainly not foreign to them. And, if Woods' production last year is any indication of what these guys are capable of doing, then Neal Brown might have struck gold once again in 2022.
One thing is for certain, they are going to get every opportunity to prove they can play this fall.
"They have to help. That's why we got them," Brown said yesterday. "That's something we needed. That was clear coming out of the spring that we needed some experience. We like our guys. We like (redshirt freshman) Andrew Wilson-Lamp. I thought he really showed some signs during the spring, but we needed some experience in that room to match Charles."
On Monday, it was McCormick who showed up and made some plays.
"(McCormick) and (junior college transfer wide receiver) Cortez Braham really went at each other, and I like the way both of those guys play. They both came in during the month of May about the same time," Brown said.
"Rashad and Wes are going to compete to play," he continued. "We brought them in here for two reasons. One, we thought they could compete for starting spots at the corner position and also help us on multiple special teams."
Cox is another guy who was brought in to give West Virginia some help at the spear position and also contribute in some of the Mountaineers' sub packages.
"He gives us some flexibility when we go to our six DB package," Brown explained. "He made one really nice play (Monday). He's got the ability to get off blocks as far as our field edge guy, and he's really a smart football player, too."
Indeed, these are smart, savvy players who are not fresh out of high school.
"You look at the number of snaps these guys have that we brought in," Brown noted. "You look at all of these preseason things where people are having some question marks on us and they are not necessarily taking into (account) that we added over a thousand live snaps.
"James Madison, last time I checked, they play pretty good football. North Dakota State plays pretty good football. Then we got Rashad from Colorado State, that's more than a thousand live (game) reps in the secondary. So, while maybe they haven't played for us, they've played football at a really high level, and those three guys, they have to be ready to play for us, and I believe they will."
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said getting experienced players from high-quality, championship-level FCS programs is also important.
"Yeah, it plays a big role," he admitted. "Experience is one thing and what you are accustomed to culture-wise is another thing, and that definitely played into our evaluation of those guys. Most of your FCS guys are making that move for a reason, and that reason, the majority of the time, is to prove something in the twilight of their college career. 'Hey, I can compete against higher-level competition.'"
He continued, "These guys tend to be very, very hungry and eager to prove themselves. For whatever reason, maybe from high school to junior college, there were things they were told they couldn't do. Now, they have the opportunity to show they can do it. Guys that have that mentality and mindset are a lot of fun to coach."
West Virginia spent about two hours on the Steve Antoline Family Practice field this morning with media invited to watch a portion of practice. The team concluded this morning with a kicking contest to end practice.
Yesterday's work ended with a long-snapping accuracy contest.
"We always do something with the specialists, and how I equate it is to being at the first tee for anybody who has ever played golf," Brown explained. "All eyes are on you, and you've got a narrow spot that you've got to hit the ball so it's a little bit nerve wracking. To get some practice under pressure we try to mimic that as much as we can. Today we had the longest kick and both guys (Danny King and Parker Grothaus) hit it well."
Briefly:
* Today's practice was a little bit warmer than Monday's, but the thermometer didn't reach 80 degrees while the team was on the practice field.
* The two coordinators spent about 20 minutes each with media following today's workout. Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was asked how many reps he needs to see from each quarterback before beginning to make decisions on who gets the majority of the reps. He said when he begins to "see separation" is when the time comes to make that decision.
His counterpart up at Pitt, Frank Cignetti, Jr., is also evaluating multiple quarterbacks during the early portion of fall camp with USC transfer Kedon Slovis and holdover Nick Patti battling for the starting job.
* Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley reiterated today that he really likes coaching his group of guys. "I like the pieces we have and this is a fun group to coach," he said.
* One interesting physical aspect to Georgia transfer J.T. Daniels is that he has long arms. I'm not sure if that means anything, but Graham did admit that it might help him spin the ball a little bit better on his passes. Daniels has also displayed the ability to make throws from different arm slots.
* Among those observing practice today was former Mountaineer safety Jarrod Harper, who recently became a father for the first time. Jarrod told me he has gotten out of the coaching profession and is living in Morgantown and working for Compass Realty. He said he not only sells homes in Morgantown but also in Frostburg and Deep Creek, Maryland. Jarrod lettered four seasons for the Mountaineers from 2013-16.
* According to Brown, the team will be in shells Wednesday morning and then will have a light recovery practice on Thursday.
"It will be the same structure of practice. We will gradually get into a little bit of contact and then on day four it will be really light, under an hour, and we'll primarily focus on special teams," he said.
Players Mentioned
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/ FootballTV Highlights: WVU 74, UCF 67
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Ross Hodge | UCF Postgame
Sunday, February 15
United Bank Playbook: UCF Preview
Friday, February 13
Ross Hodge | UCF Preview
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