MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Third-year co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach ShaDon Brown is confident he's got enough guys this year to avoid the situation his secondary endured last season.  Basically, he was cross training everyone and robbing other positions to help with depth.
 
A concern during the preseason turned into a five-alarm fire drill in the opener at Pitt when his top corner got injured 12 plays into the game and things went downhill from there. What ultimately resulted was a secondary that produced only four interceptions and a defense that ranked 128^th out of 131 teams in total takeaways.
 
This year, ShaDon is confident his corners will be much improved. He's got three returning from last year's defense: sophomores Andrew Wilson-Lamp and Jacolby Spells, and the team's Swiss Army knife, Malachi Ruffin, a sixth-year senior.
 
West Virginia also scoured the transfer portal to add two more quality corners - Kent State's Montre Miller, who was here for spring ball, and Minnesota's Beanie Bishop, both playing their sixth seasons of college football this year.
 
All of them possess valuable attributes. Wilson-Lamp is 6 feet 1, can run all day and never gets tired, but weighed only 158 pounds when he first got here as a freshman. Now, he's up to 178 pounds and is playing with much more confidence and physicality.
 
The same goes for Spells, who has added 10 pounds from a year ago and is perhaps the strongest cornerback on the team. Brown admits Spells has probably made the biggest jump from a year ago.
 

The assistant refers to Ruffin as his "steady Eddie" who can play any position, including deep safety if needed. Nobody is more familiar with West Virginia's defensive scheme than Ruffin.
 
As for the two transfers, Bishop has already become one of the most assertive players in the locker room. He played 13 games at Minnesota last year after competing in 36 career games at Western Kentucky, earning all-conference honors at WKU in 2021.
 
Miller started all 12 games last season at Kent State. He's got 25 game's-worth of starting experience at Kent State and 41 overall during a college career that spans back to 2018.
 
"For the first time since I've been here, I feel like we have more than two guys that you really feel good about running out there on the field," Brown pointed out after today's practice. "We've got enough depth now that I don't have to cross train as much. We can cross train for quality more than just trying to create depth."
 
Brown said all five will see action this season.
"I feel like they've all earned that," he said. "You can't create depth if you don't play them, especially early."
 
Beyond his top five, Brown indicated true freshman Jordan Jackson has been a pleasant surprise through the first five practices of preseason camp. He played primarily running back Fairfield High in Fairfield, Ohio, and switching to cornerback was a pure projection on Brown's part.
 
"I had him in camp, and I always knew he could run. He was a consistent 4.5 40 guy, and he was also a late guy coming in June, and he's done a really good job picking it up," Brown noted. 
 
Brown said Jackson could help the team on special teams this year, as well.
 
The two starters who will get the most reps this season will likely be the ones who avoid making big mistakes, of course, but are also not afraid of making mistakes.
 
Brown explains.
 
"You want guys out there that are not going to bust or give up layups, but you also want guys out there that can make plays," he said. "I always tell the guys, 'If you grade out 100% but you never make any plays you are going to do a great job of standing over there with me coaching.' I need guys out there that are going to make plays."
 
"The ball is money," he continued. "You've got to make plays on the ball to win games and be all-conference and All-American. Every time they make a play on the ball the people sitting in the seats (in the press box) are going to write about them. If you don't make plays on the ball, they are not going to write about them."
 
Aggressive risk taking is part of the requirements necessary for being a successful cornerback, according to Brown.
 
"If there is a guy who, seven out of 10 times, does it right and three times he has a minus because he tried to go attack the ball, I'm okay with that," he admitted. "If he makes that play on one out of three and creates a turnover, that changes the game."
 
Overall, Brown believes he is going to field a stronger, more physical, more confident group of cornerbacks this season.
 
"I've talked with coach (Neal) Brown a lot about this. It's kind of like watching a freshman basketball player trying to box out versus a senior, it's different," he explained. "Well, it's the same thing on a go-ball down the field and they're jockeying for position and a 170-pound freshman gets knocked over by a 220-pound senior. Now, I feel like we're stronger down the field and we can handle those 50-50 matchups." 
 
Today's practice began on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field before weather forced its conclusion in the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility. The Mountaineers are scheduled to be in full pads for tomorrow's practice leading up to the first scrimmage on Saturday morning inside the stadium.
 
Neal Brown indicated after last Saturday's practice that he will use the first two weekend scrimmages before his staff begins paring down personnel to develop a two-deep roster for the season opener at Penn State.
 
The Nittany Lions are likely to be the highest ranked season-opening foe on the road for West Virginia since the Mountaineers kicked off the 1982 season at ninth-ranked Oklahoma in Norman.