WVU Coordinators Scott and Lesley Pick Their Most Consistent Players
October 21, 2024 05:07 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With the 2024 football season now nearly two-thirds completed with game No. 8 looming this Saturday at Arizona, I thought it would be interesting getting offensive coordinator Chad Scott's and defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley's opinions on the team's most consistent offensive and defensive players.
After all, they are the ones grading and evaluating on a weekly basis.
A spoiler - their responses might surprise you, particularly if you are into studying the weekly statistics that are put out by the Athletics Communications office.
Lesley says senior defensive tackle Fatorma Mulbah is his choice as WVU's most consistent defensive performer, while Scott indicates that junior tight end Treylan Davis is his pick as the Mountaineers' most consistent offensive player.
For Mulbah, you've got to scroll about halfway down the page to find his name among the team's leading tacklers with 21, eight spots below squad leader Josiah Trotter's 53.
Mulbah has one sack, 2½ fewer than team leader TJ Jackson, and his 1½ tackles for loss are eight fewer than Jackson's 9½.
But Mulbah's work last Saturday against Kansas State center Sam Hecht certainly caught the eye of his coach.
WVU held the Wildcats, which came into the game averaging more than 240 yards per game on the ground, to just 114 last Saturday with most it coming in the fourth quarter when the outcome was already decided.
"That's somewhere between a day one and day two draft pick center the other night and (Mulbah) did a phenomenal job and has consistently done things in every game in the middle of our defense that has really led to the success of our rush defense," Lesley pointed out.
"Here is a young man who was in a system (at Penn State) that, quite honestly, didn't fit his skillset and wasn't highly recruited out of the portal, which was fine, because we were going to ask him to do things that fit more what he could do with his body type, his strength and his athletic ability," Lesley explained. "Now, in his second year here, you are really starting to see him take it and kind of be a difference maker at nose guard, which he's done."
Scott, who coaches the running backs and has been heavily involved in West Virginia's run-game attack since his arrival in 2019, without hesitation mentioned Davis as his most consistent performer.
Like Mulbah, Davis' name is well down the list of West Virginia's top pass catching targets with just five receptions for 50 yards and no touchdowns, but his work and attention to detail in all aspects of play make him the most consistent player on the Mountaineer offense through seven games, in Scott's opinion.
"He's almost about 100% on the execution of his assignments. He rarely misses blocks and not just that he's in position, but he's moving guys and he's getting guys to the ground and finishing at an elite level," Scott said. "And because of the little things he does, he's now putting himself into position to catch balls, and I think he has two explosive plays in the last couple of weeks."
The explosive that immediately comes to mind was his 31-yard reception early in the Oklahoma State game, a 38-14 Mountaineer victory out in Stillwater.
"He's typically not a guy you would expect to do something explosive outside of blocking somebody, but he's like the lunchpail guy; he's tough, he's physical, he's where he's supposed to be all the time, and his guys are never making a play."
For Mulbah, Lesley said the next step for him is to simply keep doing what he's doing right now.
"The good thing about having a guy in there like that - playing the way he's playing - is now people have to know where he's at," Lesley said. "If you can get that from that position, you can now create opportunities elsewhere, particularly in the run game."
In both instances, expect opposing teams to concentrate more closely on them for the remainder of the season.
West Virginia (3-4, 2-2) is coming off a disappointing 45-18 loss to 17th-ranked Kansas State last Saturday night, while Arizona (3-4, 1-3) fell 34-7 to Colorado last Saturday afternoon in Tucson.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools, although West Virginia has played once previously in Arizona Stadium in 1998 against Missouri in the Insight.com Bowl.
West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier today that the team will fly out of Pittsburgh to Tucson instead of Clarksburg as it normally does for most away trips.
The Mountaineers did get a break on the starting time with the announced 7 p.m. ET kickoff on FS1 instead of the 10:15 p.m. time slot that is going to the Cincinnati-Colorado game.
After all, they are the ones grading and evaluating on a weekly basis.
A spoiler - their responses might surprise you, particularly if you are into studying the weekly statistics that are put out by the Athletics Communications office.
Lesley says senior defensive tackle Fatorma Mulbah is his choice as WVU's most consistent defensive performer, while Scott indicates that junior tight end Treylan Davis is his pick as the Mountaineers' most consistent offensive player.
For Mulbah, you've got to scroll about halfway down the page to find his name among the team's leading tacklers with 21, eight spots below squad leader Josiah Trotter's 53.
Mulbah has one sack, 2½ fewer than team leader TJ Jackson, and his 1½ tackles for loss are eight fewer than Jackson's 9½.
But Mulbah's work last Saturday against Kansas State center Sam Hecht certainly caught the eye of his coach.
WVU held the Wildcats, which came into the game averaging more than 240 yards per game on the ground, to just 114 last Saturday with most it coming in the fourth quarter when the outcome was already decided.
"That's somewhere between a day one and day two draft pick center the other night and (Mulbah) did a phenomenal job and has consistently done things in every game in the middle of our defense that has really led to the success of our rush defense," Lesley pointed out.
"Here is a young man who was in a system (at Penn State) that, quite honestly, didn't fit his skillset and wasn't highly recruited out of the portal, which was fine, because we were going to ask him to do things that fit more what he could do with his body type, his strength and his athletic ability," Lesley explained. "Now, in his second year here, you are really starting to see him take it and kind of be a difference maker at nose guard, which he's done."
Scott, who coaches the running backs and has been heavily involved in West Virginia's run-game attack since his arrival in 2019, without hesitation mentioned Davis as his most consistent performer.
Like Mulbah, Davis' name is well down the list of West Virginia's top pass catching targets with just five receptions for 50 yards and no touchdowns, but his work and attention to detail in all aspects of play make him the most consistent player on the Mountaineer offense through seven games, in Scott's opinion.
"He's almost about 100% on the execution of his assignments. He rarely misses blocks and not just that he's in position, but he's moving guys and he's getting guys to the ground and finishing at an elite level," Scott said. "And because of the little things he does, he's now putting himself into position to catch balls, and I think he has two explosive plays in the last couple of weeks."
The explosive that immediately comes to mind was his 31-yard reception early in the Oklahoma State game, a 38-14 Mountaineer victory out in Stillwater.
"He's typically not a guy you would expect to do something explosive outside of blocking somebody, but he's like the lunchpail guy; he's tough, he's physical, he's where he's supposed to be all the time, and his guys are never making a play."
For Mulbah, Lesley said the next step for him is to simply keep doing what he's doing right now.
"The good thing about having a guy in there like that - playing the way he's playing - is now people have to know where he's at," Lesley said. "If you can get that from that position, you can now create opportunities elsewhere, particularly in the run game."
In both instances, expect opposing teams to concentrate more closely on them for the remainder of the season.
West Virginia (3-4, 2-2) is coming off a disappointing 45-18 loss to 17th-ranked Kansas State last Saturday night, while Arizona (3-4, 1-3) fell 34-7 to Colorado last Saturday afternoon in Tucson.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools, although West Virginia has played once previously in Arizona Stadium in 1998 against Missouri in the Insight.com Bowl.
West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier today that the team will fly out of Pittsburgh to Tucson instead of Clarksburg as it normally does for most away trips.
The Mountaineers did get a break on the starting time with the announced 7 p.m. ET kickoff on FS1 instead of the 10:15 p.m. time slot that is going to the Cincinnati-Colorado game.
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