OSU Transfer Bray Looking to Become a Factor for Mountaineers
August 12, 2024 04:53 PM | Football, Blog
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is nearing the point in preseason camp when some hard decisions must be made.
Which players can the coaches count on?
Which newcomers are going to play?
Who are the go-to players going to be?
Who are the coaches going to call plays for?
Who are the players getting targets on third down?
"As a coach, your crutch is experience, but hungry talent can overcome experience," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier today.
In the case of Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Bray, he sort of fits somewhere in between the two.
Bray has Big 12 experience. In two full seasons with the Cowboys, he caught 13 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman in 2021 and last year made 30 catches for 382 yards and two scores, one of those coming in OSU's 48-34 victory over West Virginia in Morgantown.
He's also immensely talented with size to match. One of the appealing aspects of bringing him in through the transfer portal last winter was his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame and his ability to beat press-man coverage.
The Mountaineers' somewhat smallish receivers have struggled at times in that area in the past and adding a player with Bray's measurables improve the team's physicality out wide.
Bray said earlier today that he was looking for a place where he could be used in an expanded capacity, although he was somewhat vague on exactly what that entails.
"I just felt like I had a role when I was at Oklahoma State, and I just wanted to expand that role, really, if that makes sense," he said.
Sure.
To borrow a Jed Drenning phrase - in other words - Bray was never really the guy in Stillwater. His freshman year, Tay Martin and Brennan Presley were the top two pass-catching options. Two years ago, Bray sat out nearly the entire year with a thumb injury, missing all but three games and using a redshirt.
Last year, he returned to the receiver rotation and ended up being option No. 4 after Presley, Rashod Owens and Leon Johnson. Following the season, he jumped into the transfer portal, did his research on West Virginia and once he came to Morgantown for a visit, fell in love with everything about the program.
"What drew me here were the people and the culture," Bray explained. "They have a great thing going here, and I just wanted to be a part of that. Since I came here on my visit, just being around the people, especially in the receivers room, that's what really brought me here."
Now, a week into preseason camp, Bray has put himself in position to make his mark on an experienced and talented West Virginia offense that possesses multiple playmakers at several different positions.
Brown said he likes what he's seen from Bray so far.
"I'm excited about him as a football player, and he's also going to be one of our better special teams players," he said.
"First of all, he plays the game really hard," Brown continued. "He's coachable. He ran down 21-plus miles per hour on a kickoff the other day. That's special. He's really good as a gunner on punt. I think he's going to be elite at that."
And then, as a receiver?
"I think he uses his body well on offense," Brown said. "He made a couple of plays down in the red zone where he went up and used his length. Those are some real positives."
Brown is on record talking about his desire to score more touchdowns when his offense gets into the red zone. So far, Bray is displaying a knack for catching passes in traffic and using his impressive physical attributes to his advantage.
He's also shown an ability to break tackles and elude defenders, one practice catching a pass on one side of the field and then changing direction and setting up his blockers for a long gainer while running to the other.
Those are instinctive plays that can't be coached.
"He's still a work in progress (understanding the offense)," Brown admitted. "He probably has more missed assignments than I would like for a guy that was here in the spring, but you play as hard as he does, and you can kind of overlook that."
"With two weeks left, it's starting to pick up," Bray noted. "We're almost done installing our stuff, so it's coming along good. Some days I might have some dumb MAs (missed assignments), but other than that, it's going really good." Jaden Bray catching a touchdown pass during last Saturday's scrimmage inside Milan Puskar Stadium (WVU Athletic Communications photo).
As for his willingness to go hard on every play, Bray says that comes from his father, Alphonzo Bray, and his mother Tannica Binder, both U.S. Army veterans. Alphonzo has spent the last 20 years working as a police officer in Lawton, Oklahoma.
"My dad wakes up at 4 or 5 every morning and goes to work and he does that every day," Bray explained. "It's the same routine. Same with my mom; she works hard. They are really my why. I just go hard for them."
And their advice?
"Not being a follower and being in your own lane, especially in college, because you can get caught up in what's not important," he said. "Not getting too high on your highs and too low on your lows. Those are some of the things they taught me."
Bray has played twice in Milan Puskar Stadium, as a true freshman in 2021 and last year as a junior, so he has experienced what the game-day atmosphere is like in Morgantown.
But he hasn't really gotten a full taste of the environment here like he's going to get on Saturday, Aug. 31, when preseason No. 8 Penn State comes to town for a noon kickoff. His reference points are the 51,870 that showed up last year and the 50,109 that came out for the 2021 OSU games, both Cowboy victories.
Those extra 10,000 fans can really make a difference the way the stadium sits down in between Law School Hill and Don Nehlen Boulevard.
"Fans here are great," he said. "I played here twice. I'm pretty familiar with the fans, and they've really bought in with West Virginia being the only team here. I really like the fans and all the atmosphere."
If he liked them then, just wait in a couple of weeks what he thinks.
The countdown clock to kickoff is now at 18 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes and counting.
