West Virginia has long relied on a strong walk-on program to help round out the football roster.
From the time of Don Nehlen to present day, the non-scholarship players have served a critical role in the development of the team as well as making their own impacts on the field.
Just a few of those names include Rich Braham, Owen Schmitt, Najee Goode and Paul Woodside. All eventually earned their place in West Virginia history as well as scholarships with the program. But while not all of the impacts will be that noticeable, the players certainly play their part in the success.
That tradition with the walk-on program is something that isn’t lost on current head coach Neal Brown.
“I think that’s something that we didn’t create. It’s something that’s been here, it’s part of the tradition of West Virginia and so many of them are in-state,” he said.
Brown and the football program has already handed out three scholarships to former walk-on this fall with redshirt junior defensive back Malachi Ruffin, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Graeson Malashevich and redshirt senior punter Tyler Sumpter.
Each were given individual announcements in front of their teammates this fall and included their families and other aspects to make the reveal truly special.
In each video, it was moving to see how their teammates responded to the news by mobbing each player with celebration.
“It’s literally one of the really fun things. Honestly, because sometimes it’s not a whole lot of fun because sometimes you have to make hard decisions or decisions that will upset a certain amount of people,” Brown said. “That’s one of the situations that really everybody is excited.”
Ruffin was first up and the news was announced by his parents, while the same could be said for Malashevich. The announcement for Sumpter was essentially his now well-known canoe transfer commitment video re-done with his parents bringing forth the news that he was on scholarship.
Ruffin, a defensive back, came in the same time as Brown in January of 2019, and earned his scholarship by simply putting in the work. While he has good speed and has played on special teams, he won the individual spring award in that department and has continued to improve.
It’s unknown if these will be the only three names added to the scholarship list this fall, but it’s encouraging to see that Brown is keeping the walk-on program alive and strong.
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