West Virginia freshman Mallinger made strides at spear this spring

West Virginia needed to find a replacement this spring at the spear position with Saint McLeod being unavailable and that opened the door for Davis Mallinger.

Mallinger, a former high school wide receiver that played only a handful of snaps on between defense and special teams a season ago, made massive strides over the spring.

A standout track athlete in high school, Mallinger set personal bests of 10.74 in the 100 meters and 21.57 in the 200 meters proving his overall athleticism. That lends itself to quite the ceiling in his development as he continues to learn how to play the spear spot.

“Where can he go? I do not know the answer. He can go a lot of places, he can go really, really far if he buys into it and if he truly develops into a defensive player,” safeties coach Dontae Wright said.

The redshirt freshman used this spring to propel himself forward at the position after spending his time at the cat safety all of last year. It’s been a process given that he doesn’t have a strong background on the defensive side of the ball, but Mallinger started showing signs toward the end of spring.

The spear position is more of a natural fit for Mallinger because it allows him to be more of a see ball, get ball type of player instead of asking him to think too much.

The position is essentially a hybrid between a cornerback and a safety and is asked to handle both roles. That means while Mallinger might be in the box to fit the run on some snaps, he is asked to line up and play cover one against slot receivers in the league which is a challenging proposition.

“He can definitely play on the roof at safety but there is a lot less thinking down there at spear and he gives us the ability to play man coverage,” head coach Neal Brown said.

His speed is an asset when it comes to being able to handle his business in man coverage and he displayed that throughout the course of the spring by running with Sam James in the slot. That is going to allow the defense to bring more to the table by being able to play man coverage in different situations.

“He’s not going to get run by by anybody and he’s physical,” Wright said. “He’s not scared of contact but now you’ve got to teach him to play defense.”

Mallinger also spent a lot of time in the film room learning what he needed to do in order to get better and that came out in reviews as he made significant strides from the first to the last practice.

“The biggest growth to be as a player watching him and his maturity more than anything is Mallinger. Just how he's carried himself. His skill set is phenomenal but how he's matured in really a month's time frame on the field is something I've really took notice of," coordinator Jordan Lesley said.

The avenue is there for Mallinger to take his game to the next level and realize the ceiling that he has but first he has to make sure he is taking care of the routine. If this spring was any indication, the Florida native is well on his way towards accomplishing that.

“It’s a really fun position when you learn it,” Wright said.

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