West Virginia has blend of young and old in safety room
West Virginia returns two sixth-year seniors at two of the safety spots and a fifth-year at the other but there are questions behind them as we move toward the summer.
Over 1,100 combined snaps return between seniors free safety Alonzo Addae and cat safety Sean Mahone. But players took advantage of the extra yeah granted by the NCAA due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and with that the Mountaineers welcome back two of the five highest graded players on the entire defensive unit from last season.
West Virginia lost the services of Tykee Smith, the starting spear safety for the past two years and an all-American candidate to the transfer portal but was fortunate that another experienced player was waiting in the wings to take over that spot on the field.
Scottie Young, a transfer from Arizona that sat out all but one game last season, was one of the standouts of the spring. It’s not necessarily a surprise given he played over 2,000 snaps at the power five level during his time with the Wildcats.
Much like Addae the year before, Young used his redshirt season to commit himself to the scout team and put himself in position to make significant jumps even without being on the field. That was on display in the Liberty Bowl when he started at spear and recorded 4 tackles while grading out high.
“His role was to be on that scout team and try to learn our defense as much as he can and he did that,” safeties coach Dontae Wright said. “He took that role serious and he was able to come back and help us in the bowl game and there be no drop-off when we needed him.”
That has only spilled over through winter conditioning and the spring as Young has become one of the most consistent players on that side of the football. He not only has been playing at spear, but has started to add free safety to his repertoire, too.
“He is a terrific football player, has unbelievable instincts. He’s one of the leaders of our defense,” Wright said. “He had a really, really good spring.”
West Virginia has been putting an emphasis on moving the three safeties around to multiple spots. There isn’t much difference between the cat and free, but the spear is a different element with the man coverage being asked out of the corner hybrid position. Addae is the player that Wright feels most comfortable with playing all three in large part because of his intelligence.
The first safety off the bench at this stage is Kerry Martin, who opted out of the 2020 campaign due to health concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic raging on. He has settled into his role on the team and even gotten valuable reps due to Mahone being banged up at times in the spring.
Martin understands his limitations and how to be effective at any of the spots he is asked to fill.
But after those four, it will be primarily true freshmen. Davis Mallinger participated in spring and worked at the cat safety and as of now the Florida native would be the second safety into the game off the bench. Mallinger was used primarily at wide receiver in high school and settled into the position slowly in the spring but flashed his skill set that could make him a future star.
“He’s going to be a great football player and really excited about him,” Wright said.
Naim Muhammad, a walk-on, was working as the second team spear, and the Mountaineers are set to welcome two more true freshmen in the summer in Aubrey Burks and Saint McLeod.
Those two are going to be asked to be ready to contribute from the jump as depth pieces and getting them to that point is made a little easier than it used to be due to rule changes. Given the summer OTA format, the Mountaineers should be able to work with them outside of simply fall camp and get them up to speed. The coaching staff also plans to use zoom to get them ahead with film.
“It’s not as difficult as it used to be but it’s still not easy by any means,” Wright said.
The Mountaineers have turned their attention to finding the same body type that can be interchangeable at the three positions in order to help not only against teams that try to tempo them but to disguise what they are doing in the defense.
Wright isn’t ruling out the fact that the coaching staff could look at adding another transfer there to help fill out the room but for now, it will be a nice blend of youth and experience.
“I like where we’re headed,” Wright said.
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