West Virginia has both experience, questions at safety
West Virginia returns the two players that saw the most snaps at the safety spots a year ago, but there are still questions that must be answered leading up to the season.
The Mountaineers welcome back seniors Aubrey Burks and Anthony Wilson from the 2023 roster as the two combined to play 1,490 snaps and 127 tackles and 3 interceptions between them.
That’s a good starting point for the safety room which will now be under the tutelage of secondary coach ShaDon Brown after Dontae Wright took the co-defensive coordinator role at Troy.
The good news is that both of those players could potentially move around to help in other areas as the coaches have hinted at moving Burks around specifically. This past season Burks graded out at 83.6 in coverage, while Wilson was at 72.8 while posting stronger tackling totals.
But the Mountaineers will still need to replace two key pieces across the three spots in Hershey McLaurin who transferred to Houston and Marcis Floyd who graduated in the off-season.
Those two combined for 794 snaps and Floyd was playing the spear position by the end of the year and was much more effective closer to the line of scrimmage. Others such as Keyshawn Cobb and Christion Stokes also exited through the transfer portal but those two played minimal roles this past season.
In terms of other options, West Virginia was able to add Northwestern safety Jaheem Joseph in February and he is coming off the most productive campaign of his career with the Wildcats. Across 357 snaps Joseph recorded 24 tackles and 3 interceptions while grading out at 80.7 in coverage.
Across 204 coverage snaps, Joseph permitted just 7 catches in his coverage for a total of 45 yards. That included just a long of 14 yards and he did not allow a touchdown on top of the trio of interceptions.
In run support, Joseph was charged with just three missed tackles on the season across 153 snaps. He could potentially line up at free, strong or even nickel for the Mountaineers.
The others that saw action last season, albeit limited was Raleigh Collins at spear with 59 snaps, Avery Wilcox with 25, Josiah Jackson with 11 and Aden Tagaloa-Nelson with just 3 snaps. That isn’t a lot of on the field experience, but the expectation is that some of those younger players will make leaps.
The final parts of the equation heading into spring football are the true freshmen in Israel Boyce and Zae Jennings, who both enrolled in January to begin their careers. Boyce is more of a backend option while Jennings is likely more of a fit as a physical yet athletic spear.
It will be key to see how those younger options fit into the equation in order to see if the Mountaineers need to make any additional movements through the transfer portal in the late period.
There’s some returning talent in this room, but how it gels together will be key for success in the secondary as the Mountaineers look to build off a successful 2023 campaign.
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