WVU WRs have talent, but now must prove it
Wide receivers coach Tyron Carrier doesn’t mince words about the potential of his group.
“This wide receiver corps is really good,” he said.
There are big bodies on both the inside and outside slots to make tough catches, as well as explosive players that can stretch the field and create mismatches at both spots. It’s a perfect mix of talent that is now well into year two under the teachings of Carrier.
“We’ve got guys. We can do it all at the wide receiver position,” he said.
So there is an expectation from the players of how to handle things.
“For one day in was like a week in or two weeks in almost of what you see as far as effort and knowing exactly what you’re supposed to do,” the position coach said.
The goal of each West Virginia wide receiver is to learn their position and get comfortable with that side of the field. While there are several that can slide around and play in multiple spots such as David Sills, Gary Jennings or Jovon Durante, the goal is to keep things simple.
That’s where a mind trick comes into play. While the focus is on one side, the Mountaineers will turn the drills the other way in practice that way they are learning both sides of the field.
“They just line up on the other side of the field without knowing it,” he said.
But there is no substitute for experience and West Virginia lost two of its elder statesman of the group, as well as a large chunk of production, in Daikiel Shorts and Shelton Gibson. Between the pair, the Mountaineers lost 106 catches and 1,845 yards, by far the most of any players on the club.
While there are options that could step in to fill those shoes, they first have to prove they can handle doing it game-in and game-out like the two players they’ll be replacing. No easy task.
“Shelton and Daikiel proved they could go out there every Saturday and make plays. None of these guys have proved that yet,” Carrier said.
Inside West Virginia has experience in Sills and Jennings, while the outside has talent but most of it unproven outside of senior Ka’Raun White, who is the leading returning wide receiver from a season ago.
There are bodies though in Marcus Simms, Durante, Dominique Maiden, Reggie Roberson and Ricky Rogers just to name a few on the outside.
And given the nature of Jake Spavital’s play calling and willingness to go deep, there are opportunities for each of those to become a threat vertically.
However, talk is just that talk.
And now is the time to prove if this group can truly do it all.