West Virginia had an obvious hole at the spear safety when Tykee Smith elected to enter the transfer portal but fortunately there was a replacement waiting in the wings.

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 but it was a new position for him.

“I didn’t play too much of the nickel/spear position at Arizona, I played it a couple games but it’s completely different I played a lot of the boundary safety at Arizona,” he said. “Now I’m playing spear which it’s a lot of space. I’m comfortable doing it so it’s not that bad.”

Much like Alonzo 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.”

Ironically enough Young spent a majority of his time with Addae watching extra film and embracing the same path that led the New Hampshire transfer to a breakout year in his first with the program.

“At the end of the day football is just football so once you get the terminology and everything down the game kind of slows down for you,” he said.

That strong effort 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.”

The position is new for Young in a lot of ways but he has quickly adapted to what is being asked out of him as a player in man coverage and in space.

“You have to be sound in your technique with your feet and your eyes,” he said. “You want to kind of focus on what you’ve got going and do your 1/11 on the defense.”

The Mountaineers have a chance to lose an all-American safety prospect and have a talented option waiting in the wings as his replacement. Young is hoping to make the most of his opportunities and is doing at a new position as well.

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