MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The biggest college signing of the year came out of Morgantown High. It was in December when Preston Fox, the Mohigans standout wide receiver, autographed the piece of paper officially making him a Mountaineer.
Signing as a preferred walk-on with the Power 5 program in his backyard, Fox was already deep into a personal workout regimen when the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended not only his in-facility schooling but his senior baseball season as well.
“My mindset is baseball is a different sport, yes, but it showed me that you can’t give up on working out,” Fox said. “So you might as well push yourself, workout at home and not take a break. I have a lot more time to workout and focus on my body before the season.”
Fox is a believer in P90X – yes, that full-body workout system that rose to popularity in the early-2010s – to get him in shape before hitting the practice field with his WVU teammates.
“It’s very proactive,” Fox said. “You don’t need a lot of weights for it. I’ve been doing that every day, and some days I go out with a small group of people and throw catch footballs. There’s a couple of videos that help with jumping, and you can definitely use that as a receiver. It’s a lot of strength stuff, so a lot of push-ups and pull-ups which help, so getting that strength is really good for a receiver, [too].”
To make up where P90X lacks in weight lifting, Fox uses the weight bench in his garage, allowing him to bulk up and tone even more. His home gym consists of an Olympic weight set, a Bowflex treadmill, free weights up to 60 pounds and a spin bike. Mixed with his high-protein diet, he’s bulking up fast.
Though the West Virginia football team is doing different types of Zoom meetings with players, Fox has yet to be brought into the fold considering he’s not a student yet. That hasn’t stopped his coaches from checking on him, though.
“The coaches have been texting me and checking in on me and making sure I’m staying safe, how I’m working out, how I’m eating,” he said.
Some of the people Fox is throwing and catching balls with is former teammate Gunner Lattimore, Morgantown’s quarterback, and his trainer Kevin Sowers. Sowers is the brother of Nate Sowers, a Kennedy Award winner out of Martinsburg who played for WVU from 2005-08 under Rich Rodriguez and Bill Stewart. Sowers is working on Fox’s speed and agility, working in tandem with everything else.
It goes without saying that all the physical workouts can wear on a person, especially an 18-year-old college football commit, so to decompress Fox likes to chill out by the water with a fishing pole in hand or listening to music.
Yet, even though he takes time off, it’s not long. Fox is constantly working to improve himself, knowing he can’t take a single day off. To him, now is the time to get ahead so he stands out more. Stepping foot on Mountaineer Field under the lights of Milan Puskar Stadium has been his dream since his early childhood, and he doesn’t want anything to get in the way of that – even COVID-19.
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