MORGANTOWN — It’s hard to make any determinations after just two practices without pads on, but West Virginia’s coordinators, Jordan Lesley and Chad Scott, offered their thoughts on some players following the Mountaineers’ second fall practice on Thursday.
Power inside
The identity of WVU’s defensive line the past few years has been the explosive plays of Darius and Dante Stills. With the brothers both gone now, the Mountaineers have more size and strength on the inside than speed and agility.
“It’s a different type, but we’ve got some nose guards, Futorma (Mulbah) and Hammond Russel,” defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said. “We’ve had some explosion, but I don’t know if we’ve had the strength and the size that those two guys have. I’m really impressed with them so far.”
Russel, a redshirt-sophomore and Mulbah, a transfer from Penn State, both stand at 6-3 and tip the scales at over 300 pounds at the nose guard position.
Returner Sean Martin is expected to lead the defensive line, but Lesley also raved about linemen Mike Lockhart and Edward Vesterinen.
“If you give me five to 10 guys who will play like Eddy V, I’ll take that all day,” Lesley said.
He’s a natural
Another defensive player standing out early is true-freshman pass-rusher James Heard.
“He’s exactly what we thought he was,” Lesley. He’s one of our best natural pass rushers, he just has a knack. He’s a lot savvier than you would think he would be early in his career in coverage.”
Heard enrolled early and drew high praise during the spring and that has continued into the start of fall camp. Lesley said he expects the New Jersey native to have a role in the defense right away.
“He’s going to be a really, really good player for us,” Lesley said. “We won’t know until we put the pads on in a couple weeks, but he’s a natural.”
Slot machines
One of the most wide-open position battles this fall is a slot receiver.
“We’ve got some young talent, in particular at the slot position,” offensive coordinator Chad Scott said. “Jeremiah Aaron has got some experience and has made some plays, we’ve got a young talented freshman in Rodney Gallagher and you’ve got a young, talented kid in Jaheim White, who has really shown the ability to flex out and be pretty special with the ball in your hands. We’re putting those guys in a position to see if they can help us right now.”
Aaron is the most experienced of the bunch, entering his second season at WVU after making 12 receptions in 2022. Gallagher was the team’s top recruit in this past signing class. White was brought in as a running back but Scott said he has shown enough ability to get time at both positions.
A non-conventional pick in the slot would be big-bodied transfer receiver Noah Massey. The Angelo State transfer measures in at 6-3 and 237 pounds and would add a different dimension to the offense by playing inside.
“It’s the ability to block on the perimeter,” Scott said. “There are some teams in that nickel (cornerback) position that have a thicker body and having the ability to put a guy like Noah Massey there, it allows us to not be one-dimensional. He can run routes and catch the ball well, but it also allows us to be active in the run game.”
Big backs
WVU found a surprise power back last year in then-freshman CJ Donaldson, and signed an even bigger running back for this year in 242-pound freshman DJ Oliver.
“DJ Oliver is a load. I tell him and CJ Donaldson when defensive guys see the 4 and the 20 (Donaldson’s and Oliver’s jersey numbers), they’ve got to make business decisions,” Scott said. “Those are some big guys with their momentum going forward.”
Oliver did not enroll early like his classmate White, but Scott has been impressed with him through two practices.
“He’s doing what I tell them all to do, which is play like freshmen,” Scott said. “They don’t know a lot right now; they just know to put their head down. He’s not thinking, he’s just running. He can’t tell me all the time what he saw, he just knows it was there.”
Old-school toughness
Someone making an impression this offseason is Towson transfer Luke Hamilton, a fullback.
“We’ve got to find him a role,” Scott said. “That’s something we’re evaluating, not being predictable and putting him into the game without just putting him in and them knowing what’s coming. Of course, we are going to have some situations, short yardage and goal line, when he’s going to be in and they know what’s coming. We need to be able to put in situations sometimes where he might be able to do something else for us.”
The Mountaineers have not deployed a true fullback in some time, recently opting to use tight ends in an H-back role, but Scott said Hamilton brings something different to that spot.
“He embraces contact, he wants contact,” Scott said. “I don’t know if he wants to catch the ball, he just wants to hit somebody. He’s a true fullback, he wants to do that and we need to have that mentality in short-yardage situations. He’s an old-school, true fullback that wants to engage in contact and move people.”
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