MORGANTOWN — Heading into the 2023 season, the West Virginia wide receiver room was Devin Carter and a bunch of lottery tickets. Luckily for the Mountaineers, a number of those tickets turned out to be winners as several underclassmen broke out to be solid contributors in the passing game.
Carter, a senior transfer from NC State, was a known commodity, but the rest of the room had little-to-no on-field college experience.
The first receiver to break out was former walk-on Hudson Clement. A Martinsburg graduate, Clement racked up 177 yards and three touchdowns on five catches in his first career start in the Mountaineers’ second game of the season against Duquesne.
“It’s the greatest day of my life,” Clement said of that game. “That was life-changing. I was a walk-on and nobody really knew my name and I got an opportunity.”
Clement’s performance against the Dukes was so impressive that he was put on scholarship that night and he was put in line for a much larger role for the rest of the year. Clement finished second on the team with 480 receiving yards and tied for first with four touchdowns. His 21.8 yards per catch led all receivers.
“I think his season really exceeded expectations,” WVU receivers coach Bilal Marshall said of Clement. “He’s just got something to him where he’s confident and he’s going to be there when you need him.”
The next young receiver to break out was true freshman Traylon Ray. After logging just 66 yards on seven catches through WVU’s first seven games, Ray racked up 255 yards on 11 catches in the final five weeks.
“I wanted to (play as a freshman), but I didn’t anticipate it at all,” Ray said. “That was a bit of a surprise but once I got rolling, I felt that I showed I could start.”
Ray finished the year with 321 yards and three touchdowns on 18 receptions. His freshman finale was a 91-yard performance against North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
While Clement and Ray had breakouts, Preston Fox was just the model of consistency. The Morgantown native had at least one catch in every game he played last season (he missed the bowl game with an injury) and had multiple catches eight times.
“It’s not even close, the most consistent guy in the room right now is Preston Fox,” Marshall said. “He’s showed up every day and made a play.”
Fox finished with 368 yards on 26 catches.
Sophomore Rodney Gallagher III is the wild card in the Mountaineers’ receiving corps. A high school quarterback, Gallagher is still learning the position after making 10 receptions for 74 yards as a freshman.
“He’s still not where I would like him as a route runner — he’s still working through it,” Marshall said. “He covers up a lot of his mistakes through effort and he plays hard. This summer it’ll really start to click for him as a receiver.”
To boost this group of returners, West Virginia brought in a pair of transfers in Oklahoma State’s Jaden Bray and Mississippi State’s Justin Robinson. Bray transferred early and was with the Mountaineers for spring practice.
“Jaden’s going to be a really good player,” Marshall said. “The kid is strong, very smart and he plays hard.”
Bray caught 48 passes for 686 yards and four touchdowns across three seasons with the Cowboys. He set career highs in receptions (30) and yards (382) in 2023.
Robinson spent two seasons at Georgia and then two seasons at Mississippi State. He has 53 career receptions for 601 yards and four touchdowns.
The top recruit in WVU’s 2024 signing class, Ric’Darius Farmer (Melbourne, Fla.) could be a candidate to break out for the Mountaineers like so many receivers did last season.
Other incoming freshmen are Keyshawn Robinson (Ranson, W.Va.), 2024 Kennedy Award winner Dom Collins (Princeton, W.Va.) and Brandon Rehmann (Philadelphia).
Returning depth receivers are Jarel Willams, C.J. Cole, Tyler Evans and TJ Johnson.
Projected Depth Chart
Wide Receiver
Hudson Clement, R-So.
Preston Fox, R-Jr.
Traylon Ray, So.
Jaden Bray, R-Jr. (Oklahoma State)
Justin Robinson, R-Jr. (Mississippi State)
Rodney Gallagher III, So.
Ric’Darious Farmer, Fr.
Jarel Williams, R-So.
C.J. Cole, R-Jr.
Tyler Evans, R-So.
TJ Johnson, R-Fr.
Keyshawn Robinson, Fr.
Dominick Collins, Fr.
Brandon Rehmann, Fr.
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