MORGANTOWN — Following a turbulent 2022 season, West Virginia is hoping a pair of transfers and an influx of experience can add some stability at cornerback in 2023.
Through a combination of injuries and transfer portal losses, the Mountaineers were starting a skeleton crew at corner for much of last season. In 2022, the Mountaineers allowed the second-most passing yards per game in the Big 12 (262.3), the most yards per catch (8.2) and had the fewest interceptions (four).
“Last year, you had one returning guy (Charles Woods) who had played and he goes down on the 12th play of a huge ballgame at Pitt,” defensive backs coach ShaDon Brown said. “Now you’re out there with a bunch of guys who have never played. I think there’s a trust factor, in anything you do in working as a unit, there has to be trust, and that’s something that we didn’t have.”
One of the bright spots for the group last season was the play of Malachi Ruffin. The redshirt-senior moved from safety to corner last season and quickly became the team’s No. 1 option. He will exclusively play corner in 2023 and is expected to be a day-one starter.
“Ruffin is what I call ‘Steady Eddy,’” Brown said. “He’s a coach on the field, he’s played college football now for six years. He knows the scheme, without training him up we could move him to a new position in the secondary and he could fit right in.”
Ruffin led the team with two interceptions, the only player with multiple.
Added to the group this offseason were Kent State transfer Montre Miller and Minnesota transfer Beanie Bishop.
Miller transferred into WVU early and was with the team throughout spring practices. Miller played 34 games for the Golden Flashes over five seasons, including all 25 over the past two years. Between 2021 and 2022, Miller picked off six passes with 16 pass deflections and 100 total tackles.
“Montre has had some ups and downs,” head coach Neal Brown said. “I think the more comfortable he gets in the system, he’s going to be a solid Big 12 player for us and that’s what we thought when we got him from Kent State.”
Bishop arrived at WVU after one season with the Golden Gophers in which he had 29 tackles and one pass deflection in 13 games. Prior to Minnesota, Bishop played in 30 games over four seasons at Western Kentucky. He has one career interception.
For in-house improvement, WVU is hoping a year of growing pains for underclassmen Jacolby Spells and Andrew Wilson-Lamp will pay dividends in 2023.
“Those are the two guys who we really need to make a move,” Neal Brown said. “There’s been some ups and some downs in the spring, but I think those are going to be guys we can count on to play.”
Spells flashed early in his true freshman season, recording a pick-six in a win against Virginia Tech, but struggled with consistency at times.
“Any freshman at any position is going to have those growing pains,” ShaDon Brown said. “The secondary and the o-line are the same, one guy can make a mistake and everybody can see it…He had some mistakes last year and some of them were just physically not being ready to compete at that level.”
Spells finished with 13 tackles and one interception in nine games. Wilson-Lamp’s playing time came later in the season, eventually leading to a start in the season-finale at Oklahoma State. He totaled nine tackles with two pass breakups.
A pair of true freshman twins could also make an impact for the Mountaineers in 2023. Josiah Jackson enrolled early and drew rave reviews from coaches throughout the spring while his twin brother, Jordan, played out his final high school track season.
Other cornerbacks on roster include redshirt-freshman Deuce Shabazz II and walk-ons Quayvon Cyrus and Jayden Bell.
Projected Depth Chart
Corner Back
Montre Miller, R-Sr. (Kent State)
Malachi Ruffin, R-Sr.
Jacolby Spells, So
Beanie Bishop, R-Sr. (Minnesota)
Andrew Wilson-Lamp, R-So.
Josiah Jackson, Fr.
Jordan Jackson, Fr.
Deuce Shabazz II, R-Fr.
Quayvon Cyrus, Fr.
Jayden Bell, Fr.
The Dominion Post will be previewing WVU football by position in the lead-up to the 2023 season. Previews of offensive positions will be published on Saturdays and defensive position previews on Sundays throughout the summer.
