As we conclude our position preview series heading into the West Virginia Mountaineers’ season opener against Penn State, we offer our predictions for WVU’s five surprises for 2023. These players include those who we think will make bigger contributions than in prior seasons. They also include those who have not yet made significant contributions but could prove fan favorites by the end of the season.
Predicting WVU’s Five Surprises for 2023
Last season, the Mountaineers’ defense took a huge step back from the prior two seasons where it was really a strong suit for the team. Through Spring and Summer, Head Coach Neal Brown and his staff have addressed this issue directly to the media. Brown acknowledged the setback and promised an increased focus on the fundamentals in 2023. They set out to recruit specific types of players in the transfer portal to bring in some immediate help. Whether the proposed solutions work out remains to be seen. That said, we expect a few of those players to make significant contributions in 2023.
Anthony Wilson
Between the 2020 season and the 2022 season, West Virginia saw its biggest regression in its secondary. We certainly talk often here about how much attrition the Mountaineers have faced in its secondary during that time. Indeed, in 2020, WVU fielded one of the best passing defenses in the country, surrendering just 160 yards per game. In 2021, the unit regressed slightly but still yielded just 210 passing yards per game. They gave up just seven points per game through the air on average in both seasons.
In 2022, however, the Mountaineers’ performance plummeted. They gave up 263 passing yards per game. More, their opponents scored 11 points per game on average through their passing attack.
If West Virginia hopes to reverse the trend in 2023, they will do so through a combination of technique and grit. Georgia Southern transfer Anthony Wilson should help change that. We talked about Wilson briefly in our safety preview. Our brief treatment was purposeful, however, as we planned to cover him as one of WVU’s five surprises for 2023. Wilson started in 36 games for Georgia Southern over the last three seasons, bringing over 2,500 snaps of experience to the unit.
The staff heralds Wilson as a leader who spends plenty of extra time in the film and weight rooms to perfect and hone his craft. Perhaps more importantly, players have started emulating Wilson’s habits. We hear the staff talk often about getting players to focus enough in preparation so that they can play fast in the game. Wilson should embody that mantra. He’s a player the staff says has the ability to play at the next level, provided he keeps doing what he has been. We expect he is serious about those dreams, and we expect him to contribute in a major way to the defense this season.
Garrett Greene
By now, this is no secret to Mountaineer fans. 247Sports ranked Garrett Greene as the worst starting quarterback at the Power Five level.
Greene suffers most from relative inexperience in game, as he has thrown just over 100 passes in his three years in Morgantown. That said, he offers West Virginia a dynamic dual-threat quarterback. He completed just 55% of his passes last season for right around six adjusted yards per attempt and threw five touchdowns to three interceptions. On the ground, however, Greene has proven capable of burning defenses. He averages over six yards per attempt through his three years, and he scored five rushing touchdowns last season.
The knock on Greene, to date, has been the perceived limitations of his arm. Greene, however, has not been asked to throw the ball much. That said, a study of his game film dating back to high school should quell concerns that he cannot command an offense. He may struggle at times in working through progressions, and he can certainly be judged for abandoning the pass too quickly when his first read is not there. We cannot say, however, that his arm strength is not there. Once he releases, he can throw 55-65-yard bombs with relative ease and with some precision. The biggest question in our mind is whether he can do so consistently.
We think he grinds his axe this season and proves more than capable of producing numbers that warrant, at the very least, a middle tier in the end-of-season quarterback rankings. Make no mistake, though. This offense is designed to run first. Greene won’t be a 3,000-yard passer. That said, he will still do plenty to command respect as WVU’s signal caller.
Kole Taylor
One thing that may help Greene is, believe it or not, the tight end position. In our tight-end preview, we questioned whether Brown and his staff will finally utilize the position. The size and strength of Kole Taylor should answer that question. He cannot–and should not–be left off the field very often. Indeed, failure to involve him in the game script routinely would amount to professional negligence or something like it.
The set-up, frankly, is too good. The Mountaineers are built to play big and to run the ball. Opposing teams will not be surprised to see the Mountaineers run two tight-end sets to get the hard yardage on the ground. If one of those tight ends just happens to break off his block against a stacked box and springs loose for several quick outs a game, it benefits the Mountaineers in a couple of ways. First, it keeps opposing defenses guessing and may draw out extra coverage to guard Taylor. Second, his presence as a dual-purpose tight end would open additional running lanes that West Virginia’s capable backs can utilize.
We expect Taylor to offer WVU fans a big (figuratively and literally) surprise down the stretch.
Jairo Faverus
Several recruiting cycles ago, Brown and his staff made a gamble. They decided to focus some of their efforts on recruiting European players to bolster their roster and potentially unearth some hidden gems. Jairo Faverus found himself among that initial crop of European recruits.
Faverus joined the camp circuit in the 2020 recruiting cycle as a defensive back, gaining notoriety as a raw but talented cornerback prospect. Faverus hasn’t been able to translate that promise into success as a cornerback in college. At six feet, 220 pounds, he looks more like a linebacker. With his speed (having clocked numerous 4.4 40s), he offers a rangy will linebacker candidate.
Now in his third season with the program, and second at linebacker (he added depth at safety in his first season), Faverus understands what the staff expects from the position. His experience playing in the secondary offers him the ability to drop back into coverage without much thought, and he should play fast utilized this way. How well he maintains his gaps on running plays will tell us quickly whether he can be a pleasant surprise for a position group in flux. We are willing to place our bet on his as one of WVU’s five surprises for 2023.
Traylon Ray
There are a few true freshmen we could mention here as a potential surprise for West Virginia’s 2023 campaign. Rodney Gallagher, the more heralded of West Virginia’s two wide receiver recruits for its Class of 2023, comes to mind. Jaheim White, the versatile scat back, also seems poised to contribute as a true freshman. Instead, we wanted to go with Traylon Ray here. If Gallagher performs well, nobody will be surprised. His athleticism, poise, and work ethic are known quantities.
Though Ray also came to Morgantown as a four-star recruit, he has commanded less attention among the fan base. This is a mistake. Indeed, according to Brown, he was the most productive receiver in the teams’ scrimmage two weekends ago. Ray’s strengths, according to the staff, are his intelligence, work ethic, and ability to find the ball. While we cannot be certain how quickly he will play a role, we are certain he will play one this year. In tandem with Gallagher, these two should offer a dynamic duo for several years.
