MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s no secret West Virginia’s new-look secondary has struggled for much of the first five games of the 2022 season.
While the Mountaineers are allowing just south of 231 passing yards on average to rank No. 69 nationally, that factors in 98 yards surrendered to FCS opponent Towson — a game West Virginia had well in hand before halftime.
In four matchups against Power 5 Conference opponents, the Mountaineers are allowing 264 passing yards on average, which would leave them outside the top 100 nationally if applied to every game.
Being without cornerback Charles Woods — a preseason all-Big 12 Conference honoree — who suffered an ankle injury that required surgery in the season’s opening quarter at Pitt hasn’t helped matters.
West Virginia’s back end has experimented with personnel tweaks, including utilizing true freshmen Jacolby Spells and Mumu Bin-Wahad in higher volume than it likely expected to this soon. While there could be more down the line, head coach Neal Brown says they won’t come in wholesale fashion.
“The pieces are the pieces,” Brown said.
Spells has West Virginia’s only interception to this point, which he returned 27 yards for a touchdown in a victory at Virginia Tech.
Another newcomer, redshirt sophomore Jaylon Shelton, was praised by Brown for his performance in scrimmages following an October 1 loss at Texas and before preparation began October 7 for Thursday’s 7 p.m. home game against Baylor.
“Jaylon Shelton did a nice job and he’s getting some looks this week,” Brown said. “He’s been injured, but is healthy now and had a good bye week.”
Shelton, a cornerback, came to West Virginia from Tyler Junior College in Texas and has yet to appear in a game for the Mountaineers, though that could change Thursday. However, he is not featured on WVU’s depth chart at either cornerback position.
Instead, James Madison transfer Wesley McCormick is slotted as the No. 1 right cornerback, with redshirt freshman Andrew Wilson-Lamp and Bin-Wahad behind him. Colorado State transfer Rashad Ajayi is atop the depth chart at left cornerback in front of Spells.
While the Mountaineers are coming off a performance in which they allowed a season-high 336 yards through the air against Texas, what Wilson-Lamp showed in that game could lead to more playing time.
“That was the best football he’s played against Texas and we continue to grow his role,” Brown said. “The more he plays, the better he’s going to be.”
Brown singled out Ajayi as the team’s top secondary performer at Texas before he suffered an injury in the second quarter.
Ajayi, McCormick and safety Marcis Floyd, a Murray State transfer, have endured an adjustment to regularly playing at a higher level. Free safety Aubrey Burks is a true sophomore, while spear Davis Mallinger is a redshirt freshman as the Mountaineers continue to blend less experienced players with several in their first season with the program on the back end.
One of the more concerning aspects to the pass defense is the 8.3 yards allowed per pass play and 14.1 yards surrendered per catch.
By comparison, West Virginia, which has displayed a quality passing offense, averages 6.8 yards on pass plays and 10.7 yards on completions.
“We have to get the guys we have better,” Brown said. “There’s not going to be a whole lot of moving pieces now.”
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Early into his weekly radio show Tuesday night, Brown offered an optimistic update on running back CJ Donaldson.
Donaldson was ruled out for the Baylor matchup on October 3, two days after his helmet contacted the knee of a Texas defender during a run, causing the true freshman to be cut out of his jersey and taken off the field on a stretcher in the third quarter.
After the loss to the Longhorns, Brown revealed Donaldson was alert, moving his extremities and had been cleared to fly back from Austin with the team.
He went into West Virginia’s concussion protocol and has since passed it, making a return to play possible October 22 at Texas Tech.
“CJ’s doing well. He really is,” Brown said. “He’s through the stages of the concussion protocol and doing well. He has a doctor’s appointment [Wednesday] and as long as everything checks out there, he’ll be back at practice when we start Texas Tech prep on Sunday.”
Donaldson has three 100-yard rushing performances over the first five games of his college career, and despite managing only 9 yards on four carries at Texas, the Miami native leads the Mountaineers with 389 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 56 attempts.
“It was scary, but thankfully he’s going to be fine,” Brown said, “and he should be able to play in our next game.”
During his weekly media session Monday, Brown said he believes there could even be a benefit to Donaldson being sidelined for the first time in college.
“He wasn’t playing as well as he had against Texas,” Brown said. “I think that was a little bit of fatigue. Not that we wanted to create this break for him by any means, but I do think he’ll come back even stronger, because his body will feel better overall due to the time off.”
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Brown is 1-2 all-time against Baylor, having lost both road meetings in Waco and claiming a win in 2020 when the Mountaineers prevailed 27-21 in double overtime.
That was third-year Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s first season with the Bears after Aranda coordinated the LSU defense from 2016-2019.
Although Baylor finished 2-7 in Aranda’s first season, the Bears enjoyed a turnaround in 2021 when they won the Big 12 Championship and defeated Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl to finish 12-2.
“He’s very true to himself,” Brown said of Aranda. “There’s not a ton of highs or lows looking at him from the outside. He’s consistent and their football team has been really consistent in how they’ve played, regardless if they’re playing home or away. I don’t mean they’ve won every game, but their level of play has been very consistent in all three phases and that’s a credit to him.”