MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jaden Bray has been hampered by significant injuries in three of five seasons playing college football, including each of the last two years while at West Virginia.
Hearing from the redshirt senior wideout as he prepares for his final go-around at this level, however, you’d hardly know.
“You can’t really compare yourself to other people’s positions,” Bray said. “You have to stay focused on yourself. Great family, friends and coaching staff pushing me along the way. I know what I can do when I’m on the field and healthy. Everybody knows what I’m capable of doing. Having the mindset of really loving football, you have to really love football to keep coming back and playing after injuries.”
That’s precisely the position Bray finds himself in yet again after his 2025 season was cut short for good in the second game at Ohio due to a foot injury.
It was the same setback one year earlier for Bray, who was limited to five games and shut it down for good during his first season at WVU after transferring from Oklahoma State.
“I was frustrated about what had happened, but once I realized it was broken, my mindset really went to what can I do to get back and ready for next season,” Bray said of his initial reaction to a Week 2 injury suffered at Ohio last year. “Of course it is annoying to go through injuries like that, but keeping the main thing the main thing and working hard to get ready to come back for next season was really my main goal.”
Not long after the Mountaineers’ 2025 season ended, Bray was a participant in winter workouts and has been full go throughout spring practice, which ends Saturday in Morgantown.
“I’m always thinking ahead. Of course, in the moment you feel bad for yourself, but if you stay there, then you’re going to stay in that sunken place,” Bray said. “Keeping a bright mindset and being positive to every outlook.”
Bray was in on seven receptions for 95 yards in limited action last season, while he had a pair of 44-yard catches in 2024.
His healthiest and most productive seasons remain the true freshman and redshirt sophomore campaigns while playing for the Cowboys in 2021 and 2023.
Bray made a strong initial impression with 13 receptions for 250 yards and two touchdowns in his first year of college football. One year before opting to play for the Mountaineers, Bray totaled 30 receptions for 382 yards and two touchdowns for a Cowboys’ team that qualified for the Big 12 Championship that year.
In 2022, Bray was limited to five catches and 54 yards over three games as a result of an injury.
“I’m trying to still chase that season I had when I was a freshman and junior. Those seasons, I was the happiest, because I was on the field playing,” Bray said. “When you’re on the field, it’s a different type of feeling that you have when you’re hearing the crowd and doing well. That’s when I’m the happiest.”
The key, above all else, is staying on the field.
“I feel like I’m due for some good fortune for sure,” Bray said. “You just have to keep hard going every day.”
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez was looking to rely heavily on Bray a season ago until he suffered the misfortune in Athens.
As Rodriguez prepares for his second year in his second stint with the Mountaineers, he sees health as the holding thing potentially holding back Bray.
“Jaden Bray is a great young man, a really good football player. He’s had tough luck with injuries, but he’s the alpha in that room,” Rodriguez said. “He’s not a rah-rah guy and all that, but everybody in the program respects him. He’s poised to have a big, big year and I think he would’ve last year, too. He’s a lot of fun to coach, because it’s important to him. He works hard and you never have to worry about his effort and toughness.”