Bryce Ford-Wheaton is Making Plays and Gaining Confidence

WVU HC Neal Brown is liking what he see's out of his sophomore receiver

West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown has praised the play of his receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton throughout fall camp. After the first team scrimmage of the preseason, Ford-Wheaton's name popped up again as one of the top performers.

"He's had really good days except for one," said Brown. "He's got talent, he's got the size, he's got the speed, he's just got to put it together, and he's a little bit further ahead than I thought he would be, and he had some big plays today, he almost went for 100 yards."

Brown elaborated, saying he believes Ford-Wheaton handled the downtime during the pandemic "pretty well," continuing through OTAs and into fall camp. Then, he added that confidence is a contributing factor and started to see the signs last season with the go-ahead 50-yard touchdown reception against Kansas State and the three receptions for 39 yards versus Texas Tech.

"You started seeing some signs, and that's what happened in this camp is, he has made plays, and you can see him before your eyes gaining some confidence," Brown said. "I'm not totally surprised. I knew he was going to be a really good player here. I just didn't know when exactly it was going to happen, and he's not to that point yet. He's got to go out and do it on Saturdays - in games."

"He's showed up in several practices, and he showed up in the scrimmage today, and my belief is most people that perform well in practice and perform well in scrimmages," he added. "Usually, that carries over to the game, and I expect that to be the case with him." 

It also should be noted that John Antonik, content director for WVUSports.com, says Ford-Wheaton passes the eyeball test stating "He’s a sculpted 6-feet-3, 218 pounds and is looking a lot like his granddad, Garret Ford Sr used to look when he played for the Mountaineers in the mid-1960s."

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