Fred Perry vs. Geimere Latimer: Zac Alley Reveals the Biggest Difference

In 2023, Rich Rodriguez, Zac Alley, and Geimere Latimer were all together at Jacksonville State. In 2024, Alley departed to become the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma. In 2025, Rodriguez returned to WVU, Alley reunited with him, and Latimer transferred to Wisconsin. Now, the band is all back together.

Rodriguez has openly joked in the past that they had hoped to bring Latimer to WVU a year ago, but couldn't afford him. Latimer isn't the type of player to seek out the highest bidder or make a decision strictly based on money. But financially, WVU just wasn't in a great spot a year ago, and Wisconsin was able to piece together a much better package.

Latimer admitted during Big 12 media days that schematically, it wasn't a good fit for him at Wisconsin and that he feels much more comfortable back in Alley's defense, although he'll be playing the nickel/sam spot as opposed to corner.

WVU got solid production out of its nickel/sam last year with Fred Perry, but you will see a different style of play from that position this year with Latimer.

Geimere Latimer — WVU Athletics Communications

"Different skill sets," Alley responded when asked to compare Perry and Latimer. "Gee was a corner, cover-nickel type, and he can blitz and fit the box. I don’t worry about him. He’s not soft, like he’ll go in there and hit you. You weren’t trying to put Fred on an island maybe every snap out there in man coverage. Fred was kind of leaned towards the linebacker body type, and Gee kind of leans towards the corner safety type.”

Most offenses try to go at the nickel because it's usually a sub package, or in this defense, a year ago, it was a guy who fit the run well but had some issues in man coverage. That's not the case with Latimer. He is as good as West Virginia has when it comes to manning up, and because of that, opposing offenses won't be able to carve up the slot as much as they'd like.

“Gee is a great player and even a better person," Alley continued. "He’s going to bring the group with him. He’s going to be full speed every play. I think that he’s going to have a really, really good role and career here. Hopefully now I think he’s got two years, so we get him back too, so that’s great. But to me, he fell right back in line. Being around me, being around coach, I mean, he’s basically a third-year player in the system even though he was gone for one season.”

During his one season in Alley's scheme at Jax State, Latimer allowed just 46.7% of passes thrown his way to be completed. With more experience under his belt and a system he feels comfortable with, you can expect him to be one of the most productive players on the defensive side of the football for the Mountaineers in 2026.

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