Jaden Bray is Getting Some Reps at a New Spot in Fall Camp for WVU

The senior wide receiver is looking to expand his role.

West Virginia University receiver Jaden Bray | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

A lot of things can be accomplished throughout fall camp, one of which is trying guys at some new positions. You're never going to do anything crazy, but it's a chance for the staff to see if they can add another element to the offense or defense by simply moving a guy around.

That's what WVU did on day three of fall camp on Friday, moving wide receiver Jaden Bray into the slot. It's not completely foreign to him, as he has lined up in the slot 57 times throughout his career, but he's predominantly been an outside guy.

"He’s just a good football player," head coach Rich Rodriguez said about Bray. "We GPS our guys, and Jaden will be the guy that gets more yards than anybody. He'll have 8,000 yards in a practice. He’s just a hard worker and a good football player."

Shortly after Rich Rod met with the media on Friday, Bray came in to spend a few minutes talking about how practice is going and was asked about taking some reps in the slot.

“It was fun. It was my first time going in there with the offense, so it was cool. I felt comfortable out there. It was cool to be in there just to go against some safeties, not always going against corners. There’s definitely stuff I got to work on, but it was real cool to go out there.

"It’s easier (to go against safeties) because they’re off, so you don’t really have to deal with them all up in your face. You just come off the ball, win with more of your second-level releases. We have a couple of different route packages that go in for the slot. But we also have a whole bunch of looks where I am at outside, and I’ll come in and do the same thing the slot does. I’ve run some of those routes before. It’s not just like completely new going in there because we do have some of the same routes.”

This doesn't seem like something that will be a full-time move, and instead, more of a way to expand their options at wide receiver and move some guys around. DJ Epps, who transferred in from Troy, is projected to start in the slot, but played primarily on the outside before coming to WVU. So we could see some instances where the two are flip-flopped.