Kevin Brown Just Gave WVU Fans a Glimpse of What's to Come

From the day West Virginia landed former Penn State commit Kevin Brown, they knew they had a major building block for the future. And by that, I mean the immediate future.

The staff felt like he would be able to come in and make an impact from day one because of his love for the game, work ethic, and how far advanced he is in understanding what a defense is trying to accomplish. Oh, and physically, well, yeah, there's just not many like him at 18 years of age.

It speaks to the staff's trust and confidence in him that they awarded him the starting left tackle job out of camp, shouldering the responsibility of protecting Mike Hawkins Jr.'s blindside. And in his first-ever game with the Mountaineers, he did a pretty damn good job.

“He played pretty well," head coach Rich Rodriguez said on Tuesday. "There was a couple of freshman mistakes in there, but for a true freshman playing for the first time, I was really pretty proud of him. He’s a very, very competitive guy. He’s very conscientious. We thought he played pretty well.”

One of his running mates up front, Amare "Bubba" Grayson, threw some praise his way too.

“Kevin Brown actually did great. His intensity, like everything we’ve been saying since summer in camp, it came out during the game. Like, it was no nervousness, no inconsistency. He did what he was supposed to do.”

It didn't take long for Coastal Carolina to feel Brown's presence. He played a big part in those first two plays of the game — the 72-yard run by Cam Cook and then the rushing touchdown on the very next snap.

Brown sealed the edge, creating a huge running lane for Cook between him and left guard Nick Krahe, who took part in a double team with center Wes King. Once Cook burst through and took off down the sideline, you can see Brown hauling tail down the field, looking to make a block or be in the area if the ball happened to pop free. And on the touchdown play, he just straight up mauled a defender into the painted area.

#WVU RB Cam Cook.

72-yard run.

Cut, acceleration, gets skinny, & makes a man miss. pic.twitter.com/XDscKWZfLU
— Kyron Samuels (@kyronsamuels) September 8, 2026

As Rodriguez pointed out, there were a few snaps where he got caught in between when Coastal threw some stunts at him, one of which he picked up the outside rusher, leaving Cam Cook to be the garbage man on the interior to clean it up to keep Hawkins upright.

There will be highs and lows throughout this season for Brown as he figures things out at this level, but it's pretty clear that West Virginia has a stud at left tackle and one that figures to be a mainstay on that offensive line for years to come.

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