WVU WR Jaden Bray Turning Heads in Camp (Again), Poised for Breakout Season

Two catches for 88 yards. That's it. That's all Jaden Bray was able to muster up in his first season in a West Virginia uniform. A big reason for that was all of the injuries he dealt with throughout the year, while another was the lack of usage by former head coach Neal Brown.

Coming out of spring ball a year ago, Bray showed flashes of being able to help the team right away. He carried that momentum over into fall camp, and with his size and length, he at times looked like the clear-cut No. 1 option in the receiving room. Yet for some reason, Brown didn't get him on the field nearly enough early in the year when he was healthy and rarely had the ball go in his direction.

When it did, though, big things happened. He had a 44-yard catch against UAlbany and another 44-yarder in the Backyard Brawl versus Pitt. Now, I don't want to put much of the blame on Brown here because, for the majority of the season, Bray couldn't go. Still, two catches in five games tell you he wasn't being used properly.

I have a feeling that won't be the same outcome in 2025. Rich Rodriguez knows how to get the ball into his playmakers' hands, and so far, Bray has established himself as one of the top receiving threats on the roster.

“I’ve been really impressed. He’s a really hard worker," Rodriguez said on Thursday. "We have those GPS vests that measure how fast they go during practice, their explosiveness, and how many yards they go, and he is either one, two, or three after every practice. He’s a physical guy. He’s done a great job picking up what we do, and I think he’s going to be poised for a really good year.”

If Bray can stay healthy and impact the game the way everyone believes he can, the Mountaineers will have a strong receiving duo on their hands with him and Jacksonville State transfer Cam Vaughn.

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