West Virginia’s top five freshman in 2023
The regular season has come to its end, and the Mountaineers have found themselves at 8-4 and tied for fourth in the Big-12 standings. Remember, this was a team that was picked dead last in the conference during the preseason. Far behind teams like Cincinnati and BYU, who WVU beat by a combined 51 points. The Mountaineers defied expectations in a big way, and a large part of that was the youth movement. By the end of the season, WVU’s starter at running back, effectively all three receiver positions, as well as multiple positions on defense in the two-deep, were freshmen. That goes a long way moving forward for building a winning program.
It is now up to Neal Brown and company to hold on to the young guys. In the era of the transfer portal, nothing can be taken for granted. With that said, which freshmen stood out the most for WVU this year? Here’s my top five freshman performers for the Mountaineers this season.
After starting will linebacker Trey Lathan went down with a gruesome injury early in the season against TCU, Ben Cutter was thrust into a major role for the rest of the year as a true freshman. He had taken just 28 defensive snaps in three games before having to play over 50 a game for the remainder of the season. He earned a spot on this list due to the difficulty of the situation he was thrust into. Cutter was never supposed to start, yet he did so admirably.
In nine games, Cutter tallied 51 total tackles, two sacks, and a pass defended. Those are pretty good numbers, especially for a freshman, but there were definitely lots of growing pains that will keep Cutter from being any higher. It’s no coincidence that the defense seemed to falter down the stretch without Lathan in the lineup. In his five starts, WVU’s defense allowed just 19 points per game. In the final seven contests (with Cutter starting), that number rises to over 33. That’s not an exact science for a number of reasons, but it is notable, and Cutter’s struggles are a part of it. Per PFF, he had a missed tackle rate of 21.8 percent, which was second highest on the team among contributors (behind Aubrey Burks). For reference, Lee Kpogba’s was 8.2 percent. Cutter also struggled in coverage, giving up 19 completions on 20 targets for two scores.
With that said, his job was not easy. Playing linebacker as a freshman is hard. Especially when you were never supposed to be playing that many snaps in the first place. It’s a tall task for Cutter, but it does bode well for the future to have that experience. Moving forward, WVU should feel good about having Cutter on the roster for depth and to push for the starting role in the future, as there were definitely flashes.
This was perhaps the hardest decision to make on the list. I knew I was putting Cutter at number five. But four? This came down to two wide receivers who both have strong cases. It was either Hudson Clement or Traylon Ray, and I’m going with the former 4-star product from Florida. Clement was more productive, but lots of that came against Duquesne. Ray had just seven total yards and an average of 10 snaps per game through the first five weeks of the season, but took off after the bye and became a consistent producer as a starter. In the final seven games, he hauled in 12 catches for 223 yards and two scores.
Ray had offers from every school in Florida, and he showed why during that final stretch of the season, becoming the Mountaineer’s best deep threat. Ray had a PFF grade of 91.7 on deep balls (20+ yards), bringing in five of 10 targets for 172 yards and both of his touchdowns. An opportunity to continue his hot streak awaits in Charlotte against a vulnerable UNC defense.
The first and only transfer on this list, Tomiwa Durojaiye is still classified as a freshman for the 2023 season, so he qualifies here. The former 3-star from Middletown, Delaware, originally chose Kentucky out of high school over Michigan, Arkansas, Iowa, West Virginia, and more. After spending one year redshirting with the Wildcats, he entered the portal and this time, WVU was able to bring him in. And it’s looking like he might be a steal. In his first season in Morgantown, Durojaiye is tied for second on the team in sacks with three (PFF credits him with four). He’s also credited with a pass batted down, one of three Mountaineers to do so this year. What’s more impressive is his tackling and run stopping ability off the edge. Per PFF, he is missing only 5 percent of his tackles this season, and was given a 73.8 tackling grade. His overall grade is just 62.1, but I’d argue it should be higher from the eye test. When Durojaiye gets in the game, he makes an impact.
Moving forward, you have to feel really good about Durojaiye at defensive end. He’s proven to be a Big-12 caliber starter this year, despite playing behind Bluefield native Sean Martin. If Martin elects to return, that would give WVU a very solid 1-2 punch at that position. Whenever Martin does leave, he will get NFL looks because of his size and athleticism, but Durojaiye is actually out-producing him this year
This might be controversial because of his season-ending injury midway through the fifth game, but Lathan’s impact was felt heavily during that time. And when he left, things went south quickly. In five contests, Lathan recorded 27 tackles, two passes defended, and a forced fumble. But those stats don’t do him justice, as he brought so much to the table from a coverage standpoint. He was only targeted six times, and allowed just two receptions for 20 yards with a pass broken up. That’s good for a 43.2 NFL passer rating when the ball is thrown his way. Lathan was also effective as a pass rusher, pressuring the quarterback 12 times on 28 rush attempts, which earned him a lofty 81.6 pass rush grade from PFF. He never got home, but his impact was felt with eight quarterback hits.
Lathan’s athleticism, lateral quickness, and instincts were crucial when paired with Mike linebacker Lee Kpogba, who was a big, physical downhill run stopper and hard hitter. But Kpogba didn’t excel in coverage. In fact, far from it. When Cutter replaced Lathan (remember those stats I talked about earlier?), the pass coverage fell off a cliff for the linebacking unit, which took a major toll on the defense. Dropping back into Cover-3 with linebackers that can’t cover is.. bad. And that’s why Lathan is so important. He was living up to his 4-star rating out of high school, and then some.
