Mountaineers Needed Big Plays and Bryce Ford-Wheaton Delivered

West Virginia wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton has a career day in the win over No. 16 Kansas State

The West Virginia receiving corps has taken a bit of beating for the amount of dropped passes and lack of explosive plays through the first half of the season but in the win over No. 16 Kansas State, several Mountaineer receivers stepped up and made big plays.

West Virginia wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton hauling in a 38-yard pass in the fourth quarter / Ben Queen - WVU Football

“They ran better routes, they won versus man coverages better, and they’ve been getting better over the last three weeks,” said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. “We never lost belief in them. I think that’s really, really important for everybody to understand is, we keep calling pass plays because we believe they’re gonna get open and we believe they’re gonna catch the ball, we believe we’re going to protect, and we believe the quarterback is going to deliver the ball where it’s supposed to be in a catchable manner, and that’s about belief.

“I told them early in the week, I said, ‘Listen, we’re going to keep calling the plays, I just expect you all to catch more balls during the week and don’t grow weary of doing the right things and we’ll catch those balls.”

West Virginia receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton took the lid off the Kansas State defense early in the second quarter on a quick post and raced down the field for a 58-yard toss and catch and set up the games first touchdown.

“Our coach always tells us, coach (co-offensive coordinator and receivers’ coach Gerad) Parker, that if they’re going to do man to man, then you got to make them pay for it. So, I just did what I was taught, and then once we catch the ball, our coach always says genetics after that. So, I was able to pickup a pretty big gain. I had some good downfield blocking – I wish I could have finished it,” said Ford-Wheaton.

On the Mountaineers following possession, TJ Simmons found space over the middle for 32 yards setting up West Virginia just outside of the red zone before Leddie Brown punched it into the endzone three plays later.

On the day West Virginia quarterback Jarret Doege had four passes go for 20-plus yards, two of them went to Bryce Wheaton, including a 38-yard reception down the sideline in the fourth quarter on a 2nd and 21, something that has been missing from the Mountaineers arsenal. He finished the afternoon with three receptions for a career-high 104 yards, averaging 34.7 yards per reception. 

Including tight end Mike O’laughlin, the receivers averaged 15.2 yards per reception.

“That was a really big key in our win – it’s something we practice a lot though, and we knew we had to have more explosive plays, and I think we just came up and really stepped up today,” said Ford-Wheaton.

West Virginia travels to Austin, TX to take on the No. 22 Texas Longhorns at noon on ABC. 

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