Neal Brown Reveals WVU WR Jaden Bray Will Not Play Again in 2024

West Virginia's receiving corps takes another hit late in the year.

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

All signs were pointing toward West Virginia wide receiver Jaden Bray making his return to game action this week against UCF, but that is no longer the case. As a matter of fact, we've seen the last of Bray this season, according to head coach Neal Brown.

“He’s got a foot," he said during his radio show Thursday evening. "It’s an injury where what you do is you rest it and with the hope that it’ll kind of heal itself. It got to the point where he was running pretty well straight ahead and hit some top speeds a week ago. So we were real hopeful starting on Monday, he could get out there. We were in pre-practice five minutes in, and he said it didn’t feel right. We did another round of X-rays, MRIs, and things and just made the decision to move ahead with surgery. He will not return this year.”

This is the first time Brown has really gone into detail as to what Bray has been bothered with. He hasn't played since the Oklahoma State game back in early October, and at the time, WVU knew he'd be out for at least a few weeks. But once the calendar turned to November, there wasn't a whole lot of insight as to how far along Bray was in his recovery and if he would play again this season until Brown mentioned the possibility of his return last week.

It's an unfortunate nagging injury for the Oklahoma State transfer, who appeared to be well on his way to becoming one of the team's top receivers after a very strong showing in fall camp. Every day, the coaching staff or Garrett Greene would praise his skillset and ability to make heavily contested catches.

Because he appeared in five games, Bray will not be able to redshirt. They could try to seek out an additional year from the NCAA, but that's unlikely to be awarded, meaning he'll have just one year of eligibility remaining.

In those five games, Bray wasn't heavily targeted, which raised a lot of questions, considering how much the staff raved about him in the preseason. He caught a 44-yard pass in the blowout win over UAlbany and then had another 44-yard reception in the Backyard Brawl. That's it. That's his receiving numbers for the season - two catches for 88 yards.

Bray becomes the second West Virginia receiver this week officially ruled out for the remainder of the season. Sophomore Traylon Ray underwent surgery on his leg following a gruesome injury against Baylor where the Bears defender landed on him while going to the ground.

With Bray and Ray officially out, the Mountaineers will need more out of Justin Robinson, Rodney Gallagher III, Preston Fox, DayDay Farmer, and Jarel Williams to help complement Hudson Clement and tight end Kole Taylor.

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