Who Steps Up for West Virginia at Receiver with Traylon Ray Done for the Year?

Last week, the Mountaineers lost a big piece of their offense. How do they make up for Traylon Ray's production?

West Virginia University receiver Traylon Ray. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

West Virginia's passing game hasn't struck fear into the hearts of its opponents all year long, but the Mountaineers lost one of their biggest receiving threats, Traylon Ray, last week in the loss to Baylor.

A Baylor defensive back landed on Ray's leg on a deep ball in the second half, causing the sophomore receiver to be carted off the field. Over the weekend, Ray underwent a successful surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Prior to the injury, Ray hauled in 28 receptions for 426 yards and four touchdowns on the season, giving him an average of 15.2 yards per catch. He scored three of his four touchdowns throughout his final four games played and made some big catches deep down the field. He leads all Mountaineer receivers in touchdowns, is second in receiving yards, and third in receptions.

So, how do the Mountaineers go about replacing Ray's production for the final two games of the season?

“I think similar to when Hudson (Clement) was out. We take a team approach," head coach Neal Brown answered. "Now, we’re going to miss him. I think that by the time Traylon’s career is done here, he’s going to be a really high-level player, and I really think the NFL is in his future. This is a minor setback. He’ll make the full recovery. It looked bad, but he’s going to make the full recovery, and he’s in good spirits. We’ll miss him.

"But we also got some guys that we can plug and play," he continued. "Preston (Fox) will take a bigger role. Jarel Williams will play a little bit more on offense. Justin Robinson needs to play more like he did against Cincinnati, not like he did against Baylor. And I believe he will. It will be a committee approach.”

DayDay Farmer is another one who will likely see more action, although he has been splitting reps in the slot with Rodney Gallagher III for the last couple of weeks. While Farmer, Robinson, Fox, Williams, and others may become a little more involved, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll see a significant increase in targets.

Instead, look for tight end Kole Taylor to see a healthy dose of targets in these final two games. Over the last two weeks, Taylor has combined for ten receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown. He'll likely play a big role in the season finale at Texas Tech, but with cruddy weather in the forecast for Saturday, Ray's absence shouldn't impact the Mountaineers too much against UCF.

West Virginia and UCF will kick it off at 3:30 p.m. EST. The action can be streamed live on ESPNU.

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