Will Rodney Gallagher Stick as a Two-Way Player for West Virginia?

West Virginia is home to one of the most versatile players in all of college football.

= / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Every college football coach talks about the importance of players having versatility. Usually, that means being able to play a couple of different spots within the same position group or being able to offer different things on offense if you're a skill guy. Playing both offense and defense is extremely rare, especially at the Power Four level.

In the spring, WVU thought sophomore Rodney Gallagher III had the tools to be able to pull it off and give them quality reps at nickel in addition to his primary role as a wide receiver. He flashed in the spring proving he could do it and then took another step in fall camp, showing he's capable of being a two-way player at the start of the season.

Last week against UAlbany, Gallagher saw a good bit of action on defense and had a pretty strong outing. He recorded a pass breakup and missed out by a matter of inches on an interception that would have likely been returned for six. Now that he's had some early-season success playing both ways, the staff feels comfortable giving him more opportunities.

“I think what the other team does determines how many snaps he’s going to play on defense," said head coach Neal Brown. "As he continues to progress on defense, and he’s getting better every week…it’s all new to him. Really encouraged by his growth on defense. He’s got some natural coverage skills. He had one ball caught on him the other night and really, that was because he should have been shaded outside, he was shaded inside. If he was outside, he may have had a pick. He had a great back on the ball and had a PBU. I’m excited just watching him continuing to grow. And then offensively, he just missed a few explosive plays. I think we targeted him five or six times. His snaps on offense and how we get him touches that’ll continue to evolve.”

Although he's relatively new to the defensive side of the ball, Gallagher has caught onto things very quickly. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley has been pleased with what he's put on tape thus far but also understands he's just scratching the surface of what he can ultimately become.

“When you have a guy that’s naturally a good cover guy, you really just have to kind of bring him along within the menu of what you’re asking him to do," said Lesley. "That’s by call, by fundamental, by technique and then you have a baseline. He does a good job in man coverage, but you’re not going to do that every time so you’ve got to build his skillset as you go but you can’t put too much on him. It’s a slow process. It’s understanding as the weeks go the depths of the defense and the different things that he can do. He’s a good football player. Great athleticism is going to show up in everything you’re going to try to do.”

Earning more opportunities on defense doesn't necessarily mean his role as a receiver will begin to diminish. Neal Brown has stated several times throughout this process that Gallagher is a receiver first and is viewed as a key piece to what they want to do offensively.

This offseason, Gallagher became more of a refined route runner which creates more avenues for him to get the ball. It's not always going to come via the screen game, jet sweeps, etc. He's worked really hard to become a three-level receiver and although he's not a polished product, the difference from last year is noticeable.

Balancing the workload of playing both sides can be challenging as offensive coordinator Chad Scott said. But Gallagher has the mental makeup to be able to do it and be effective.

“He goes back and forth in the meetings. This is a tough task. Now, first of all, he’s very intelligent, got great football intelligence. If he didn’t have that it’d be hard for him to go both ways. We’re not asking him to do a lot. He knows everything offensively and we didn’t ask him to do that last year. So from that standpoint, there’s no issues. Defensively, he spent a lot of time with them in the offseason and spends a lot of time with them during the week. Obviously he’s got to do extra when it comes to watching more film and he does.”

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