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West Virginia tight end Kole Taylor secures a pass in practice.
MORGANTOWN — The whole Kole.
That’s what West Virginia is looking forward to this season after their 6-foot, 7-inch athletic tight end Kole Taylor played the final three games of last season with a shoulder injury that required off-season surgery and cost him spring practice healing.
No one can argue that he is expected to be a weapon in the offense this season, considering that while restricted by the injury last year he still reached heights not seen at the position for three decades.
The truth is that while wide receivers like Hudson Clement, Preston Fox and Devin Carter carried a higher profile, Taylor led the team in receptions with 35, tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions with four and was second in receiving yards with 444.
You have to go back a quarter of a century, to new WVU Sports Hall of Fame inductee Anthony Becht in 1999, to find a tight end catching as many as 35 passes in a season.
Now healthy, he is looking to help push for a winning season (which he says is his highest goal) but who also states that his personal goal is to win the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end. He was put on the award’s watch list last week.
His injury last year came against Cincinnati.
“I did a split flow across and it kind of pulled and popped out,” he said. “That’s when I started wearing the brace. The brace gave a lot of support and I was able to play with it, but it was kind of a restrictive brace. I didn’t feel like I could reach as high and it was just a confidence thing in the end.”
One of the great assets for a 6-7 receiver is his ability to stretch out for balls, something he had a problem with.
Now this wasn’t a Joe Mazzulla type shoulder injury, the former Mountaineer basketball star who led a victory over Kentucky to reach the Final Four in 2010 despite a shoulder injury that kept him from raising his arm over his head and forced him to shoot free throws with his off hand.
But it was serious, nonetheless, as the labrum needed to be repaired.
“It was a decision I didn’t make overnight. I thought about it for a long time,” Taylor. said. “In the end, you can’t really live with any regrets, so it’s something I’m glad I did moving forward.”
He will be a key component in this year’s passing game.
The decision to take receiver Rodney Gallagher III and turn him into a two-way player as a defensive back, too, appears to be ready to pay huge dividends.
“He may be our best man defender right now,” Coach Neal Brown said. “He’s going to play.”
And by that he means on both sides of the ball.
He caught 10 passes for 74 yards last year as a true freshman and Brown sees improvement there, too.
“He’s looking more fluid as a receiver, too,” Brown said. “I’m proud of him because we’re putting a lot on him mentally and he’s spending extra time here to make going both ways work.”
More good injury news. Defensive lineman Asani Redwood, who has had an injury scarred career and missed spring practice, as did Taylor, is now full go again.
This helps give the defensive line enough depth that Brown believes he can run seven or eight defensive linemen in and out during the season.
WVU is getting close to zeroing in on special teams as the Aug. 31 Penn State game gets closer.
Kickoffs — both returns and defending — are a priority and it appears now that wide receiver Hudson Clement has an edge in returning.
“We’re working him a lot back there,” Brown said. “He breaks tackles and has good straight line speed. (Receiver) Jaden Bray is working back there as well. Those are the two guys. We feel better about the back end at this point than we have in several years.”
Michael Hayes returns as the kickoff specialist but Fairmont Senior graduate Nate Flower, a redshirt freshman, is offering stiff competition.
“He’s done really well,” Brown said, “and is putting some pressure on Mike there.”