MORGANTOWN - The depth chart West Virginia's football team publicized Tuesday was exactly what's needed for this stage of the season. Camp was shorter than normal and there's more time between the end of camp and the start of the season than normal. There just isn't a Mountaineers Methadone strong enough to fix this one last gap.
But a depth chart? That helps. The differences between the one released two days ago and the one released 17 days ago show progress and the beneficiaries of the 13 days of practice, meetings and film review.
It shows a succession order at quarterback, where Skyler Howard is followed by William Crest and then Chris Chuganov. It shows redshirt freshman Yodny Cajuste has done what's been asked of him to start at left tackle and that Michigan transfer Kyle Bosch has added right guard to a repertoire we only knew to contain left guard since he enrolled in January. It shows a green group of receivers, with two true freshmen and a junior college transfer in the two-deep at the wideout spots.
But it doesn't show everything.
The defense, of course, is loaded with experience. Sixteen players out of the 25 on the depth chart have starting experience. Only two have never played for the Mountaineers. One is a walk-on we'll get to in a moment. The other is Larry Jefferson, and the defensive end's first step has drawn comparisons to that of fellow junior college transfer Bruce Irvin.
Yet the two-deep overlooks the strength of the strength of the team, which is the situation to be found at safety.
Everyone knows and reveres the names. Bandit Karl Joseph is regarded as one of the best safeties and scariest players in the country. Spur K.J. Dillon is an ace at the most complex and most important position on that side of the ball. Free safety Dravon Askew-Henry was a freshman All-American last season and might have shown the most improvement during camp.
Yet they are far from alone back there.
"Jarrod Harper and Jeremy Tyler could go into the game at any point," defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. "First quarter, second play, third quarter, game on the line, I trust those guys can do the right stuff. Right now, they're all five starters."
See, that depth chart only has room for three starters. Harper and Tyler could start or play much more at so many other schools, but their roles in their junior seasons are the byproducts of being on a defense that's so savvy and in a secondary that could be one of the best in the Big 12 and perhaps even beyond.
It's a luxury in college football to have a backup at every position, but it's more rare to have a pair like Harper and Tyler.
"If we have five [safeties] going in," safeties coach Joe DeForest said, "I'd be comfortable with that."
That's because of what Harper and Tyler can do, and, again, what the depth chart does not show.
Harper is a program player, a redshirt junior who's been through the winters, springs and summers, who's sat in the meeting rooms with the other safeties and learned about a position that wasn't his. He just can't get on the field because Joseph has missed maybe 20 snaps his entire career. Tyler is nevertheless the backup there. For the second straight season, he'll start on the kickoff, punt, kickoff return and punt returns teams. A year from now, he starts at Bandit.
Tyler is the backup free safety, a job he's had since Askew-Henry showed up last year. He's good enough to play on all the special teams, but is starting on "just" kickoff, kickoff return and punt return. Where he starts a year from now isn't as clear, though it's clear he'll be the guy somewhere.
That tricky depth chart has walk-on Shane Commodore as the backup free safety and Tyler as the backup Spur, because in his third season Tyler has successfully added that unique position to his portfolio. It's an achievement that warrants attention, because the skills learned and needed to play free safety aren't much like the ones required to play Spur. It's like learning another language but only after running through or around surly 300-pound offensive tackles to get to the Rosetta Stone.
"Our only guy who really hasn't played anywhere else is K.J. because of where he plays," Gibson said. "He never went to any other position because that's the hardest to learn. The Spur, with all the techniques and coverages and the blitzing, he's got a ton of responsibilities."
Apologies to Commodore, who's done everything he can to be where he is, but Tyler's the backup free safety, too. If something happens to the free and Spur, Tyler and Harper would be used to fill the gaps. Harper knows free safety, which is the least demanding of the three because it doesn't do quite as much as the other two, and that could keep Tyler at Spur. But if Tyler is a better fit at free safety, Harper could play Spur because Bandit is close enough to Spur, despite all the difficulties associated with it. And since the Bandit is like the Spur, Tyler could play there, too.
"The way it looks right now, they've shown they can do both," DeForest said. "If something ever happens, it's going to be the next best guy. If something happens to one of our starting three, we think Jeremy would be a great option along with Jarrod Harper. That's how deep that position is now."