West Virginia's 3 amigos ready for breakout 2nd years

This is especially true for those relationships you make during those life-shaping times that are known as the college years.

These relationships are exaggerated among athletes, who form bonds they would not have ever imagined in their high school years and that last into old age.

Much of it is born in the locker rooms that are shared, but it becomes even more meaningful, more personal when you share a residence. There are literally thousands of stories told by athletes of their days when they were living in Towers, on the West Virginia campus, and even more pronounced when athletes rent a house or apartment to share.

It can go so far as to become landmarks, as was the home of Ann and Delina Dinardi at 65 Beechhurst, that lived on far beyond the 1950s when the sisters became den mothers to such legends as Jerry West. Hot Rod Hundley and Rod Thorn of basketball fame.

West referred to Ann Dinardi, one of the first women in WVU’s School of Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in pharmacy in 1931. West’s time there was so meaningful in his development that he would say, “I would have never made it through West Virginia University without Ann Dinardi, a surrogate mother of sorts, who gave me a room in her home and constantly fed me to pack weight on my 160-pound frame” in his speech accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in 2019.

Your college home away from home is usually a first step out into the world and the relationships that grow out of it are cherished for a lifetime, and so it is with this year’s West Virginia team, which is into its final week of spring practice.

While the Dinardi house, which stood just steps away from the old Fieldhouse, became a can’t miss sight on any tour of Morgantown, the residence that is shared by Mountaineer football players running Jahiem White, receivers Rodney Gallagher and Traylon Ray has chance to earn its place in Mountaineer lore.

Each of the three current players offers the promise of authoring memorable careers at WVU. White, of course, earned freshman All-America honors last season as he became one of the nation’s most electrifying ball carriers while Gallagher, who was thought of as the prize of last year’s recruiting class, began finding his place in the first year he concentrated solely on football.

And Ray was sort of a surprise package, a fleet wide receiver who came out of a small Christian school in Florida to unveil a skill set that involved speed, catching ability and a strong work ethic that has him admitting this season he’s hoping to reach 1,000 receiving yards.

Coach Neal Brown had an inkling of what was awaiting Ray this year toward the end of last season.

“Traylon Ray has really come on,” he said. “I say this every time we talk about him. He didn’t get here util the end of June, so he hadn’t been in college very long. I think this off-season, like when we get into spring ball, he’s going to be a really different guy. He’ll probably put on about 10 pounds and he’s going to get faster. I think he has a chance to be an elite outside receiver.”

“There’s definitely more for me,” Ray said, something he evidenced in last season’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory over North Carolina when he took West Virginia’s first play 75 yards for a touchdown on a pass from Garrett Greene. “This coming season is going to be a really big season for me, just for what I want to do. I’m hoping to have 1,000 yards because we have been working with GG (Greene) and I’m really confident.”

But it is the makeup of the living quarters is what it so special, three so talented players — two of them competing against each other for receiver jobs — together

“One guy from Florida, two from Pennsylvania ... I never saw it coming,” Ray laughs as his easy going personality begins to blossom in his second season.

To begin with, Ray and Gallagher both were multi-sport players, playing baseball and basketball and football.

Ray admits he misses being involved as he was in high school.

“All the time,” he says. “I miss competing in them. Me and Rod, we got out and shoot some hoops. Honestly, we both miss it sometimes. It’s the competitive nature of all the sports.

The three of them travel as one.

“Me, Rodney and Jahiem, we’re always together, 24-7,” Ray said. “We live together, wake up together, eat together and go to workouts together. Every single second of the day we are together.”

See as they play the same position — wide receiver — Ray and Gallagher spend even more time together.

“We argue all the time, but right after that we’re back together,” Ray said.

Because, in the end, they know that they really have a pretty good thing going.

“Sometimes, we’ll just be sitting in the room and it’s like, ‘We’re just doing this right now. We’re really here, playing D-1 football and getting a chance to meet some pretty good players.”

Football might be the centerpiece of their existence, but it isn’t all encompassing.

“Honestly,” Ray said, “sometimes we try not to talk about football. We go bowling a lot. All three of us love going bowling. Now we’re not much into going out, so we’re in the apartment most of the time talking about whatever.”

And there’s a lot to talk about, say that 1,000 yards that Ray would love to get this year. He understands, though, that it will be tough.

“Knowing how talented our receiving room is, it might not happen,” he said. “I wouldn’t be mad. Rodney’s a very talented person. Huddy’s (Hudson Clement) very talented. Preston (Fox) will catch anything you throw at him. A thousand yards isn’t a very big thing to me, but it’s something I’d love to do.”

There is also a newcomer from Oklahoma State, veteran Jaden Bray, who inherits the leadership role Devin Carter filled last year after he transferred in from North Carolina State to join WVU’s young receivers.

“Jaden’s a little bit different than Devin,” Ray said. “Devin was more of a social guy with us. JBray is quiet, but he fits in perfectly with us in the receiving room. He’s still kind of raw but at the time he’s super athletic, goes and gets the ball. Strong hands. We call it grown-man strength.”