Draft Watch: West Virginia @ South Florida

1) Jarrett Brown – The senior quarterback had to wait for three years, biding his time behind West Virginia legend Pat White before he could be the man in Morgantown. At 6’ 4” and 220 pounds Brown has good size, his arm is NFL quality and he is an excellent athlete who can make things happen with his legs. However, he has not improved his stock through seven games (injured early in win versus Marshall); his touchdown to interception ratio of eight to six is unimpressive, and he struggled in his two toughest contests—at Auburn and last week against UConn. He has completed 67.1 percent of his passes overall, but connected at just a 56.3 rate against the Tigers (1 TD, 4 INTs) in WVU’s lone loss of the season. Against the Huskies, the West Palm Beach native completed only 59. 3 percent of his passes and failed to find the end zone (1 INT). In cornerback Jerome Murphy and safety Nate Allen, the USF Bulls have a dangerous secondary that will take advantage of Brown’s mistakes.

2) Noel Devine vs. Kion Wilson – This should be a fun match-up, pitting the speed and open-field shiftiness of Devine against the hard-hitting and sound tackling of Wilson. Devine is coming off a 178-yard performance against the Huskies, which included a spectacular sideline, game-winning scamper that displayed both his speed and balance. He likes the lights too. Earlier this season on Thursday night against the Colorado Buffaloes he rumbled for 220 yards on 22 carries. This is an interesting match-up against maybe the speediest defense the Mountaineers have faced to date led by Wilson, who tops the Bulls with his 49 tackles. The junior college transfer is flourishing in his second season at the Division I level and facing a back like Devine in the open field will be the ultimate test.

3) Better prospect George Selvie or Jason Pierre-Paul – Could Selvie not even be the best defensive end prospect on his own team? Gone are the days of video game numbers for the former high school center, which he put up as a sophomore. Last season much of that was attributed to double and sometimes triple teams, but this year more often than not, Selvie is being slowed down one-on-one. The senior still leads the line with 27 tackles, but not tackles for a loss (6.5 TFLs) or sacks (3 sacks). Pierre-Paul may not be as polished as Selvie, but is bigger and perhaps a more impressive athlete. Although he is still refining his pass rushing skills (2 sacks), Pierre-Paul has lived in the opposition’s backfield this season and leads the Bulls with his 9.5 tackles for a loss. Not many ends can combine size, speed, athleticism and wingspan (81”) the way this junior college transfer does. He has better upside than Selvie, but Pierre-Paul would be wise to return for his senior season to refine his game. It will be interesting to see how each does when matched up with WVU's top tackle Selvish Capers.

Photos Courtesy of WVU Sports Communication, USF Athletics Communications