Former Mountaineer getting his chance at the NFL

As most of you loyal DubVNation fans know, our staff is extremely close with former West Virginia running back Eugene Napoleon and the entire Napoleon family. For us, this is a great opportunity to get Brandon the attention he deserves. Brandon, the son of Eugene Napoleon played at West Virginia in 2013 as a redshirt freshman and was apart of the Mountaineers 2012 recruiting class. Brandon decided to transfer from West Virginia and head to Northern Iowa, then transferred to Georgetown (Ky) and then transferred one final time to finish up his collegiate career at Kansas Wesleyan. Brandon wanted to get his story out and was very open about how everything went down in his collegiate career and the decision to why he left West Virginia.

Starting at the beginning of this career, we take it back to his high school days and what played into his recruitment,”I was verbally committed to North Carolina and was planning on taking my visit to UNC on the Friday before Father’s Day, and Coach Holgorsen called and said they wanted to bring me up on that same Saturday. I canceled my UNC visit and took the WVU visit where Coach Holgorsen offered me on the spot in person. When that offer was made, I decommitted the next day and committed to West Virginia.Being around the program since I was a young kid really swayed my decision.”

Napoleon’s dream school was actually Virginia Tech, but said he was”waiting for West Virginia to offer”. Sometimes going to the same school as your father, you can get high expectations and Napoleon never felt the pressure get to him,”I didn’t feel any pressure at all. I was really pressing myself to get on the field before anything.”

What many fans do not know or may not remember is that Napoleon was a two way player playing quarterback and defensive back, when he got to Morgantown, he had to make a decision of which side of the ball he was on and it was not an easy one for him. “Coach asked me at the end of the year if I wanted to stay at QB  or go back to corner and I chose to go back to corner.” From everything I grasp, Brandon really wanted to play quarterback and he had the confidence to win the job. “The conversation with the coaches was aggravating to say the least, but I was young and didn’t know the lies that go into recruiting. Toward the halfway point of my redshirt season they were allowing me to play quarterback on the scout team. It was hard giving up playing quarterback, and honestly if I would have stayed on that side of the ball, things may have ended differently.”

Although he did transfer out of Morgantown, it was everything he thought it would be, “It was what I expected and then some, it was overwhelming to be honest. I loved every second of being at WVU. I was just a young kid and made a young impulse decision.” As I mentioned earlier Napoleon played for 4 schools throughout his career, but that did not bother him whatsoever,”God does not make mistakes and I firmly believe with my skill set that I can play at the next level. Also anyone can make it from anywhere, it only takes one team to like you.”

Brandon has been in contact with some NFL scouts and will be hearing very soon on any possible team workouts. He also just signed an agent a couple of weeks ago and will be preparing for his pro day. We wish Brandon the best of luck in chasing his dreams of playing in the NFL and we will be sure to follow along his journey and continue to give updates.