WVU Coach Refers to Freshman WR DayDay Farmer as ‘Very Elite’

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Even with so much experience on offense, the WVU coaching staff knows they have a freshman who could be ready to make a serious impact right away. And on Wednesday, another coach increased the expectations for top 2024 recruit DayDay Farmer even more.

WVU wide receivers coach Bilal Marshall called Framer “very electric” and said he knew right away the Melbourne, Fla. native has a natural talent. Marshall even went as far as to characterize Farmer as more talented than 99% of the players who come to WVU.

Marshall’s comments come only a few days after head coach Neal Brown classified Framer as “elite” when the ball is in the air.

But that’s not all Brown had to say about the Florida native who he flipped on National Signing Day in December of 2023.

“He’s got twitch, and he’s got explosiveness. He’s made several competitive plays, he was good yesterday in our 11 on 11 work. Excited about him. He’s going to earn some playing time if he continues,” elaborated Brown.

WVU HC Neal Brown Uses ‘Elite’ Label for Freshman WR DayDay Farmer

While Brown and Marshall are both high on the potential of Farmer, they are also trying to caution fans from expecting too much from a true freshman. Marshall even added that Farmer still needs to bulk up and pointed route running as something he needs to work on.

For a refresher to what led Farmer to becoming a Mountaineer….

How did the Mountaineers pull off one of the major flips of the day? How did the WVU staff manage to land Farmer?

After having already changed his mind once over the summer when he pulled away from Pitt, Farmer entered the day committed to fellow Big 12 foe UCF. And the Florida native and Melbourne Catholic product actually turned West Virginia down just a few months before to decide to stay closer to home at that time. So what changed and eventually made him singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on his way up north?

None of that scared away the WVU coaches though. As head coach Neal Brown said after securing Farmer, his staff, namely wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Chad Scott, “kept on him” even after striking out once before.

“I think Chad (Scott) was one of his first offers, if not his first offer. A lot of credit to Chad and Bilal (Marshall) because they just kept on.”

No matter what, Brown always had a good feeling about landing the four-star wide receiver. Something told him to continue to pursue Framer despite his verbal commitment to another school in the conference. He just felt ‘DayDay’ belonged at WVU.

More importantly beyond a gut feeling, Brown said they continuously hammered home one particular message to Farmer. That message centered around the success slot receivers have had in Brown’s offense throughout his career at Kentucky, Texas Tech, Troy and now West Virginia.

Brown then detailed how it’s important to try to balance when to stay on a kid and when to back away. He explained that he usually calls a recruit one more time after he loses him just to check in and wish him well. He then can use that conversation to determine if there’s still a mutual interest. If he believes there’s still a chance, he will continuing recruiting him. If he believes that player is happy to be headed elsewhere, he backs off and only engages again if the contact is initiated by the recruit.

As far as what Brown thinks of Farmer as a player and what kind of impact he envisions for him as a Mountaineer, he’s confident he will find success but isn’t ready to crown him a super-stat yet.

“He’s been really productive. He’s a great kickoff returner. He’ll play early. He’s got to gain weight but he’ll play early for us,” said Brown.

Farmer should be a difference maker for an offense in search of more playmakers. He’s rated among the 50 players in Florida by multiple major recruiting outlets.

WVSN also reached out to Farmer himself about why he finalized on the Mountaineers after a roller coaster recruitment process.

“They were my first high school offer. They showed loyalty throughout my whole recruiting process. Coach Scott (Chad Scott) has been recruiting me since I was a freshman and coach Lal (Bilal Marshall) is very relatable.”

From Farmer’s perspective, the NIL opportunities at WVU were a major factor in his eventual decision to move up north to West Virginia.

“At first, before I even went to West Virginia, I really didn’t think of West Virginia, how it looked, so when I got there, it was in the city, the facilities were good, the coaches and players are real cool and real tight and their bond is real tight,” Farmer told WVSN after one of his visits.

For a related story, WVU wants transfer wide receiver Jaden Bray to impact the team beyond just on offense.