Photo courtesy of BlueGoldNews.com WVU wide receiver Cortez Braham makes a catch during last year’s game against Kansas State.

MORGANTOWN — Life, they have said, is just a bowl of cherries, but sometimes it can also be the pits.

For all of us, adversity is out there as a challenge and what defines us is the way we handle that adversity.

That brings us to around to West Virginia wide receiver Cortez Braham, a kid who has had to negotiate his way through a minefield of obstacles to arrive at a point in life where he can turn it all into that bowl full of cherries.

He has the ability. No one has ever doubted that, but there were circumstances all around him that made it far more difficult than it should have been to benefit from it as he could do this year on a West Virginia offense that is crying out for help at wide receiver.

It begins as he grew up in Baltimore, was a middle school student on April 18, 2015, when peaceful protests over the death in police custody of Freddie Gray turned violent, setting off the worst riots the city had seen since the 1960s.

They went on for 16 days with 113 police officers injured, two civilians shot, 486 people arrested, 350 businesses damaged, 150 vehicle fires. Amazingly, there were no fatalities but it drove home the point that this was no place for a kid to be growing up.

“That riot that happened and I lived down the street from that,” he recalled the other day. “It was an eye opener. It taught me a lot. I didn’t want to be one of those kids out there in the street. I wanted to take my own route and just play football, so that’s what I did.

“My parents felt I’d have better opportunities making it going to South Carolina, so I moved down there with my grandparents and played four years of high school.”

Did good, too, at Blythewood South. Colleges were beginning to offer him, but you have to remember, this was a kid off the streets of Baltimore who hadn’t yet matured or outgrown his roots.

“I got in a little altercation with my teammate there which led to me being expelled from school, so I went to an alternative school and lost all my offers,” he admitted.

This, too, was an eye opener.

“I’ve matured. I got better dealing with my inner self, just not trying to be one of those really bad kids like I was when I was growing up. I changed, trying to be a good kid,” he said.

He decided to play football at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College, a power in the juco ranks, and proved to be not only a solid receiver but a solid citizen.

In fact, that school’s top receiver, Malik Benson, who was considered the nation’s top Juco receiver and went to Alabama, benefited from having him as a teammate at Hutchinson, according to wide receiver coach Kody Cook.

Cook noted that Braham was the leader among the wide receivers off the field and pushed Benson, daring him to see how good he could become.”

Tough streets, a setback from an immature response that cost him his college offers, three years at juco … Braham went through a lot before West Virginia brought him in and last season he showed flashes of what he could be, catching 14 passes for 147 yards while playing in 11 games.

That makes him the top returning receiver as Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Sam James left for the NFL draft and Kaden Prather and Reese Smith transferred. They took with them 2,126 of 2,730 receiving yards the Mountaineers had last year.

That’s 78% of the total passing yards.

Braham understands why WVU’s passing game is often looked down upon as it approaches the coming year.

“We use that as motivation. A lot of people think we can’t do it like the receiving corps we had last year — Bryce, KP, Sam. They were really good players. I feel we got the pieces here, everyone playing a role,” he said.

And he wants to be a major contributor.

“It means a lot to me. Last year I didn’t really get to go out there and help the team and contribute to wins,” he said. “This year I want to be one of the big factors; to go and make plays and be one of the best receivers in the country.

“I want to go out and make plays, catch the ball, that’s the one thing we really take pride in, catching the ball. That’s my main job.”

Braham believes he has much to offer and feels a certain hurt when the receivers are knocked.

“I take it real personal,” he admitted. “I know I didn’t do much last year but I feel like I did some things with limited reps. I felt despite that, I was still making plays, so now I am taking this season real personal. I got a lot to prove out there,” he said.

The leader of the bunch is North Carolina State transfer Devin Carter, who from Day 1 has moved into the role of go-to guy, not for receptions but for his companionship and advice.

“Devin is a character. He’s real funny and good to be around,” Braham said. “He can go out there and make a lot of plays so I don’t have to worry the wide side of the field because I know he’s going to make the play. He’s been on the D-1 side of the field already, so he has taught me a lot of stuff.

“It is crucial to have a four-year starter,” first-year wide receiver coach Bilal Marshall has said. “Devin knows what big-time football looks like and he’s able to lead by example and also pull guys along. Now, if you didn’t have somebody in that role then you’d have to build that person and create it. It does help that he just naturally does it and people just naturally gravitate toward him.”

There are many people contending for the wide receiver spots and it will go through the summer into fall camp with Carter, Braham, Preston Fox, Davis Mallinger, Jason Malashevich, Tyler Evans, Taran Fitzpatrick, C.J. Cole and Hudson Clement.

Then, WVU will have its prized wide receiver recruit Rodney Gallagher join the team over the summer and there is much anticipation as to what he will bring from Laurel Highlands High in Uniontown, Pa.