MORGANTOWN — Liberty football was favored by 30-plus points against Louisiana-Monroe in 2021, and deservingly so. The Flames had Heisman Trophy hopeful and projected first-round pick Malik Willis at quarterback and former Power Four coach Hugh Freeze.

Current West Virginia inside wide receivers coach, Logan Bradley, was standing on the Liberty sideline, and across the field was Rich Rodriguez, who was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

The underdog Warhawks offense hung a 28-burger in the third quarter, leading to a big upset for ULM, 31-28.

Bradley was shocked.

“What’s the saying?” Bradley said. “You can’t beat them, join them. We were favored by all these points. ULM beat us. We were favored by 30-something points. Man, something up with them. Why are they out playing us? There’s no way they should have.”

Bradley called up current WVU wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett, who was a ULM graduate assistant. The two worked together at Ole Miss for a couple of years prior. Bradley was in disbelief and wanted to know how that just happened.

“We just had this mindset, that we were just going to out-physical, y’all,” Garrett said. “Play harder than y’all, and we did.”

Bradley always wondered what Rodriguez’s secrets were, so when he received the opportunity to join Rodriguez’s staff, coaching inside receivers, as a late spring addition, he couldn’t pass it up.

“I’ve always wanted to since,” Bradley said about coaching for Rodriguez.

Bradley hasn’t been at WVU long, but has already started adopting Rodriguez’s hard edge that he admired from afar, and instilling it in his small group of inside receivers.

“All you guys gotta look in here and find out what hard edge means to you,” Bradley said to his receivers. “To me, hard edge is no matter the situation, circumstance, we don’t fold. We play our standard.”

When Garrett spoke earlier this camp, he said most of the inside and outside receivers were mixing, figuring out who should play where, but Bradley provided an insight into who his core players were. Bradley listed junior Rodney Gallagher III, Jacksonville State transfer Jarod Bowie, and Eastern Michigan transfer Oran Singleton Jr., or ManMan, as Bradley called him.

“The moment I got here, everyone was calling him ManMan,” Bradley said. “It’s just been ManMan. The whole team calls him that.”

Gallagher highlights the small room. He was a four-star prospect and the third-best player in Pennsylvania in 2023, picking the Mountaineers over multiple Power Four schools, most notably Penn State.

Gallagher hasn’t lived up to his potential, only scoring three touchdowns in two seasons. Part of it could’ve been the scheme, and Bradley thinks Gallagher, whom he calls “consistent Rod,” really fits into Rodriguez’s offense because he can think quickly, which is important in a tempo offense.

“He does that,” Bradley said. “Coach Rod wants someone who has a hard edge to them, and wants to be coached hard, and that’s [Gallagher]… We live by the next play is the most important play. He has that mindset. He understands that, so in this offense it fits him well.”

Bradley said Gallagher’s strengths are his ability to flush mistakes and putting his foot in the ground to get up for the contested catches, even with his smaller 5-foot-10 height.

He also provided some insights to his other two slot receivers.

“ManMan, his route running is special,” Bradley said. “When he’s on, he’s on. At any moment, he can make a route look special. I like to tell him it’s coaching, but I tell him all the time there’s something in that Florida water… [Bowie] does a great job of getting upfield immediately, putting his foot in the ground and getting upfield, and no dancing. At any point, he can turn a bubble into a 12-yard route, getting you a first down.”

His receivers are still messing up here and there, which is what camp is for. Bradley’s even messed up, and Rodriguez got on his case. Bradley wasn’t phased, though, and was happy that Rodriguez is the type of coach who just says his piece and moves on, as long as it’s fixed the next time. Despite the mistakes, Bradley is happy with what he’s seen with his group.

“All three of them are very talented,” Bradley said. “I’ve been impressed with all those guys since the moment I got here in the spring. All three of them, I believe, have the ability when they get the ball in their hands to make a play. They are good as gold. You can’t ask for a better group. They push each other. They can make a play at any point in the game.”