MORGANTOWN — Before West Virginia football started the football portion of the Gold-Blue Spring Festival, the program recognized multiple players for preseason awards.

One of which included the Tommy Nickolich Memorial Award winner. Nickolich was a former WVU player from 1980-82, who died of cancer in 1983. The award recognizes a walk-on who has distinguished himself through his attitude and work ethic. This year’s winner was wide receiver and Parkersburg, West Virginia, native Cyrus Traugh. Traugh is the 36th winner of the award, with last year’s going to running back Clay Ash.

This award hits a little closer to home for Rich Rodriguez because Rodriguez was a walk-on and played with Nickolich.

“I told the staff it is personal to me, because Tommy and I were teammates here,” Rodriguez said. “When he got sick, and he passed, it was devastating to all of us. He’s got a great family, and I can remember right inside these walls, right here, when I got told by coach, our physician, what Tommy was going through, and all of us were just stunned. I think there’s no better person to name this award after than Tommy Nickolich.”

Traugh is in his second season with the Mountaineers after transferring over from Youngstown State. He played two seasons with the Penguins, and in his final season, Traugh had 36 catches for 409 yards and a team-high five receiving touchdowns. Last season, Traugh didn’t play much for WVU, but he saw action against Robert Morris and Kansas.

In high school, Traugh played at Parkersburg South High and won the Randy Moss Award as the top wide receiver in the state of West Virginia. Traugh helped the Patriots to a 12-2 record, the Class AAA state championship game and a final ranking of No. 3 in the state. He caught 84 catches for 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns in that season. Traugh finished the season with 25 total touchdowns and amassed 2,186 all-purpose yards. He was also a force on the defensive side of the ball.

For this season, wide receiver Jaden Bray said he was really “high” on Traugh, and Rodriguez plans to use him on the outside and inside for this season.

“He’s really good,” Bray said. “He’s probably one of the best guys on his feet.”

Rodriguez said overall, Traugh is a really competitive player and has taken a big step this spring. Rodriguez thought it was cool that Traugh earned the award because he was a native of the state.

“The fact that Cyrus earned it, and he’s a West Virginia guy,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll tell him, these guys don’t know, weren’t around it, but I’ll tell them what it means to our program, because Tommy was a great teammate.”