MORGANTOWN — Once upon a time, in the fantasy world that was college football and basketball in the pre-NIL and transfer portal days, schools did all they could to keep their players from transferring within the same conference.

Those days are over, and it’s no more evident than at West Virginia where their two major sports — football and basketball — are counting on key players transferring in from Oklahoma State to fill in a major void in their lineups.

The football team, looking for a veteran receiver who could be a leader in that position room and a big-play player for quarterback Garrett Greene, went out and got Jaden Bray from coach Mike Gundy’s Cowboys while the basketball team, in the midst of a complete makeover after a school record 23-loss season under interim coach Josh Eilert, looked to the well-traveled junior Javon Small as a leader in the backcourt.

There are many similarities that go beyond each being listed at 6-2 being from well known towns where college sports are king, Bray from Norman, Oklahoma and Small from South Bend, Indiana, homes to the Oklahoma Sooners and Notre Dame.

That Bray played football at Oklahoma State rather than at Oklahoma may indicate a side of him that fits with an in-conference move from Oklahoma State to West Virginia.

Both are less than outgoing, somewhat introverted and humble.

“He’s kind of quiet and just kind of puts his head down and works,” quarterback Garrett Greene said of Bray. “I’ve been really impressed with him so far and he’s going to do a lot to help us out this year.”

“The thing that really impresses me is he’s extremely humble. He’s had success at Oklahoma State and he knows he’s capable and talented enough to have a lot more success,” head coach Neal Brown said of him at the end of spring ball. “He’s worked extremely hard. He’s a natural ball-catcher and a really good football player.”

There doesn’t seem to be anything flamboyant about Small, either, who met with the WVU basketball media this past Tuesday before heading off with the team for a three-game European swing that will take them to Italy and Croatia.

Having played at three high schools and now three colleges, beginning his collegiate career at East Carolina before Oklahoma State, Small was asked his thoughts on Morgantown.

“It’s a comfortable college town to be in and stay focused,” he said.. I don’t do nothing, just play video games and go to the gym anyways.

It isn’t that Small avoids relationships. He just doesn’t push them.

“I’m trying to break out of my shell,” he said. “I was always the quiet kid, unless I know you. But now I want to go out with a bang and if I have to be vocal and step out of my comfort zone, I’m going to do that.”

He understands he has a lot of college experience now and, more importantly, he has Big 12 experience which he can share with his new teammates.

“I definitely look at myself as one of those players who has to be a leader and teach the younger players who don’t know as much as I do,” Small said.

He knows he’ll get a lot of questions about the Big 12 before the basketball team moves into the league season and he has a simple piece of advice for them.

“You can’t play scared, simple as that,” he said.

Last year he found himself being a really good player on a really bad team at Oklahoma State, averaging 15.1 points a game while shooting 44% from the floor and 37.4% from 3.

He closed out the regular season with a spectacular 34-point effort against BYU in a 70-66 loss, scoring 17 points in the last 10 minutes of the game.

And he made a strong impression in his meeting with WVU in Stillwater — although no one was left to talk about when he was looking to transfer. He scored 15 points, had 12 rebounds and 7 assists against the Mountaineers.

Like Small, Bray made an impression in the WVU game for Oklahoma State. Catching four passes for 53 yards and a touchdown.

“He scored a touchdown against us last year, so as soon as he went into the portal we felt like we needed to get him on our team,” Brown said at Big 12 Media Day two weeks ago. “Jaden is really talented. I thought he was slowed by injuries last year, but he had a couple of really big games.”

But he has impressed Brown as much with his off-the-field persona as with his one the field.

“He’s a tremendous human being, first of all,” Brown said. “He’s been a great addition to our locker room. The type of character he has, the way he was raised, those are all real positives.

But, in the end, it comes down to whether he can be the threat WVU wants as he fills a void in the receiving corps.

“He’s long. He can jump and he can run,” Brown said. “Now, for us, it’s about getting that production from a week-in, week-out perspective. I’m excited to coach him. He’s been a joy since he got here in January and I think he’s sitting on really not just one but two quality, high production years.”