West Virginia sophomore defensive back Aden Tagaloa-Nelson will be rejoining the men’s basketball team now that the football season is officially over, according to head basketball coach Darian DeVries.

Tagaloa-Nelson joined the team last year, helping WVU have more bodies in practice with a depleted roster under interim head coach Josh Eilert.

“I met Aden probably over a year ago,” Eilert told reporters. “I was out on the recruiting trail out in Kentucky, and I met him. I saw him play for the first time when I was scouting someone else, and they introduced me to him because he was committed to West Virginia to play football. He’s a good basketball player. He was a tough-minded, strong guard, and he competed. He was such a nice young man, and I carried on that relationship with him, and I told him when you get to Morgantown, come by the office, and if you need anything, let me know, happy to help in any way. And he took me up on that. He showed up in the fall and introduced himself to the staff. I told him if you want to get a run in, come by and jump in open gym with our guys. So he took a couple opportunities to play with our guys. He’ll text me from time to time throughout the season and stayed in touch, and when football was over, he hit me up and said can I take you up on that offer and join the team? I said sure, I would love to have you. We’re really happy to have Aden in whatever capacity that may be.”

Tagaloa-Nelson did make two appearances last season, playing a total of six minutes against Cincinnati and Texas, but did not record any stats.

On the football side, he appeared in five games this season, making three tackles, being primarily used on the special teams unit.

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