MORGANTOWN — One of the beauties of the college game of football is that it almost becomes like watching a kitten grow into a cat, a process in which I am currently deeply involved with through my newest furry little friend “Beans.”

In the professional game they mostly get their talent at the pound, so to speak, drafting housebroken and well trained veterans of four collegiate seasons, men who may still be playing for them a decade later.

But in college it is different. They come to you all wide-eyed and in the early phases of their development, needing to be shown where the litter box is and what to do with it, clumsy in many of their movements, playful and so innocent that it is hard to blame them for the broken vase or the spot in the middle of the new, gray carpet.

Every so often, though, a freshman comes onto the scene who is more tiger than kitten, so advanced and so tough that you can feed him grown-up cat food and know that if, for whatever reason, he doesn’t feel like using his litter box, he’ll go bully his way into the neighbor’s house and use their cat’s.

Two such freshmen will make their debuts as starters for West Virginia University in Saturday’s noon game against Marshall, their first game being the last in the rivalry that was the Friends of Coal Bowl.

On the offensive side of the ball is diminutive wide receiver Jordan Thompson, a precocious clone of Tavon Austin who is certain to become an instant fan favorite, while, on the defensive side, is a cagey, hard-hitting freshman phenom named Karl Joseph.

Out of Texas, Jordan Thompson is a gregarious kid who likes to talk almost as much as he likes to play, while Karl Joseph is more freshmanish in his approach to interviews, but gets across the point that he’s ready to play some football.

“It’s not like about being a freshman, like Coach (Dana) Holgorsen said. It’s about making plays,” Joseph said.

“I think I am perfect for this type of offense. I bring speed, and I am smart as far as reading coverages. I picked up the playbook pretty quickly. I feel like I can contribute to this team, and I feel like we are going to go far this season,” he said.

Holgorsen agrees with Thompson. He says he’s ready to contribute, right now, right out of the gate.

“He adjusted to the speed of the game. That was the big thing,” Holgorsen said. “If you would have had me rank Jordan with the rest of the receivers that came in and judge them 1-5 what I thought their speed was, I probably would have been wrong. It’s how you adjust to the speed of the game, how fast you play between the whistles, and a lot of that has to deal with the cloudiness of the head.

“If they’re confused or uneasy, then their legs tend to slow down. If they have a clear mind and understand what to do and have a good sense for the game, their legs tend to move a little faster. A lot of it had to do with being here in the spring, learning things, understanding where to go and how to go there. He’s a definite starter, and Karl Joseph is a definite starter. He’s not confused, so he moves faster and had a real good camp.”

In many ways they go hand in hand. For example, check in with Austin, the most dynamic of WVU’s receivers and maybe the Big 12’s most exciting player. You ask him what allows Thompson to start right away.

“His mind frame. His mentality was not a freshman. His mentality was a senior. That’s what separates him,” Austin said.

And you ask defensive coordinator Joe DeForest allows Joseph to start right out of the gate, and he offers this:

“He is such a mature kid. He’s mature; he’s physical; he can run; he’s a smart kid; he has all the intangibles. Now, can he plug them in when the bullets start flying?”

Neither player seems to worry about the freshman jitters or being overwhelmed before 60,000 fans.

“A lot of guys come up to see if I’m nervous,” Joseph said. “They try to tell me about doing your job. It’s just football. I’ve been playing it all my life. It’s not going to get to me. The only difference is there will be 60,000 people there.”

In fact, the biggest problem Joseph seemed to have was getting a fifth ticket from a teammate, the players being allowed four and him having his mother, father and three younger brothers coming for the game.

Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @bhertzel.