{"id":22370,"date":"2019-07-31T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=22370"},"modified":"2019-09-24T16:33:25","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T20:33:25","slug":"mountaineers-defensive-wishlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2019\/07\/31\/mountaineers-defensive-wishlist\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountaineers’ Defensive Wishlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fall camp will soon be under way. Fan day occurs soon, on August 3. With the beginning of the season just around the corner, we have started our 2019 season coverage in earnest. The athletic department and the staff have been managing expectations<\/a>, but the Mountaineers are moving forward<\/a> regardless. As we previously wrote, there are reasons for optimism. But a lot needs to happen for the Mountaineers to exceed preseason predictions.\u00a0We gave you our Mountaineer wishlist on the offensive side<\/a> of the ball. Now, we give you our Mountaineers\u2019 defensive wishlist.<\/p>\n

Defensive Line<\/h2>\n

Over the last several years, the Mountaineers\u2019 base defense featured the 3-3-5 stack.\u00a0 Former defensive coordinator, Tony Gibson<\/strong>, employed the defense to counteract the high-powered passing offenses in the Big XII.\u00a0Unfortunately, he had limited success.\u00a0Last season, in fact, the Mountaineers dropped all 11 players into coverage against Kansas and still surrendered a first down. They could not stop Oklahoma on a critical fourth-down conversion late in the game either.<\/p>\n

A lot of this can be blamed on the lack of substantial pressure upfront. West Virginia\u2019s defense produced only 27 sacks over the course of the season, good for sixth in the Big XII. The Mountaineers also finished eighth in opposing completion percentage, sixth in passing yards surrendered, and fifth in points surrendered per game. Less than ten of those sacks came from the Mountaineers\u2019 front three. But among them, Dante Stills<\/strong>, who played less than 200 total snaps, brought the most pressure, tallying three sacks and six-and-a-half tackles for loss. Both numbers exceeded any other Mountaineer lineman.<\/p>\n

This season, Vic Koenning<\/strong><\/a> replaces Gibson as defensive coordinator. He looks to install a four-man front, and Koenning will rely heavily on Stills to anchor that line. Given his outstanding production in limited time, Stills offers Koenning an aggressive body upfront that should change the dynamic of the defense substantially. There\u2019s a reason we named the rising sophomore as an honorable mention in the Big XII\u2019s best returning defensive linemen list<\/a>. And for that same reason, he tops the Mountaineers\u2019 defensive wishlist.<\/p>\n

Linebacker<\/h2>\n

The linebacker position features perhaps the most substantial role changes in Koenning\u2019s 4-2-5 defense. Technically, the defense features only two linebackers. The set employs a \u201cbandit\u201d on the edge, but the position is often played by an athletic hybrid linebacker who can rush the edges or drop back into coverage when needed. Koenning initially questioned the work ethic of four-star Alabama transfer VanDarius Cowan<\/strong><\/a> during the spring, and Cowan appears to have received the message. After all, the Mountaineers list Cowan as their starting bandit linebacker to start the season.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, West Virginia lost its most prolific linebacker, junior David Long<\/strong><\/a>, to the NFL draft. And the Mountaineers also lost four-star Brendan Ferns<\/strong><\/a>, who has decided to end his football career after suffering back-to-back injuries and seeing limited snaps as a result.\u00a0 So the Mountaineers will need to rely heavily on the 6\u20194, 235-pound sophomore Cowan, who received an honorable mention on our best Big XII returning linebackers list<\/a>, offers the unique combination of strength, size, and speed to fill the bandit role perfectly. As a result, he also factors heavily into the Mountaineers\u2019 defensive wishlist.<\/p>\n

Cornerback<\/h2>\n

Next, we focus on cornerback. The Mountaineers return their top three cornerbacks from last season, though Joshua Norwood<\/strong><\/a> is set to move over to safety to help offset losses in the safety room in the offseason. The starting positions are well set.\u00a0Keith Washington<\/strong><\/a> was the lone Mountaineer defender to make our best returning Big XII cornerbacks<\/a>.\u00a0 Hakeem Bailey<\/strong><\/a> will play opposite Washington. But the Mountaineers could definitely use a third cornerback to step up and take minutes from the others.<\/p>\n

Dreshun Miller<\/strong>, who spurned LSU at the last minute<\/a> to sign with the Mountaineers, offers that potential.\u00a0Miller earned offers from LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M as a top ten Junior College recruit. At Eastern Arizona, Miller earned high praise for his skills in coverage. Miller is not afraid of contact, a quality on which the new coaching staff places heavy emphasis. He flashed a skill set similar to that of former Junior College transfer Rasul Douglas<\/strong><\/a>, and, if Miller can develop in this defense quickly, the secondary might turn into a surprising bright spot for the Mountaineers\u2019 defense in 2019.<\/p>\n

Safety<\/h2>\n

No doubt that the Mountaineers lost a lot of production from the safety spot after seeing both Derrek Pitts<\/strong><\/a> and All Big-XII safety Kenny Robinson<\/strong><\/a> leave the team after the Spring Game.\u00a0The moves prompted substantial negative fan reaction and caused us to remind fans that transfers happen. We reiterate that the sky is not falling in Morgantown<\/a> as a result, even with the modest expectation for this team in 2019. It will be hard to cover for the losses of Pitts and Robinson, but the Mountaineers will likely feature JoVanni Stewart, Josh Norwood, and Jacob Long as its starters at safety to begin the season.<\/p>\n

But this group may change over the course of the season. The Mountaineers added two four-star safeties, Tykee Smith<\/strong> and Osita Smith<\/strong><\/a>, in its 2019 recruiting class<\/a>. Osita Smith has not yet enrolled, but he is expected to enroll in August once he passed through the NCAA clearinghouse. West Virginia also added four-star safety Kwantel Raines<\/strong><\/a> in its 2018 recruiting class. The 6\u20192, 212-pound safety was the top safety from Pennsylvania in 2018.\u00a0 Raines\u2019 development into a key contributor in this defense would certainly help the Mountaineers adjust to its losses at the position.<\/p>\n

Mountaineers\u2019 Defensive Wishlist<\/h2>\n

If the Mountaineers can add production from each of these players this season, they could exceed the modest expectations set for them. Even if they do not, production from these players certainly would help West Virginia establish a strong foundation for the future. This completes our Mountaineers\u2019 defensive wishlist.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit:<\/p>\n

\"\"
File Photo: Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Skylar Thompson (10) is brought down hard by West Virginia Mountaineers safety Josh Norwood (4) and West Virginia Mountaineers defensive lineman Ezekiel Rose (5).(Photo by Mark Alberti\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fall camp will soon be under way. Fan day occurs soon, on August 3. With the beginning of the season just around the corner, we have started our 2019 season coverage in earnest. The athletic department and the staff have been managing expectations, but the Mountaineers are moving forward regardless. As we previously wrote, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2744,"featured_media":22409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[3393,4232,4952,3391,3765,4953,3655,4951,4312,4491,237],"class_list":["post-22370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big12","category-featured","tag-dante-stills","tag-dreshun-miller","tag-hakeem-bailey","tag-joshua-norwood","tag-keith-washington","tag-kwantel-raines","tag-osita-smith","tag-tykes-smith","tag-vandarius-cowan","tag-vic-koenning","tag-west-virginia-mountaineers"],"modified_by":"Lauren Beasley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}