The feeling was all too familiar for Keith Washington Jr.
After playing on special teams with just a handful of snaps on defense in his freshman season at Michigan, Washington transferred to a junior college before redirecting his path to West Virginia. But his hopes of more playing time didn’t pan out in his Mountaineers debut.
Washington played a grand total of zero snaps at cornerback in the season opener, only getting on the field as a special-teamer. It was Michigan all over again.
Instead of sulking, he worked to get himself noticed.
“Keith didn’t like his role,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “So he changed it.”
Linebacker David Long said Washington did an exemplary job of handling his frustration.
“Every day, go out there and work no matter the circumstances,” Long said. “He didn’t play against Tennessee, but he went on to make plays when he got his call.”
Washington finally got some defensive snaps against Youngstown State and responded with three tackles. Against Kansas State, he had three more, including one for loss. By the time Texas Tech rolled around, there was no use keeping him off the field. Washington was named a starter.
That faith was rewarded. Washington finished the game with seven tackles, three pass breakups and, of course, the game-changing moment. His 51-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:58 remaining clinched the Mountaineers’ 42-34 win.
“He just put his head down and played hard,” Holgorsen said. “There are guys that perform on game day better than they practice, there are guys that don’t. He’s one that performs better on game days than, from what we saw, in camp. Now why? I don’t know.”
Holgorsen theorizes that Washington may have been a step behind after missing most of the spring with an injury. There’s also the very natural possibility that playing in front of 60,000 people amps him up at a much higher level than practicing in front of the coaching staff.
“You get into games, and you really find out who guys are,” Holgorsen said. “And when we got into games, he was on a bunch of special teams making plays left and right. Now, he’s a starting corner.”
Seeing Washington in action on special teams alleviated fears defensive coordinator Tony Gibson had about the corner’s physicality.
“The biggest concern I had with Keith when he came in is that he was maybe too light and couldn’t play as physical as we wanted him to,” Gibson said. “He’s proven me wrong on that.”
Safety Kenny Robinson, who grabbed two interceptions against Texas Tech, sees a different player between the Washington of camp and the one who delivered in Lubbock.
“We always knew Keith had some athletic ability because he’s real twitchy and fast, but he didn’t seem very comfortable,” Robinson said. “I feel like he didn’t really get the concepts.
“But last week he played amazing. Outstanding. Lights out.”
Washington’s rise serves the Mountaineers particularly well this week. Fellow starter Josh Norwood must sit out the first half against Kansas due to a targeting penalty against Texas Tech. Now there seems little question West Virginia has the depth to deal with it.
From Holgorsen’s perspective, there’s an even more important element to Washington’s ascent. Now he serves as a symbol to the other Mountaineers second-teamers.
“I use his example a lot when I talk to the team as far as knowing what your role is and understanding what your role is and accepting what your role is or doing something to change what your role is,” Holgorsen said. “Individual players, they have way more to do with that than we do as coaches.
“I’m really proud of Keith, he’s a great teammate, great kid. He just put his head down and played, and it didn’t take us long to figure out that that’s one of our better players.”
Follow Alex Hickey on twitter: @bigahickey
