MORGANTOWN — There isn’t a day that goes by where WVU defensive lineman Jalen Thornton doesn’t give thanks he eventually got an offer out of high school from the Mountaineers.
“The ups, the downs, the bonds with my teammates, the coaches and getting to know the people here. It’s a great state. It’s been everything and more,” the redshirt sophomore said.
WVU football, and even the state of West Virginia, is in Thornton’s veins. His father, John, was an all-conference and All-American defensive lineman for the Mountaineers in the mid-1990s under coach Don Nehlen. His mother, Allison, is also a WVU alum.
Though he grew up in Cincinnati — the last stop on his dad’s 10-year NFL career with the Bengals — as soon as Thornton got an offer from WVU, there was “no doubt” he was going to accept, regardless of what else may have come along down the line.
Thornton joined the likes of Darius and Dante Stills as legacy players for the Mountaineers, and like the Stills brothers, Thornton didn’t worry about trying to live up to his dad’s legacy.
And Thornton admitted even his dad, known for his even-keeled mannerisms, never tried to put pressure on him.
“The burden is the one I put on myself,” Thornton said. “Just being really hard on myself to make plays and help this team win. My dad has never been that hard on me. He’s not that dad that is like, ‘You gotta do this, you gotta do that, go to this school, this camp.’
“It was just play hard and enjoy the game.”
It was his mother, however, that gave Thornton the extra boost when he was younger, and may have questioned if football was something he wanted to pursue.
“She’s probably the reason I kept going with this,” he said. “When I first started playing football, I didn’t know if it was going to be right for me or if I was going to make it, but there was never a doubt in her mind. She always instilled the confidence in me that I can do anything I wanted to do. She is my No. 1 supporter.”
Thornton, at 6-foot-2 and 273 pounds, redshirted in 2019 and played in 10 games last year, mainly on special teams. In August, head coach Neal Brown had big plans for Thornton and expected to be a pivotal part of the defensive line rotation.
At the beginning of the season, it appeared he was on his way to being a mainstay on defense, but the line has easily been the deepest position on that side of the ball this season.
Thornton has played in all 11 games so far, but only has two tackles to show for it — one in the opener at Maryland and the second a week later against Long Island.
Though the defensive snaps haven’t come as often as he thought, Thornton is happy with how he’s progressed.
“There are some things I could definitely get better at — in the weight room, on the field, knowing what to do when I get in, personnel checks,” he said. “So, I’ve made strides, but I still have a way to go. I am positive I’ll get there. I’m confident I’ll get there. The biggest thing for me is just being confident in my abilities. Knowing that when my number is called I’ll be ready to make a play.”
Thornton wants to get stronger in the weight room to help his chances of even getting in at nose tackle if needed, an attempt to become more versatile to see the field more.
But even if the snaps aren’t coming just yet, he’s still proud to wear a WVU uniform, even though he isn’t a state native.
“We’ve got a lot of guys from West Virginia and I’ve come into great ties with this state,” Thornton said. “I’m not from this state, but I’ve been here a while. I see the pride people carry in wearing the Flying WV and I am proud I get to wear it, too.”
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