MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Exree Loe first committed to West Virginia in the summer of 2016, he was a 6-foot, 171-pound cornerback, and at that size, there was little chance he’d play anywhere but corner at the college level.
But Loe didn’t stay that size for long, bulking up nearly 40 pounds by the time the season began his true freshman season, which prompted a move to safety. Again, after redshirting, Loe’s growth made him more suitable at linebacker, so that’s where he’s played ever since.
With the injury to Josh Chandler and attrition at the “bandit” linebacker spot, Loe earned back-to-back starts at “Will,” at Oklahoma and at Baylor.
After finally settling into a role on defense, and weighing 210 pounds, Loe probably didn’t think he’d ever play cornerback again. But by the end of the game against the Bears, he found himself matched head-to-head with a wide receiver on the perimeter.
“It worked out in our favor with Exree being a former corner in high school and me being a corners coach by trade,” outside linebackers coach Al Pogue said. “I don’t know if other people have that luxury — coach Vic (Koenning) told him to dust off the old corner play sheet and put it to use. It’s something he hasn’t done in a while but I’m excited to see how he continues to do there.”
It wasn’t man coverage and Loe had help over the top, but his versatility is just one example of a defense full of players either playing out of their natural position or rotating in and out to keep bodies fresh. No unit has been hit harder than linebacker, and it’ll get worse this week with Quondarius Qualls out for the season.
Qualls and VanDarius Cowan were 1-2 on the depth chart when the Mountaineers took the field Oct. 12 against Iowa State. Now, both are done for the year following knee surgeries, so the juggling act commenced. Dylan Tonkery moved to bandit from “Mike” to alleviate pressure there, which caused Chandler to move to Mike from “Will.”
Chandler went down with a minor knee injury at OU, so the shuffling continued — Shea Campbell got the start at Mike against Baylor.
With all the injuries, it didn’t help that starting “Spear” JoVanni Stewart decided he was going to take a redshirt and likely transfer, so Tykee Smith moved into that spot in early October. Since, Smith moved back to “Cat,” and Kwantel Raines is getting most of the snaps at Spear.
With all the different lingo comes different responsibilities, and Koenning, in his first season as defensive coordinator with the Mountaineers, is trying to push all the right buttons.
“We kind of wait for the injury report and then go off that,” Pogue said. “It’s a great opportunity for younger guys to step up, and we are at that point where we can put them out there and see what they can do.”
In hopes of helping the suffering linebackers, the staff is bringing in a sixth defensive back while taking a linebacker off the field. It adds speed to the defensive running game and also gives the look of a deeper pass coverage.
Safety Noah Guzman, a sophomore transfer from Cerritos College (Calif.), has taken full advantage of the new defensive look as the added DB — he led the team with 12 tackles against Baylor before leaving with a concussion and ankle injury.
“The kids did a great job of executing that scheme, so it’s working for us,” Pogue said. “Those guys have total buy-in. I would imagine being a 17- or 18-year-old freshman, going against the No. 12 team in the nation … Guzman, I thought he was calm, cool and collected. Kudos to those guys.”
Heading into Saturday’s game against Texas Tech, Guzman and Chandler are questionable, so there may be even more moving around.
