MORGANTOWN — After losing all three starters from last season, including first-team all-conference selection Dante Stills, the expectations for West Virginia’s defensive line heading into 2023 weren’t very high. At least, outside of the program.
Stills went to the NFL, selected in the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals, oft-injured Taijh Alston went to play for Deion Sanders at Colorado and Jordan Jefferson chose to use his final season of eligibility at LSU. That left junior Sean Martin as the Mountaineers’ only defensive lineman with starting experience.
Instead of using the transfer portal to overhaul the position, like has become common practice across the country, head coach Neal Brown and defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley trusted the players they had to step into bigger roles and instead used the portal to add complimentary pieces they thought would fit well into their defensive scheme.
The result has been a defensive line that is by far the Mountaineers’ best unit on defense and may very well end up being one of the best in the Big 12.
“I felt like the defensive line played well through fall camp,” Brown said. “We went through fall camp and we knew we were pretty good on the offensive line. A year ago, it was really one-sided, our offensive line won almost every day. In this fall camp, it wasn’t like that. Not that this offensive line didn’t still win a majority of the time, but it wasn’t one-sided at all.”
Martin has remained a starter, becoming the group’s not-so-vocal leader, and he has been joined in the starting lineup by Mike Lockhart and Eddie Vesterinen, both backups last season.
Through three games, WVU ranked fourth in the Big 12 in both rushing yards allowed per game (93.0) and yards allowed per carry (2.8).
“It’s how they play I’m way more proud of than the statistics,” Lesley said. “They’re playing hard, they’re playing with a lot of energy and they’re playing together.”
Martin and Vesterinen have been more than solid on the ends while Lockhart has been a stud in the middle, registering a team-high three tackles for loss.
The real story up front, however, has been WVU’s rotational pieces. They are all players who had very little experience before this year and are now producing the Mountaineers with premium snaps up front.
Fatorma Mulbah saw very few snaps in three seasons at Penn State before transferring this offseason and is now second on the team with two tackles for loss. Tomiwa Durojaiye played even less in his first season at Kentucky and now leads the Mountaineers with 2.5 sacks. Davoan Hawkins played at FCS Tennessee State the last three seasons and has a tackle for loss and a pass deflection this year.
“I think we’ve done a very nice job of evaluating exactly what we need and making the scheme fit those guys,” Lesley said. “When you go out and create (evaluations) based on need and fit, you can find some really, really good players that create a quality room and quality depth and I think that’s what you’re seeing.”
Evaluating players is difficult, especially when you’re looking at guys at other schools who barely saw the field.
“You just trust your evaluation,” Lesley said. “There are certain things, athletically, that you look for…You see things that you know can carry over athletically into the game of football. Nobody is ever going to be 100%, but if you trust it, believe in what you see and stick with it, you’re going to be right more than you’re wrong.”
Other in-house guys Asani Redwood, Hammond Russell and Jalen Thornton played less than 100 combined snaps last year and yet have become key rotation pieces in 2023. Lesley said that’s a credit to defensive line coach Andrew Jackson, who is in his third year at WVU.
“AJ’s fundamentally probably the best I’ve ever been around,” Lesley said. “You get into a tenure somewhere and it takes time to get your guys and your attitude and your approach to take over. It takes time to do that and I think that’s what you’re seeing.”
Building a room full of backups and depth players certainly doesn’t build a lot of preseason hype, but the only thing that matters is how they play on Saturdays. And so far, that group of previous unknowns has been exactly what WVU’s defense has needed.
“It always starts there,” Lesley said. “I think you’re only as good as you are upfront.”
Their test this week will be a Texas Tech team that features the Big 12’s fifth-leading rusher in Tahj Brooks (3:30 p.m./ESPN+). The senior has 268 rushing yards and is averaging 7.2 yards per carry. He ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-7 win over WVU last season.
