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WVU’s Defensive Front Expected to Stand Tall

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s 2016 opponents that are expecting the Mountaineers’ defense to be an easy target this season may be in for a big surprise when the campaign opens with Missouri coming to Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 3.

“I think with all the pieces that we have coming back, we will be a good defensive team,” redshirt senior lineman Noble Nwachukwu said prior to the Big 12’s annual Media Days. “If we keep listening to coach and getting better, we should be fine.”

And for Nwachukwu and the other players who will line up and man the trenches against the Tigers in the season opener, that primary coach is former-Michigan defensive line coach Bruce Tall.

“I feel good,” said Tall. “We’ll see. Until we can actually start doing football type drills then we’ll have a better grasp of that.”

Having Nwachukwu, who has started 26 of the 35 games in which his has appeared since arriving in Morgantown in 2012, as well as fellow seniors Christian Brown and Darren Howard will only aide in Tall’s development of a defensive front that will have its hands full going up against some of the top offenses in the country when Big 12 play rolls around.

“Like always, the key is depth,” continued Tall, who has served NFL internships with Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “We believe we are developing that, but some of it is going to be very, very young.”

That youth movement begins with redshirt sophomores Jaleel Fields and Larry Jefferson and includes redshirt freshmen Adam Shuler and Alec Shriner and true freshmen Jeffrey Pooler and Reese Donahue.

“I think some of the younger guys are stronger,” said the coach. “It’s just that they don’t have some of that natural strength that the older guys have who have been doing it for years. We have a good group of older guys who help the younger guys and bring them up to par. They’re closer than you would think strength wise (the younger guys).”

One of those is Donahue.

A two-year starter for former-Ravenswood High School standout Luke Salmons at Cabell Midland High School, the 250-pounder was the first Mountain State product to capture both the 2015 Stydarhar Award (state’s top lineman) and the 2015 Huff Award (state’s best defensive player).

“I would say that would be a good analysis,” said Tall when asked if Donahue was ahead of the curve as far as strength.

Another local product who has worked his way into the Mountaineers’ depth chart following the spring is redshirt junior D.J. Carozza, who played for Don Reeves at Parkersburg High School. Also look for redshirt junior Xavier Pegues to see plenty of action as Tall looks to utilize as many as nine or 10 linemen per game to keep them fresh when they face Big 12 offensive attacks that want to run as many as 85-90 plays per contest.

Nwachukwu and Brown are the unit’s top two performers, stat wise, returning. Nwachukwu finished with 47 total tackles (37 solo), 13 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks during WVU’s 8-5 season while Brown chipped in with 33 stops (24 solo), 4.5 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. Howard, who played in all 13 games a year ago, finished with 16 tackles (13 solo), three tackles for loss and one sack. Jefferson saw action in eight games and Fields played in four.

“What we lack in experience we will have to make up for with our effort,” said the coach. “But, right now, all of that is unknown until we see these guys in football style drills and against some competition.”

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