For WVU DL it's next man up

One of the biggest storylines entering the start of West Virginia fall camp was the depth on the defensive line. Well less than a week into drills that has gotten even more interesting.

Redshirt junior defensive lineman Xavier Pegues will be out until at least late October after undergoing shoulder surgery in the off-season, while redshirt sophomore Jaleel Fields will miss the entirety of the year with an injury to his knee. Two options down before the pads even pop.

A tough blow for any defense, but one searching for quality depth behind a trio of senior starters well it’s how do you put it?

“It’s concerning,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

And on the surface it certainly appears to be but there are options to choose from.

Since both the injuries occurred in the off-season the coaching staff has had time to plan for how they’ll address the issue. First redshirt junior Jon Lewis made the transition back over to defensive line after previously being used on the offensive side, while true freshman Chase Behrndt was moved from offensive line to the other side of the ball during the summer.

The Mountaineers also hit the junior college ranks with a late addition to the program in defensive end Brandon Lawless to help add even more bodies into the mix.

The three starters are set in stone with Noble Nwachukwu, Darrien Howard and Christian Brown all returning for their swan songs but behind those three the situation is a lot less concrete.

Currently the second team unit consists of the aforementioned Lewis, redshirt freshman Alec Shriner and redshirt freshman Adam Shuler. That’s a lot of youth and inexperience.

But the good news for the West Virginia coaches is the fact that they have an entire fall camp ahead of them to develop more. But to begin, they’ve already got a good foundation.

“We have five guys that could play right now,” defensive line coach Bruce Tall said.

In total, West Virginia has 10 bodies on the defensive line including true freshmen Reese Donahue and Jeffery Pooler, both of which participated in spring ball after enrolling at the mid-year. Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson has already made it quite clear that Donahue will not be seeing a redshirt this fall and that was before the injuries.

“It’s next man up,” Nwachukwu said.

Obviously the health of the three starters will be paramount once the season begins but the Mountaineers also have options because the coaches don’t pencil players into certain positions. That means players learn all three spots and can move back and forth if need be. Brown is a candidate that could step inside and contribute at nose guard if some of the younger options don’t develop.

“We’ll play the best six guys. It’s not left end, right end or nose guard it’s the best six,” Tall said.

Now finding those six will be the challenge.