Sometimes there’s no greater attribute than experience and sometimes it doesn’t matter the college level that is incurred at.

That was certainly the logic when West Virginia elected to add Maine linebacker transfer Deshawn Stevens to the roster prior to the start of fall camp.

Stevens, 6-foot-2, 255-pounds, appeared across 29 games with his best season coming in 2018 where he was a second-team All-CAA selection racking up 120 tackles, 9.0 sacks and 17.0 tackles for loss.

He only was able to play five snaps the following season due to an injury, but rebounded in last year’s shortened campaign to compile 36 tackles in only 4 games.

The Mountaineers are slotting the Canadian native as a MIKE linebacker in fall camp and he certainly hasn’t disappointed to date. He physically stands out given his seasoning at the FCS level and 056has performed well in a limited showing on the field.

“The stats speak for themselves. He is more of a box backer or B-Gap to B-Gap guy. He did a nice job in practices; he has a knack to blitz whether it’s inside or outside,” coordinator Jordan Lesley said.

Stevens is long and athletic at the linebacker spot and while he physically can handle the inside spots, also brings some valuable versatility given what he has done during his time at Maine. That was evident with his high sack and tackles for loss totals.

"Different body type than we've had in the room, bigger kid but has played in the box and like where he's coming," inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz said. "If he does make a mistake, usually it's fixed the very next day and understand where we want to go."

The coaching staff heavily vetted Stevens prior to adding him to the roster and believed that he was the type of player that could slide in and contribute immediately at several different spots. While he is more of a box linebacker, Lesley isn’t ruling out using him bandit or pass rusher in some looks.

“And when you watch what we do defensively that’s obviously a benefit,” he said.

West Virginia needed to get more experience and skill at the linebacker spots and Stevens could be able to at least supply that in some fashion this coming fall.

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