Stills and Thornton together on the West Virginia defense.
No, I’m not taking you back to the late nineties, instead what the future could hold.
But before we get to the future, you have to understand the past.
If you’re having flashbacks, it’s not hard to blame you with those two names sandwiched together.
John Thornton played at West Virginia from 1995-98, enrolling as a tight end before moving to the defensive line where he blossomed. There he would serve as one of the anchors up front at nose guard and defensive tackle on some of the better defenses in recent memory in Morgantown.
“I remember having the pride of playing there. Everybody that went there loved Morgantown,” Thornton, who is now an NFL agent, said. “Even driving there now I still get that special feeling.”
Gary Stills, played from 1996-98 for the Mountaineers, and while Thornton handled the interior of the defensive line he served as a pass rushing specialist off the edge on those vaunted units displaying one of the quickest first steps in program history tallying 26 sacks in his three years.
“Our attitude was the same. We talked ball and made big plays so we had the same mentality,” Stills said of Thornton. “We played differently because he was inside and I was outside but we were big playmakers. And we were both laid back.”
The two played in countless big games and both had careers in the NFL with John being drafted in the second round of the 1999 Draft by Tennessee and playing six seasons for Cincinnati while Stills was a third round pick the same year by Kansas City before stops in Baltimore and St. Louis.
But the two now have something else in common as well. Their sons are set to play on the same teams in Morgantown, too.
The next generation in the sons of both Gary and John will be following in their fathers’ footsteps and spend their college careers in Morgantown. Darius, the eldest son of Gary, just completed his freshman season at West Virginia while his younger brother Dante is set to enroll this summer after signing his letter of intent during the early period in December.
But it wasn't always a sure thing.
The Stills brothers are from Fairmont, 20-minutes down the road from Morgantown, and while Darius was already in the program their father Gary had to see what Dante would do. One of the nation’s elite defensive tackles, Dante narrowed his list of close to thirty scholarship offers down to three schools.
West Virginia, Florida and Oklahoma and while Gary had an idea of where Dante might choose he made him keep his decision to himself until he announced it this past August at his high school.
That’s why his reaction, where an overly excited elder Stills fist pumps to the filled Fairmont Senior auditorium before embracing his son seemed so genuine.
Because it was. He would have both of his sons at the same college.
“He was with me for the summer so I was coaching him and influencing him. It was genuine because he made the decision I wanted him to make. It was his decision but when he said West Virginia I thought I’ve got to buy me a house in Morgantown,” Stills said.
It made too much sense for things not to come together given the proximity to the school and how both had proven at the high school level that they were destined to play college football. It just so happened to be at the place where he spent his college career as well.
It’s not surprising given the fact that both brothers grew up around the program but it is a relief for Stills that they will be at the same school.
“It means a lot. As a dad especially when your sons follow your footsteps but of course in a different pair of shoes. I didn’t really think it would turn out like this,” Stills said. “It’s not so much about my legacy, it’s about them. They’re at the place they want to be, need to be and it just so happened to be where I went. But it had to end up that way. They’re West Virginia bred, they’re West Virginia boys.”
The third member of the band is Jalen, the son of John, who committed to the Mountaineers Friday making an extended reunion of the once-havoc causing front a real possibility in the future. Growing up in Cincinnati, he also was born and raised a fan of the West Virginia football program and there isn’t a Saturday in the Thornton home that the Mountaineers games aren’t on the television.
Like the Stills, from early on it seemed as if Thornton was always going to be connected to Morgantown.
“Jalen wouldn’t have been born. I met his mom there she carried him for five months there while she finished school. It was always a special place,” John said.
But it certainly didn’t appear, at least at first, that West Virginia would be where he spent his college career and John and Jalen weren’t sure if he would even get an offer or if the pressure of following in his footsteps would be fair to him.
The younger Thornton didn’t start playing football until his seventh grade season and initially was a running back and middle linebacker. From there he moved onto J.V. and earned MVP on his team before moving to the defensive line his sophomore year at Indian Hill.
Like his father before him, Thornton plays at a small high school and started to catch the attention of college coaches once he started making the rounds at college camps this past summer. That’s when West Virginia extended a scholarship offer but at first, John wasn’t sure what would happen.
Having gone through the recruiting process himself, albeit a much different one than what unfolds today, Thornton never steered his son in any direction instead offering advice on the ups and downs of the process. And while other schools expressed interest, West Virginia was the most constant in their pursuit of the 2019 defensive line prospect.
“He’s a much better high school player than I was defensively,” Thornton said. “West Virginia showed the most interest. Every day you go to the mail box and there is a hand-written letter and blue gold mail. And that means something. I didn’t just want it to be me telling him to go there.”
For the longest time, Thornton expected that his son would end up at Cincinnati given the fact it was the local school and he established an excellent bond with those coaches as well but as the process continued he realized that West Virginia had everything he wanted in a school.
So instead of dragging it out, Thornton made the call with almost a year remaining before he will sign his letter of intent. For his father, it made him proud because even with schools like Ohio State and Michigan State stopping by in the past week he had made up his mind and didn’t want to continue to play the games that often accompany the recruiting process.
“It made me happy because it wasn’t just because of me. He knew that I would be happy about it,” he said. “He thought it was a bad thing at first, but I said you know you can go be way better than I was.”
“He’ll have the family name but he’ll be his own person. I think he’s a way better player than I was,” Thornton added on his son.
That brings us to today. With Thornton now committed for the 2019 recruiting class, West Virginia will have the opportunity to have a reunion of sorts on the football field. One that provides a unique opportunity for fathers and sons and teammates, old and new, to bond over shared experiences.
“It says we’re getting old. But it’s something they grew up on. Once you step back and look at it, very few guys get to have kids that play ball like this at a high level and then go to their schools,” Thornton said.
Stills couldn’t help but smile when he heard the news that the younger Thornton was joining his boys in Morgantown for his playing career.
“I was excited. Now I’m going to see John Thornton a lot more at the games. I had a feeling his son was going to commit, I had a feeling my sons were going to commit so it’s like good job boys,” Stills said. “You made a good decision. Now me and John are just going to sit back and see how old we are.”
The moment isn’t lost on the younger generation either. Dante admitted that he grew up watching highlights of his father and Thornton playing on the same defense and is excited to build that same bond with his future teammate Jalen.
“It was special watching some film of them play together. They handled their business on the field,” he said. “Starting new bonds and relationships with players bring teams together.”
The same can be said for the younger Thornton.
“I do know our dads played together. It’s pretty cool that we’ll play together too. Now it’s our job to go put in the work and continue the legacy,” he said.
As for their dads?
“I’m sure I’ll be there a lot more now,” Thornton said.
