Center Zach Frazier and middle linebacker Lee Kpogba are the team's two most prominent leaders in the trenches on both sides of the ball and the early success that WVU has benefited from this season has provided them with all kinds of motivation.
West Virginia has won three straight games for the first time under head coach Neal Brown, and Frazier and Kpogba have had a huge part in that success. Frazier is of course an All-American interior lineman who dominates his matchups week in and week out, and Kpogba has 29 solo tackles in four games.
"I feel like we’re growing up. We worked really hard this off-season and focused on fundamentals and getting back to us. Trying to perfect the basic things," Kpogba said.
The wins that have come early in the season have fed into the defense's mentality according to Kpogba, and it's been a recipe for success.
"I would just say a lot of things as far as communication between the backend and up front. I’d say we’re tackling better than last year. We are playing harder and we are more hungry this year considering we didn’t get the results we wanted last year," Kpogba said.
There's motivation for both of these West Virginia stars to prove people wrong and the senior linebacker knows the defense has a chip on its shoulder after West Virginia was picked dead last, 14th, in the preseason Big 12 Conference polls.
"We’re fueled just off being picked 14th in the conference. There’s no bigger underdog than that. We got that chip on our shoulder everytime we got on that field. We’re not forgetting where they picked us.," Kpogba said.
For offensive lineman Zach Frazier, he is anything but an underdog story but he has thrived off of being understated and underrated.
"I'd rather them pick us as underdogs. I think we should keep that going and just use that as motivation. I personally like it," Frazier said.
Frazier is a future NFL first-half of the draft selection but he knows there's still plenty to work on in the 2023 season. After only averaging 233 yards and 9.5 points over the last two contests, there is room for growth in WVU's offense, especially if an injury to starting junior quarterback Garrett Greene continues to put freshman Nicco Marchiol under center as he continues to gain experience.
"I think so far we're playing up to our standards but we can never be complacent. We’re always trying to get better and focus on the things that could have made a difference in the game. We’re still very hard on ourselves," Frazier said.
Just like Kpogba on the defensive side of the ball, Frazier takes that motivation into the offensive front and it means so much to him to be winning early in this season, but he also recognizes the chance they have to continue to prove people wrong.
"That's a huge motivation. I view it as a good thing, I always love when somebody tells me I can't do something. It always makes me want to prove them wrong. Picking us 14th, that’s the biggest amount of motivation you can get," Frazier said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @zachanderson_11
