Unfinished business lures Cajuste back for senior season
At the end of last season, West Virginia left tackle Yodny Cajuste was faced with a decision that can be difficult for college football players.
The Miami native had to decide whether to return for his final season of eligibility or enter the NFL Draft. At 6-foot-5, 315 pounds, Cajuste presents the size and strength for an offensive tackle that can play at the next level and likely could’ve heard his name called on the second or third day of this year’s NFL Draft.
However, Cajuste, who earned All-Big 12 second team honors this past season, set the record straight on Dec. 21 and announced that he’d return for his senior season.
What exactly were the reasons for Cajuste deciding to return for his final season of college football?
First and foremost, West Virginia has the potential to make a run at a Big 12 Championship and more next season with a veteran group returning along with both talent and experience coming back on all three sides of the ball.
“What brought me back here was the fact that I believe we have a really good team this year. That's all it came down to,” he said.
Not only did Cajuste want to be part of that, but another season of fine tuning at left tackle and a chance to elevate his play can increase his draft stock.
“It came down to me trying to better myself and there's a lot of things I could have done better,” Cajuste said. “I could have got better in all aspects of my game and that's really what I was trying to do. Just trying to come back and work with Coach (Joe) Wickline and have him elevate my game.”
Cajuste has battled injuries over the course of his college career. He suffered a foot injury in the middle of his redshirt freshman season which sidelined him until the Cactus Bowl and a torn ACL during the team’s season-opener against Missouri in 2016. Cajuste would also miss last season’s bowl loss to Utah after injuring his hamstring during practice.
Although Cajuste’s injury history may be concerning for some NFL teams, he’s still an intriguing prospect due to his size and value in West Virginia’s offense.
According to former Mountaineer football player and IMG’s Dale Wolfley, Cajuste racked up a 96 percent blocking efficiency rating protecting quarterback Will Grier last season, but that rating could be even higher according to Cajuste himself.
His role as a senior leader for this upcoming season with the offensive line and entire team could help raise his stock as well.
“With continued development, Yodny will be one of the top offensive linemen in college football next season,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said in a press release on Dec. 21. “With Yodny anchoring the offensive line, it gives us a veteran group that has played a lot of snaps. He certainly has the talent to be one of our leaders next season.”
Other than staying healthy, there are some that may think Cajuste doesn’t have a whole lot to improve on, but that’s not exactly the case if you ask him.
“I had to get stronger, quicker and studying the defensive line and what they do. I wouldn’t say it was hard, but there is a lot more to it than people see,” Cajuste said. “My mentality is whatever I'm going to do I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities. I believed it but not to this extent -- on transforming from a basketball player to a tackle.”
Cajuste, who graduated with a degree in multidisciplinary studies and is currently pursuing a second degree in communications, will anchor this year’s offensive line with fellow tackle Colton McKivitz and looks to help shake off the unit’s struggles from last season which included establishing a consistent run game.
“We just need to focus on what we messed up a lot last season and try to fix those things, like slight protection things, points and getting more athletic and stronger to be able to block our defenders better,” he said during the spring. “I’m just trying to get everybody on the same page and get them to try to believe that we could be really good this year. It starts with us, the offensive line.”
With the team’s opener against Tennessee less than three months away, Cajuste has already gained some preseason recognition and is being looked upon as one of the best offensive tackles in the country, earning preseason fourth-team All-American honors from Athlon Sports and a spot on the Preseason All-Big 12 team, but he isn’t going to get caught up in the preseason hype.
“Honestly, I don’t really look at preseason because preseason don’t mean anything,” Cajuste said. “I care about the postseason, but honestly, I’m just grinding right now just trying to prepare for Sept. 1.”
