West Virginia safety Jaheem Joseph didn’t start the game against Penn State but made his presence felt in the back end of the defense when he was called upon.
Joseph played 36 snaps at the cat safety position and was productive with 4 tackles. The Northwestern transfer spent most of his time at free safety in fall camp, but as part of his preparation learned both of the positions to put himself in the best possible situation.
“It’s something I did at Northwestern. I always learned both positions. That’s just how I study a playbook honestly. I feel like if you’re playing cat or playing free you’ve got to know what the other safety is doing. It helps you play faster and certain techniques you can get ahead,” he said.
Overall, the West Virginia defense was not consistent enough against Penn State but Joseph believes that at times there were spurts where they executed. But Joseph fell back on the mantra of just doing his job on defense and focusing on what he needed to do.
The focus is now on being more consistent moving forward and executing all while maintaining his confidence that he will be able to contribute wherever he is called to help.
“That’s something I take pride in is being prepared every week. Just taking it one day at a time throughout the week just have to focus on your job,” he said.
Joseph spent the spring with the West Virginia defense after playing 357 snaps for the Wildcats last season. During that campaign, the Miami native recorded 24 tackles and 3 interceptions but wanted the opportunity to do something different so he entered the transfer portal.
That led him to West Virginia which he was plenty familiar with from following the program as a youth and given the needs on the roster, the coaching staff prioritized him.
“Everything lined up perfectly how I wanted. I wanted to come to a historic known program, the culture here I wanted to buy into something that’s established already,” Joseph said. “The team we brought back a lot of the starters had a lot of production, so I wanted to have a chance to be in the playoffs and compete at a high level.”
That was affirmed when he ran out of the tunnel onto Mountaineer Field Saturday.
The move to West Virginia was an adjustment for Joseph at first but there are similarities in the scheme from what he did during his time with the Wildcats. But now Joseph is putting himself in a position to play a role for the Mountaineers in a variety of ways as the season progresses.
“I want to communicate better, take more control when I’m on the field, and make sure we’re all on the same page. That’s the main thing I want to focus on,” he said.
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