West Virginia is in a better position than they were two years ago in terms of development on the defensive side of the football according to coordinator Jordan Lesley.

Some of that is because the Mountaineers are able to enjoy two full off-seasons after things were essentially canceled during the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That has allowed some of those younger players on the roster to come into their own on and off the field.

“As the development goes you have a lot more quality depth. There might be a gap in the talent but the quality of your depth is better,” Lesley said.

That is especially true for those players that arrived in the 2020 campaign and didn’t have the benefit of going through the typical off-season workout that allows players to prepare for the season.

That meant some of them were counted on earlier in games than perhaps they were ready to contribute such as defensive lineman Sean Martin and bandit Lanell Carr.

Now, in their second full spring with the strength and conditioning both were some of the standouts of the spring with how much they had impressed.

“It’s almost like you press pause and play a season,” Lesley said.

You see that with a younger team, especially considering the circumstances, but the benefit of those reps that they saw in the past should be able to work its way into production this coming year. The skill set of what the coaches were looking for was always there, but as the game has slowed down that is starting to show itself on the field in ways that excite the coaches.

“It might have been a drawback in 2021, but there is a benefit moving forward,” he said.

Overall, Lesley believes that this group is gelling unlike any that he has had during his tenure with the program. They’ve also been playing cleaner on that side of the ball as well.

The group is comprised more of what Lesley wants out of a defense with long, rangy body types up and down the roster and that was evident during the course of spring ball.

“You walk into a room with this bunch you kind of get a feel for the type of group and it shows on the field,” Lesley said.

Versatility is the key to the scheme at all three levels and Lesley believes that he has found that as well as the buy in necessary to continue to put a strong product on the field. There are still scholarships to play with as well but for now, this past spring was a springboard for a lot of reasons.

“The pieces might change but the standards don’t. You can only do what your players can do. if you lose pieces, you lose pieces and you’ve got to find new ones,” he said.

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