West Virginia defense must be more cognizant with depth

There aren’t many complaints that can be had about the West Virginia defense over the past two weeks.

The unit created two goal line stands to preserve the win over Virginia Tech and then held Oklahoma to its lowest point total with 16 since Lincoln Riley arrived in Norman. That side of the ball has started to come together and playing some high-level football after a shaky opener against Maryland.

But there is one department that must improve if this group wants to take that next step and coordinator Jordan Lesley understands exactly what must change.

“We have to get a little more out of our depth,” he said.

The Mountaineers only played a total of 17 players against Oklahoma and that was especially evident up front with starters Akheem Mesidor (57 snaps), Dante Stills (53 snaps) and Taijh Alston (47 snaps) playing almost all of the 65 total snaps in the contest. The same can be said out of other areas on the unit as well with the only real rotations coming at WILL and bandit linebacker where the two positions have been playing themselves into a timeshare the past couple weeks.

Head coach Neal Brown cited the fact that the defense was noticeably tired late in the contest when the Sooners strung together two productive drives to ultimately win the game. The way to address that is simple, it comes down to trust and Lesley making the decision to insert backups into the contest.

Easier said than done, especially against an offense as potentially potent as Oklahoma which can score anywhere on the field but the only way to develop depth is to trust it.

That isn’t lost on the coordinator.

“In the middle of ball games, you have to make yourself and be made to rely on your backups in some areas or situations on the field that you think we can give a little here and be O.K.,” Lesley said.

Fighting the urge to ride the proven stars is a difficult balance for a coordinator who’s unit has proven that it is playing at a high level but it’s necessary to preserve players for late in games. It also isn’t as easy as simply injecting players into the lineup at times because each player brings a different skill set.

There also has to be a trust that you’re putting players in situations that they know what to do and can actually do what is being asked of them on any given snap.

“Put them in situations to be successful. If you’re not, it’s bad coaching,” Lesley said.

Some guys that stand out as possible help up front are Jordan Jefferson and Sean Martin, who have played well in their opportunities as well as others like Darel Middleton, Jalen Thornton and Taurus Simmons. But part of bringing some of those guys along is figuring out some ways to take advantage of what they bring to the table even if it’s out of the traditional framework of the scheme.

That’s going to be especially important in the second and third quarters of games to preserve those starters and keep them fresh when they are needed to close games late.

It’s a primary concern moving forward for Lesley and one that he plans to remain diligent. If that can occur and the development continues across the board, a good defense can get even better.

“You’ve got to pay attention, even when things are moving fast and situations get tight,” he said. “You have to pay attention. We have to do a better job with it.”

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