Darius Stills is getting to get used to hearing his name this off-season, whether he likes it or not.

The senior defensive lineman has been a regular on college football pre-season award lists and was even tabbed as the Big 12 Conference pre-season defensive player of the year. It’s a far cry from when he was an overlooked high school prospect with offers from only West Virginia and Rutgers.

Stills has always been driven and played with a chip on his shoulder as he was often overlooked. It should come as no surprise that he is approaching his newfound attention in the same manner.

The focus for the Fairmont native is on what’s going on inside the building.

“All the stuff you’ve accomplished can be taken away from you just like that. So being humble is one of my things I really focus on because no one really likes a guy that is cocky about stuff he’s accomplished,” Stills said. “I still got to go out there. These preseason awards mean a lot but I still have to go get those.”

Coming off one of the most productive seasons in the Big 12 on the defensive front, Stills finished with 7 tackles and 14.5 tackles for loss while flourishing in the new defensive scheme. While that would be enough for some, Stills didn’t rest on his laurels and used this off-season to get better despite the challenges that were in his way with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I did all my training whenever we were in quarantine and I handled myself properly,” he said. “So I came back ready to go. I just came back ready and I feel really good.”

Stills has emerged as a leader for this West Virginia team and with that he understands comes the responsibility of informing and instructing his teammates. That has been on display with how Stills has handled the precautions and safety measures that come with the pandemic.

There is an obvious draw for college age students to do things outside of football, but that just can’t happen this year if the Mountaineers want to play football.

“Keep in mind that you’re not really just affecting you, you’re affecting your whole team,” he said.

On the field, Stills is more comfortable than he was a year ago and can now put his focus on not only performing the tasks on the field but the mental side of things. That allows him to put more energy into getting off blocks, hand placement and being in the correct gap.

“Applying your mental skills to it makes you a better football player in general,” he said.

Stills also has been cross training at the three-technique in practices leading up to the season opener against Eastern Kentucky which isn’t a major change from his job at nose, but is still a change-up. Overall, it will afford more opportunities for all of the defensive front to move around if an injury occurs without missing a beat.

The more flexibility up front, the better.

There’s been a lot of reasons for distractions, but Stills is focused on the task at hand.

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