Darius Stills must smile when seeing Baylor on the schedule.

Over the last two years, the nose guard has recorded 14 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss as he has dominated the Bears offensive front. The senior has been a constant presence in the backfield over those two contests and generated seven pressures by himself this past Saturday.

It was yet again another dominating effort by the Fairmont product and one that effectively announces his presence to the rest of the Big 12 this season.

"Darius's best attribute is his quickness. He's got a really good feel for the movements we run. Knows to hit it front side and when to get it back side and he makes plays," head coach Neal Brown said. "When he's in a position to make plays, he makes those plays."

Coming into the game Stills had only recorded 1 tackle for loss and had yet to record a sack. But this weekend was the type of performance that many expected when Stills was tabbed as the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in the pre-season by the media.

“I try to be better every day at my craft and I went in there with the game plan the coaches put in and trusted it as a defensive line and a team and started making plays,” he said.

Those pre-season accolades were certainly earned with the way Stills finished the season, but part of his performance against Baylor came in his preparation. While he has flashed on and off in games, the West Virginia coaches have been pushing him to get better in one department.

“Where we’ve been really pushing him, Coach (Jordan) Lesley is the number one and Mike Joseph and myself, is preparation and taking care of his body and how he practices,” Brown said. “And if he’ll do that and really devote himself all week not just on Saturdays then he’ll be productive and at the end of this year he’ll get what he wants. An opportunity to play at the next level.”

For two weeks Stills has done just that and the results are now showing on the field.

“People that told me I couldn’t do it. I just like to play football. Football is my passion and when I see an opportunity I take it,” Stills said.

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