West Virginia already has the challenge of preparing for a very unique offensive attack with what Army does with the option. And they’ll have to do it without their leading tackler.

Senior linebacker Tony Fields won’t be playing against the Black Knights after electing to opt out in order to prepare for the NFL Draft. That vacates the MIKE position in the defense, one that produced 88 tackles, a sack and an interception over the course of nine games.

“We lost a guy in Tony Fields that was a great player for us this year. Really came in here and really played at a high level,” head coach Neal Brown said.

That’s a tall task to face against any opponent, but especially one like Army that puts pressure on linebackers with their option run game. The challenge for the Mountaineers will be to leverage the ball and maintain pursuit angles. The goal is to play aggressive but under control at the same time and remain disciplined against the many options that the option can present.

It’s something that even with a scout team can’t really be simulated like it will be seen in a game but the Mountaineers are doing the best they can to prepare for it.

“The mistake people make sometimes is you go away from what your base defensive philosophies are, and we won’t make that mistake. We’re going to run the base schemes that we’ve ran all year,” head coach Neal Brown said.

Filling in for West Virginia in the middle for Fields will be a combination of players. Senior Dylan Tonkery, who has played 227 snaps spread out across multiple positions, will be one of those stepping in there.

“We’re looking forward to his last game and I know he’ll give his best effort,” Brown said.

The second option is the starting WILL linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo who has filled in at times at the MIKE spot. Those two won’t replace Fields and what he was able to do on the field, but it does give the Mountaineers an adequate one-two punch to combat what Army does.

“He’s a guy that’s done that and spelled Tony throughout the year. Really confident in that spot,” he said.

This year has been all about adjustments at essentially every level of football and it’s only fitting that one more is going to be necessary in the Liberty Bowl.

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