West Virginia has a major hole to fill in the middle of the defense with the graduation of linebacker Tony Fields off to the NFL. But the good news is there’s an in-house replacement waiting in the wings.

And it’s a name that everybody should be familiar with on the roster.

Josh Chandler-Semedo has spent the bulk of his career at WILL linebacker but slid over into the middle when Fields elected to sit out of the Liberty Bowl to start his preparation for the NFL Draft. He didn’t disappoint with his best graded performance of the season across 66 snaps at 83.9 according to PFF.

Chandler-Semedo finished with 10 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception and earned MVP honors in the process for his efforts on the inside.

“Chandler is going to step into the role of Tony Fields. He did such a great job last year at the MIKE linebacker position. Fall camp is really going to determine how we go into the season feeling about that linebacker spot,” head coach Neal Brown said.

The Ohio native saw over 400 snaps last season and the way he fills the shoes of Fields is by improving in some critical departments on the field.

“We had to do a better job as a linebacker corps in general of playing in the box, which we are capable of doing. And we have to do a better job when we blitz,” he said.

It’s a challenge that Chandler-Semedo is ready for and believes that he is ready to step in and embrace a new role square dab in the middle.

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