West Virginia could be down the services of one of their veterans up front on the defensive line.
Senior Eddie Vesterinen left the Albany game after only eight snaps due to a lower-body injury and that potentially leaves a hole on that unit.
Vesterinen has 35 career appearances for the Mountaineers and 15 starts including both of the games to start this season, but if he’s not able to go it means others are needed.
The first player up would be transfer TJ Jackson who has played well in the first two games and has an argument to being the most productive on the roster in that small sample size. Jackson has five tackles, three of which are for loss, and a sack after transferring into the program from Troy. He has played 65 snaps during that time and has been one of the highest-graded players on the defense per Pro Football Focus.
“I mean we’re built very similar across the front with what we’re trying to do. TJ Jackson has had two really good first games, so we’ll just keep rolling,” defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said.
The Mountaineers would obviously miss the combination of experience and motor that Vesterinen brings to the table, but Jackson also is experienced in his own right during his time with the Trojans. But it won’t be a job for just one person either as the defensive line is going to need others to step up.
That’s where the flexibility of senior Sean Martin comes into play as he can fill in to the field or the boundary and should move around while two younger players that have seen the field should be able to get more time in both Asani Redwood and Hammond Russell. Redwood has played 58 snaps this season, while Russell has been at 54 snaps, and both have been able to provide some valuable snaps to date.
Those are two players that stood out at the end of last season and Lesley is excited about what they bring to the table and how they will take the challenge of being in a bigger role. It will change the defense some without Vesterinen, but there won’t be any major shifts if he can’t suit up.
“You always do things that play to the player's strengths. You’re not going to make schematic, wholesale changes because one person that has a different skill set is down,” Lesley said. “But you may not ask them in certain things to do what that guy can do so it’s really not subtle changes but nothing that is major.”
But more is needed.
“We hate it for Eddie, but we’ve got a room there that we have enough guys and guys that are quality players to pick up the slack,” head coach Neal Brown said.
That doesn’t even include true freshman Nate Gabriel who played 25 snaps against Albany and where Russell has the flexibility to play in the boundary it could allow him to play nose tackle. Freshman Elijah Kinsler is another who could see an expanded role if Vesterinen isn’t ready to go.
“He’s big enough, thought he got some good push,” Brown said of Gabriel.
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