Against Cincinnati, Anthony Wilson helped set the tone for WVU's defense in more ways than one. He hopes that's a trend going forward.
This past Saturday, WVU's defense fell behind early. They gave up a touchdown on their first drive, and Cincinnati was driving down the field on their second possession. Then, on a fourth down, UC's QB Brendan Sorsby was pressured and tried to make a play, tossing the ball into the hands of Wilson, who returned it 79 yards for a score, changing the momentum of the game.
"We did a good job of getting lined up, getting the call, signal, communicating, just playing football and playing fast. So I feel like that was the biggest difference from this week," Wilson said.
Wilson's interception would not be the only play he made. He finished the game with 11.0 total tackles, one of three players on the West Virginia defense to record double-digit tackles.
Wilson being physical is nothing new for him. He is currently second on WVU in total tackles with 64.0 this year.
"Just trying to set the tone for the defense in the game. We tackle pretty much every day in practice, and our coaches do a great job of getting us ready. And just going out there being the more physical team was what we wanted to do, and that's what we did. And so just having big plays and big hits, it sets the tone for the game," Wilson said.
Wilson added a large contributor to their success against Cincinnati was the way they made Sorsby and company think about their next move, something that played into the hand of the West Virginia defense.
"Like I said on Saturday after the game, just disguising helped us to present a different picture for the quarterback and making them think and different things like that. So I feel like that was another way we kind of forced his hand to make the decisions he made. And so, yeah, we did a good job of disguising as well," Wilson said.
Wilson was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Cincinnati. He said a performance like the one they had on Saturday will hopefully propel them forward through the final stretch of the season.
For us as a defense, like I said, it shows our potential of what we can be and what we got to continue to strive to be each and every day at practice. Because we can't just show up on Saturdays and do that, it starts every day, every practice, every meeting, workouts, whatever it may be. But that was a big, big step for us defensively, and we're gonna look forward to continue to build upon it.
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