WVU getting defensive as it finds itself in familiar spot

West Virginia isn’t necessarily in unfamiliar territory when it comes to the perception of the defense.

Just ask head coach Dana Holgorsen.

The Mountaineers are coming off a season where the unit finished in the bottom third in both scoring defense checking in at 90th nationally at around 32 points per game and 106th in total defense surrendering 445 yards per contest. Numbers that don’t necessarily inspire confidence, even in league as loaded on the offensive side of the ball as the Big 12 Conference was last season.

Couple that with the personnel losses from a season ago including some of the best players on the unit as well as some unexpected departures and there is certainly reason to pause.

But the Mountaineers have retooled some at all levels adding players from the junior college and graduate levels to help fill holes on the roster.

The work isn’t necessarily finished either on the defensive line as the program is hoping to addat least one more player at that spot.

During the spring players such as Charlie Benton at linebacker, Josh Norwood at safety and Keith Washington at cornerback all emerged as players that are going to help this fall at worst from a depth perspective.

More reinforcements will be on the way this spring with graduate transfers former USC defensive lineman Kenny Bigelow and UCLA cornerback Denzel Fisher as well as traditional freshmen recruits.

Overall, the Mountaineers welcomed around seven players on the defensive side this spring and it was considered a success as those players developed during the practices.

“You recruit those guys for a reason. We’ve had a lot of success with them and we’re able to show guys like them that have taken that path to power five football to be able to come in and transition in the Big 12,” Holgorsen said.

There’s a track record of turning things around in these situations as well. Take the 2016 unit for example which featured major question marks but performed under coordinator Tony Gibson.

“We’ve been through this before where they don’t think we’re capable of doing specific things and we use that as motivation and are able to do well,” he said.

While the final results won’t be known until the calendar flips into September, Holgorsen was impressed with the progress on the defensive side this spring.

Up front the head coach said that he currently feels better about the defensive line now than he did at any point last season. Linebacker returns experience which should help and the secondary is one of the most veteran on the team.

“We’re going to add to it and should get better,” he said.

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