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Keenan Cummings

Keenan Cummings

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QB:
2 Jarret Doege, r-Jr.
12 Austin Kendall, r-Sr.

RB:
4 Leddie Brown, Jr.
20 Alec Sinkfield, r-Jr.

TE:
87 Mike O'Laughlin, r-So. -or-
85 T. J. Banks, r-So.

WR (X):
0 Bryce Wheaton, r-So.
10 Sean Ryan, Jr.

WR (H):
16 Winston Wright, So.
15 Reese Smith, Fr.

SLOT:
1 T.J. Simmons, r-Sr.
9 Isaiah Esdale, r-Jr.

WR (Z):
13 Sam James, r-So.
19 Ali Jennings, So. -or-
17 Sam Brown, Fr.

LT:
71 Junior Uzebu, r-So.
50 Brandon Yates, r-Fr.

LG:
74 James Gmiter, r-So.
69 Blaine Scott, r-So.

C:
76 Chase Behrndt, r-Sr.
54 Zach Frazier, Fr.

RG:
57 Michael Brown, r-Sr.
55 Parker Moorer, r-Fr.

RT:
79 John Hughes, Jr.
68 Briason Mays, r-So.

DEFENSE:
DT:
55 Dante Stills, Jr.
90 Akheem Mesidor, Fr.

NT:
56 Darius Stills, Sr.
99 Quay Mays, r-Jr. -or-
95 Jordan Jefferson, So.

DE:
9 Jeffery Pooler, r-Sr.
52 Jalen Thornton, r-Fr.

BANDIT:
8 Vandarius Cowan, r-Jr. -or-
50 Jared Bartlett, r-Fr.

WLB:
7 Josh Chandler, Jr.
17 Exree Loe, r-Jr.

MLB:
10 Dylan Tonkery, r-Sr.
1 Tony Fields, Sr.

SPEAR:
23 Tykee Smith, So.
24 Jairo Faverus, Fr.

CS:
29 Sean Mahone, r-Sr.
2 Noah Guzman, Jr.

FS:
4 Alonzo Addae, r-Sr.
22 Jake Long, r-Sr. -or-
20 Tae Mayo, r-Fr.

LCB:
5 Dreshun Miller, r-Jr.
3 Jackie Matthews, Jr.

RCB:
11 Nicktroy Fortune, So.
28 Daryl Porter, Fr.
 
T

TownesVanZandt_rivals

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Ian Boyd has WV having the #1 edge rushers in the Big 12. The CBs are closer to the middle. But if you combine the edge rushers and the DL I think the WVU defense can get enough pressure to make up for the difference at CB
No. 1: WVU

Standard downs edge rusher: VanDarius Cowan, Jeffery Pooler
VanDarius Cowan was a former blue chip player at Alabama who got into trouble and landed at West Virginia. He flashed in limited opportunities in 2019 before getting injured and missing most of the season. West Virginia plays him in a hybrid role (the bandit) that's moved around even a little more than Joe Ossai at Texas, but given his size (6-4, 240) and knack for getting into the backfield they’ve shown a different approach for him than their smaller bandits. He’ll play on the line some in a 4-down look and in their 3-down will occasionally line up as a will linebacker while the will is split out in coverage so he can blitz from different angles in the box.

Both Dante and Darius Stills are effective pass-rushers from multiple angles but the standard down defense puts Jeffery Pooler opposite Cowan as the field defensive end. He's solid but not offering another high end pass-rusher.

Passing downs edge-rusher: VanDarius Cowan, Dante Stills
Dante Stills exploded in 2019 playing alongside his similarly talented older brother Darius, he finished with eight sacks despite serving as a part-time starter while Darius had six sacks. The passing downs approach by West Virginia will probably feature Dante as a defensive end and Cowan as an inside linebacker blitzing from either the edge or inside, isolated on guards.

Main weapons
VanDarius Cowan: 6-4, 235. RS junior. 4-star from SFL/Alabama transfer. 1 sack in 2019
Dante Stills: 6-3, 275. Junior. 4-star from WV. 8 sacks in 2019
Jeffery Pooler: 6-2, 250. RS senior. 2-star from OH. 2.5 sacks in 2019
 
T

TownesVanZandt_rivals

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No. 6: West Virginia

Top cornerback: Dreshun Miller
Alternative targets: Nicktroy Fortune
Nicktroy Fortune played regularly for West Virginia in 2019 and acquitted himself well as a true freshman. Dreshun Miller was a blue chip JUCO that was injured in 2019 and redshirted instead of initiating his career as a Mountaineer.

At 6-1, Miller has some unique size and has been praised for his play but Fortune is much faster and has shown more of a knack for man coverage. The Mountaineers play a lot of off quarters and cover 3 in their scheme, using these guys to just sit over the top almost like a safety. I expect they’ll mostly play Miller to the boundary while using Fortune in man coverage to the wide side of the field. As a reminder if you haven’t seen, here’s how they like to align to TE trips formations:


The boundary corner is almost a deep ½ safety with help underneath from the weakside linebacker, who becomes almost a flat corner. To shore things up in the box, to the extent they even need to given how effective the Stills bros are, the free safety shades over to shadow the tight end and becomes a hybrid linebacker near the box.

All that to say, the Mountaineers bracket the boundary a lot and trust the far corner who’s further away from the quarterback to be the guy asked to hold up without safety help. Both jobs are easier then teams like Oklahoma, TCU, or Texas that want the boundary corner to play press-man so the boundary safety can help against the run.

Measurables
Dreshun Miller: 6-1, 190. RS junior. 4-star from GA/AZ JUCO. 4.7 40 time (est from HS 11.76 100m)
Nicktroy Fortune: 6-0, 187. Sophomore. 3-star from GA. 4.5 40 time (est from HS 10.74 100m)
 
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JWG66

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I like the D we have. For the first time in a long time we have real defensive linemen and we are pressuring the QB. It always drove me crazy to lay back and give the QB all day to find a weakness in our coverage. We always seemed to quickly be backed up to the red zone and rarely had good field position if we stopped a drive. The philosophy of outscoring opponents was ineffective in the B12.

The future looks good too with much talent coming in at needed spots. I like adding Fields and Young for help right now. Okoli, Mathews & Porter are very good adds at CB. Faverus has already made the two deep at S. Sean Martin and Messidor are making waves on the DL. We found a way to get Thomas into this class at LB. All key spots for a great D.

Beating a dead horse here, but still wish there was a way to keep coach K. IMHO, he quickly made a difference in our on field performance.
 
T

TownesVanZandt_rivals

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Ian Boyd is actually a fan of Neal Brown. There is that.

But he has separated positions and placed importance on pretty much the positions you see that the NFL desires
QB, WR, LT, Edge Rushers and CB
With the auxiliary pieces being the Isaiah Simmons. Players who can line up all over the field.
 
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