Jackson Believes Akheem Mesidor Has a Future in the NFL

Akheem Mesidor is adjusting nicely to his new position.

Akheem Mesidor had a stellar freshman season for the Mountaineers a year ago at defensive end totaling 32 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and led the team with five sacks.

At season's end, Mesidor was named an ESPN True Freshman All-American First Team selection, Freshman All-America Second Team (The Athletic), All-Big 12 Conference Second Team (Coaches), and All-Big 12 Conference Third Team (Phil Steele).

With Darius Stills now with the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL, West Virginia needed to find a replacement. Darius' younger brother, Dante, could have been the choice but instead, the coaching staff decided to kick Mesidor inside. 

This may be a head-scratching move considering Mesidor has proven to be the Mountaineers' most prolific pass rusher but he can do much more than that. He has an innate ability to fight off blocks and double-teams which is what they need from the nose tackle position. 

Defensive line coach Andrew Jackson discussed his transition to the new position and how he has improved from the spring.

"Mentally, he accepts any challenge. I think the biggest thing for him is understanding that the blocks are on you a lot sooner when you're that close to the ball. Obviously, you're more inclined to get double-teamed but he's accepted it well. I think it was a little bit of a shock to him at first going through the spring but he's fine now and he's doing a good job."

What's Mesidor's ceiling? Well, Jackson was grinning ear to ear when asked and simply said, "I think he's going to be really damn good. I don't know what the end goal of that is or what that means but I can see that guy playing on Sundays."

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