Way Too Early 2020 Depth Chart Projections: Defense
With signing day in the rearview mirror, we now take a glance at what the West Virginia offensive depth chart may look like including the signees. Last week, we broke down the offensive depth chart.
Defensive End
Jeffery Pooler Jr. or Quay Mays
Sean Martin
Nose Tackle
Darius Stills
Jordan Jefferson
Defensive End
Dante Stills
Taijh Alston or Akheem Mesidor
Jalen Thornton
Defensive Line Analysis: One of the biggest problems the Mountaineer defense had a year ago was lack of depth in the trenches. They had talent on the d-line, but not enough bodies to rotate to keep everyone fresh. Neal Brown and co. did a fantastic job not only bringing in a lot of new bodies, but quality talent. Look for the defensive line to become a strength for West Virginia in 2020.
Bandit
VanDarius Cowan
Eddie Watkins or Lanell Carr
MIKE
Josh Chandler
Jared Bartlett
Jake Abbott
WILL
Dylan Tonkery
Exree Loe
Charlie Benton or Taurus Simmons
Linebacker Analysis: There’s no doubt that West Virginia has a lot of youth in its linebacking corps. There is some talent, but I don’t think they are as deep as they would like to be. Give it another recruiting cycle or two and we may be talking differently. Although he only played in two games, look for VanDarius Cowan to be the leader of this group. He has NFL-type talent and can fly all over the field. If he stays healthy, this is a much better unit.
SPEAR
Tykee Smith
Jackie Matthews
Dante Bonamico
Left Corner
Tae Mayo or Alonzo Addae
Tacorey Turner or Daryl Porter Jr.
Right Corner
Nicktroy Fortune
Dreshun Miller
Jairo Faverus or David Vincent-Okoli
Free Safety
Kerry Martin
Jake Long or Osman Kamara
Cat Safety
Sean Mahone
Noah Guzman
Secondary Analysis: The Mountaineers lost two solid corners in Keith Washington and Hakeem Bailey, both of which are going to be extremely hard to replace right away. There’s a lot of talent at the corner spot and many more bodies than we are accustomed to seeing - which is a good thing. Eventually, someone will emerge and lock down starting spots. Nicktroy Fortune showed flashes last year as a true freshman, but still has a ways to go. Sophomores Tykee Smith and Kerry Martin will be the proverbial leaders in the secondary.
