LB Josh Chandler-Semedo Gives the Backstory to his Name Change

Early on in his career, linebacker Josh Chandler was put in a pretty significant role on the Mountaineer defense. He was one guy that stood out to the previous coaching staff right away and played in all 12 games as a true freshman - primarily on special teams.

In 2019, he took the next step in his development as a player and won the starting job as the WILL linebacker. As the season went on, it became evident that Chandler could be counted on to become the quote, unquote, "garbageman" of the defense by cleaning up things in the second level and prevented some big plays from taking place.

When you see him flying around the field making plays this year, you'll notice something different. He changed his number from 35 to 7 and also changed his last name to Chandler-Semedo in honor of his grandfather.

"My original last name is Chandler, but my father's side, we're Cape Verdean, Puerto Rican. So, Semedo basically comes from the Cape Verdean islands outside of the coast of Africa. My grandfather was full Cape Verdean and he changed his last name to Quincy in order to fight and enlist in World War II I believe - he just never changed it back after the war. My father, aunt, everybody else has Quincy. I decided to take it back to Semedo."

At one point in time, Chandler-Semedo was skeptical of a 2020 season even taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that game day is literally just days away, he feels like this Mountaineer team is ready to rock and roll and could be in a better mental state than most teams are in preparation to play this season.

"Definitely doubted that we were going to play this fall. A lot of things were uncertain. Practices were uncertain, lifts were uncertain, so as far as getting to a game, you couldn't really imagine it. The closer and closer we got to it, it's like dang, it's really going to happen. The staff did a good job of keeping our focus on playing and not thinking about what other schools are doing, what else is going on in the country. Really, I feel like we're more prepared than a lot of other teams are just because we've always kept that as a goal instead of thinking about everything else."

Chandler-Semedo is slated to start his 10th game as a Mountaineer this Saturday as West Virginia kicks things off vs Eastern Kentucky at noon on FS1.

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the page's top righthand corner. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:

Facebook - @WVUonSI

Twitter - @SI_WVU and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.