WVU's Defense Is an Absolute Monstrosity, and the PFF Grades Prove It

The grades back up what we saw take place in Ames on Saturday.

Oct 3, 2026; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Cody Jackson (2) catches a pass in front of West Virginia Mountaineers linebacker Cameron Dwyer (35) during the second half at Jack Trice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If you thought last week's grades were bad, just wait until you see how poorly West Virginia's defense graded out this week.

Pro Football Focus has submitted the grades for every Mountaineer who saw the field on offense and defense, so let's take a look and provide some context for it.

OFFENSE

QB Mike Hawkins Jr. — 85.8

RB Cam Cook — 74.5
RB Amari Latimer — 65.7

WR Prince Strachan — 72.3
WR Cyrus Traugh — 70.6
WR DJ Epps – 70.0
WR Jaden Bray — 59.9
WR John Neider — 53.2

TE Josh Sapp — 58.4
TE Ryan Ward — 58.1
TE Cam Ball — 58.0

OL Carsten Casady — 69.0
OL Amare Grayson — 61.4
OL Josh Aisosa — 58.2
OL Nick Krahe — 56.5
OL Kevin Brown — 51.6
OL Wes King — 51.0

The offensive line had a pretty rough game, which is odd to say when you rush for 227 yards, but a lot of that was Hawkins and Cook making something out of nothing. They struggled to control the line of scrimmage and climb to the second level, which is why six of the eight explosives on the ground were just from Hawkins running around.

DEFENSE

DL Corey McIntyre Jr. — 73.0
DL Taylor Brown — 68.0
DL Zeke Durham-Campbell — 68.0
DL K.J. Henson — 66.5
DL Nate Gabriel — 60.3
DL Emerson Joy — 55.9
DL Yendor Mack — 54.3

EDGE Harper Holloman — 63.4
EDGE David Afogho — 45.0

LB Isaiah Patterson — 80.2
LB Antoine Sharp Jr. — 73.4
LB Ben Cutter — 69.4
LB Jason Hall Jr. — 65.9
LB Cam Torbor — 64.3

CB Nick Taylor — 61.6
CB Chams Diagne — 57.2
CB Jason Chambers — 57.0
CB Keyshawn Robinson — 38.1

N/S Gemiere Latimer II — 52.5

S JaCorey Thomas — 76.9
S Andrew Powdrell — 61.4
S Jayden Ballard — 59.7
S Kameron Reddic - 59.7
S Matt Sieg - 57.2
S Kamari Wilson — 50.0

Eight pressures. That's all the Mountaineers generated on 31 dropbacks by Jaylen Raynor. Once again, the defensive line just couldn't shed blocks. They stayed attached, and even when Raynor moved around a little bit, they couldn't get off and make a play. The defense only had nine missed tackles in the game, which is usually a pretty good number, but this week's total is deceiving. There were only nine because they took atrocious angles to the football and many times never got in position to get a finger on the ball-carrier.

The only two "bright spots" were linebacker Isaiah Patterson, who played well on top of the game-changing interception in the second half, and Georgia safety transfer JaCorey Thomas, who had a solid outing in his debut.