The 2017 Mountaineer football profile series concludes with junior safety Toyous Avery. Avery made some great plays for the Mountaineers during his first season at West Virginia. Tony Gibson and the Mountaineer defense will be looking to Avery for playmaking and leadership.
Toyous Avery, S, #16
Year: Junior
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 202
Hometown: Covington, GA
High School: Newton High School
Previous College: Coffeyville Community College (KS)
How he got to Morgantown
Avery played high school football at Newton High School in Covington, Georgia. He then began playing at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. Avery’s great success at Coffeyville provided him with national recruiting attention. He then chose to continue his college career with the Mountaineers. He turned down Arkansas State, Colorado, Colorado State, Kansas, Missouri, South Alabama, and Southern Miss to play for West Virginia.
During his first year at WVU, Avery contributed to 24 tackles. He also showed that he can make plays near the line of scrimmage as well as in coverage. His playmaking ability was seen during his first year at West Virginia, but Avery can have an even greater season this year.
Career Highlight
Toyous Avery had great success creating interceptions before coming to Morgantown. He was even able to score off of a lot of these turnovers. Highlights of some of these big plays can be seen in his previous game film (above).
2017 Prospectus
Avery should be expected to have very consistent playing time this season. His experience and playmaking ability will make him a necessity to Tony Gibson’s defense. He will bring a physical presence to the secondary. Avery will also be expected to make plays on the ball, by breaking up passes and having interceptions.
He has been a dominant threat to intercept passes before playing at West Virginia. If he is able to continue that this season, he will begin to become a well-known and feared defensive back in the Big 12. Avery will also help in coverage this season with his size and speed that allow him to play man coverage when needed. He will also be expected to surpass the number of tackles he provided last season, so having over 30 tackles is very likely for Avery. If he can get himself into position, he may be among the leaders in interceptions in the Big 12. But his success will likely be reliant on the defense as a whole.
Dream Season
A dream season for Avery would mean showing his incredible talent to intercept passes. While this skill of his has not yet been seen during his career at West Virginia, without a penalty being called, he definitely has the ability to create turnovers. In a dream season, Avery could create at least five interceptions for the Mountaineer defense. He could also return a few of those interceptions for touchdowns. If Avery was to have over five interceptions, he would definitely be in contention to lead the conference in individual interceptions.
If Avery is to have a dream season, this would also mean doubling his total of tackles from last season. Having over 50 tackles would contribute to a dream season, but it is even a realistic goal he could reach. A dream season for Avery would also mean that the Mountaineer defense gives up a minimal amount of points and yards to help the team win games.
Up Next
This concludes the 2017 Mountaineer football profile series. Stay tuned throughout the season for additional stories on the players that have been featured.