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The 2019 West Virginia Mountaineers defense was expected to be the piece of the puzzle that kept the team in games. Of all of the returning experience on the team, West Virginia returned 67% of their 2018 production. 2019 was a season of change for everyone, but the defense got mastermind Vic Koenning, who was the defensive coordinator with head coach Neal Brown at Troy. Koenning proved to be a guy willing to do what it took to get results, as he tinkered and toyed with matchups to make sure his units were productive.
The Players
A good defense starts on the defensive line and the Mountaineers boasted one of the better defensive lines in the Big 12. Fairmont standouts and sons of former Mountaineers Gary Stills, Dante and Darius Stills were forces of havoc all year. The two brothers finished second in the Big 12 with seven sacks each. The Mountaineers dealt with injuries and transfers at other positions, but the defensive line, which featured the aforementioned Stills brothers, along with another West Virginia native in senior Reese Donahue, Michigan transfer Reuben Jones and Jeffrey Pooler, all played all 12 games in the season.
At linebacker, the Mountaineers got production out of redshirt junior Sean Mahone and redshirt senior Shea Campbell. Unfortunately the Mountaineers lost two games of Josh Chandler, their experienced middle linebacker.
At defensive back, the Mountaineers got a lot of production from Hakeem Bailey and Josh Norwood. Bailey played all 12 games and lead the team in both interceptions and pass breakups. Norwood was very productive but was lost on his last play of his season when he intercepted a pass against Kansas State.
The Individual Stats
2019 West Virginia Mountaineers Individual Defensive Stats
| Players | Total Tackles | Solo Tackles | Tackles For Loss | Sacks | Interceptions | Pass Breakups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Total Tackles | Solo Tackles | Tackles For Loss | Sacks | Interceptions | Pass Breakups |
| Sean Mahone | 80 | 42 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Josh Chandler | 71 | 40 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Josh Norwood | 64 | 37 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Hakeem Bailey | 57 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Tykee Smith | 53 | 36 | 2.5 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Kerry Martin | 50 | 35 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Darius Stills | 47 | 28 | 14.5 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| Exree Loe | 40 | 25 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Shea Campbell | 39 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Dylan Tonkery | 36 | 23 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Reuben Jones | 34 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Reese Donahue | 32 | 14 | 3.5 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeffrey Pooler | 26 | 13 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 0 | 3 |
| Dante Stills | 25 | 14 | 11.5 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| Noah Guzman | 24 | 14 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keith Washington | 23 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Quondarius Qualls | 22 | 13 | 2.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Nicktroy Fortune | 17 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jovanni Stewart | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dante Bonamico | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kwantel Raines | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jared Bartlett | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Long | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Deamonte Lindsay | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Statistics gathered from WVUSports.com. A full link to the stats can be found here. These are the top 25 players.
A few thoughts from the stats
- It is interesting that both Josh Chandler and Josh Norwood finished 2nd and 3rd on the team in total tackles despite playing two fewer games. Chandler alone averaged 7.1 tackles per game, which was good for 8th in the Big 12 (The Big 12 website has Chandler listed as playing 11 games, dropping his average to 6.5, 12th in the league)
- Even though Mahome led the team in total tackles, Hakeem Bailey actually edged him out in solo tackles, 43 to 42. Bailey’s solo tackles accounted for 75% of his tackles. Bailey finished his career with 129 tackles, 4 interceptions and 16 pass breakups.
- The defensive line was marvelous. Of the 33 sacks the team collected, 22 came from the five defensive linemen: Stills, Stills, Donahue, Pooler and Jones.
- If you weren’t excited about Tykee Smith (and who isn’t excited about him?) then perhaps this will get you excited to see his progression: despite being a freshman, he finished 2nd on the team in interceptions (2), fifth on the team in pass breakups (4), was one of six players to cause a fumble, and fifth on the team in tackles (53).