New Look
August 27, 2007 10:38 PM | General
August 28, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Whenever Johnny Dingle feels like loafing on a play or taking a break during practice now he simply looks down at the NFL logo he had tattooed to the top of his right hand. It’s a daily reminder of where he is today and where he wants to be tomorrow.
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| Senior Johnny Dingle shows six sacks and nine tackles for losses heading into the 2007 campaign.
Pete Emerson photo |
“When I asked coaches ‘do I have a chance to play at the next level?’ They said if I do this right, play hard, work hard, practice hard and do everything hard … I put a little pressure on myself if I’m about to step out of line. I always look at my hand and think this is where I want to be,” Dingle said.
The senior knows he’s still got a lot of work to do to get there. Dingle’s two-year career at West Virginia has been steady if not spectacular. He’s appeared in 24 games since transferring from Florida, making 31 total tackles, six sacks and nine tackles for losses.
Dingle was a first team Class 4A all-state performer for former Mountaineer assistant coach Jerry Hughes at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami. The Dade County defensive player of the year recorded 22 sacks his senior season and was considered one of Florida’s top high school pass rushers.
After a very strong spring and a productive developmental season, Dingle believes he’s finally ready to become the pass-rushing force that made him one of the South’s top recruits in 2003.
“From spring to camp I feel this is one of my best ever,” Dingle said. “I felt this camp I started off fast but the hamstring injury kind of set me back.”
Dingle missed part of fall camp with a nagging hamstring injury, but has since recovered and has claimed one of the team’s two starting defensive end spots heading into this weekend’s season opener against Western Michigan.
“I’ve prepared myself this summer real hard. I’m up to 275 with muscle and I’m just ready to go,” Dingle said.
Last year West Virginia’s defense failed to record a sack through its first four games but managed to finish the season with 31. Dingle had three of those in 12 games.
The senior believes getting a more effective pass rush this year is simply a matter of exerting more effort on each snap.
“We’ve just got to strain more. We’ve got to get to the ball; play hungry,” he explained. “At times we’re a three-man front but we can’t look at it as a three-man front -- we’ve just got to go with the flow and just strain more and the sacks will come.”
Dingle believes a strong start by the defensive line this Saturday against Western Michigan will set the tone for the remainder of the season.
“Up front this year we’ve got to start off fast, we’ve got to start off strong, we’ve got to start off quick, get it down and get it together,” Dingle said.
Many believe the performance of the defense will ultimately determine how far the Mountaineers go this season. Dingle is aware of West Virginia’s high national ranking but he says it doesn’t really mean much to him right now.
“On any Saturday anything can happen,” he said. “I just wait toward the end during December. That’s when I start looking at that.”
The long journey to December begins in earnest this Saturday when West Virginia takes on Mid-American Conference favorite Western Michigan, which won eight games last year and earned a bowl bid for the first time in 18 years. Dingle says Coach Rich Rodriguez has already briefed the team on what to expect from the Broncos this weekend.
“Every team he treats (with respect). That’s the good thing because we take every opponent the same way,” Dingle said. “We don’t care if it’s a high school team … we’re going to come out gunning at you.”
Dingle says he’s watched Western Michigan film on Saturday and Sunday and will continue to study up on his own for the remainder of the week.
“We’re just working on the day-to-day things like we always do: prepare one day at a time and take it one day at a time,” he said.
Last spring, Dingle thought it was time to have a new image so he decided to cut his trademark long hair that he had been sporting ever since he came to West Virginia.
“It wasn’t that hard,” he shrugged. “I really didn’t want to cut it but I decided one day … new look, new image. So I just chopped it off.”
A new look with new results – that’s what Johnny Dingle is looking for in 2007.
