If you want to see West Virginia University defensive coordinator Tony Gibson become uneasy or squirm in his chair, just ask him what it would be like playing a football game without senior KJ Dillon at spur safety.

 

The spur is the straw that stirs the drink in the Mountaineers’ 3-3 stack scheme because of what he’s being asked to do on any given play. The spur is so vital because he can play anywhere from the line of scrimmage to 20-25 yards down the field in man coverage against speedy slot receivers.

 

It’s easy to find someone athletic that can play at the point of attack (those guys are called linebackers) and it’s also easy finding guys that can man-cover slot receivers. Of course, that’s what corners do.

 

But what do you call someone that has to do both?

 

Then, for good measure, throw in the ability to blitz, play a 9-technique, a half-field man technique, play the third, cover the post, cover a slice, play on the roof and also be able to disguise coverages ... well, now you are talking about one helluva special football player.

 

And that is what KJ Dillon has become for the Mountaineers.

 

About 13 years ago, when West Virginia was first fooling around with the stack, there was a player here named Angel Estrada who was a little too big to play safety and a little too small to play linebacker, but he was also way too good to stand and watch the game from the sidelines.

 

So the defensive coaches put Estrada in at that third safety position in the stack where he was sometimes asked to play the run, he was sometimes asked to play the pass and he was oftentimes asked to blitz.

 

For Estrada, and other spurs that followed, the defensive coaches always had the option of subbing them out in certain packages. If it was an obvious passing situation, a third corner could replace the spur to help with coverage in the secondary.

 

The problem with doing that, of course, is that you are tipping your hand and offensive coordinators are smart enough to identify who is in the game and can adjust accordingly.

 

But when you’ve got a spur that can stay on the field in any situation, and can also blitz from anywhere (and at anytime), that’s like holding a pair of aces in the hole.

 

That’s what Dillon, a 6-foot-1, 203-pound senior playmaker from Apopka, Florida, has become for the Mountaineer defense.

 

There may be more well-known players on that side of the ball, and there may be guys with higher pro ceilings, but no one playing in this defense is more valuable than KJ Dillon. What Gibson is asking his spurs to do these days is the same thing Don Nehlen once had linebacker Darryl Talley doing back in the day - cover the entire field. Just in case you hadn't noticed, Talley's got a bust sitting in the College Football Hall of Fame right now, which should give you a pretty good idea of the responsibilties these guys are shouldering.

 

“We’ve been trying to (recruit) that position for two years now,” admitted Gibson. “KJ is perfect for that and he’s become our standard. Now, can we get that kind of guy again?”

 

Joe DeForest, who is responsible for the safeties on a daily basis, said it’s nearly impossible to know for sure if they’ve recruited a good spur until they get him out on the field and see how he performs.

 

“It’s hard to project a high school kid to be able to do all of those things right away,” he said. “(True freshman) Kevin Williams is not ready to do all of those things yet; is he ready to do some of them? Yes. The same with (redshirt freshman) DaeJuan Funderburk.

 

“(The spur is) almost like your third corner, but your biggest third corner because he’s a blitzer,” DeForest added. “It’s not like he’s just a cover guy - and we also ask him to be a run-stopper in the box. I mean, they play everything.”

 

Look at Dillon’s stat line from last year and you will see nearly every category covered with crooked numbers – tackles, assists, tackles for losses, sacks, interceptions, pass breakups … you name it.

 

Dillon had a pick-six in last year’s Liberty Bowl against Texas A&M; he had a career-high 11 tackles in a road win at Iowa State and in the prior game against Kansas State, he produced eight tackles, seven of which were solos.

 

Dillon led the team with three interceptions, 10 pass breakups and the number of times going into the stands to take selfies with the WVU students. Not only is Dillon the player who puts the “S” in the stack, he’s also the guy who gets the rest of the team hyped up.

 

“I just like to go out there, fly around and have fun - make plays, get everybody in the mood to have fun playing football,” he said. “I’ve always been excited to play football. Every time I step on that field I just take it as a blessing and an opportunity, so why not go all out and have fun with it?”

 

Dillon is very aware of what the defensive coaches are asking him to do on a weekly basis being Mr. Jack-of-all-Trades against some of the most explosive offenses in the country.

 

“They call it linebacker-safety or the hybrid position; I just call it the playmaker position,” he pointed out. “To play that position means they think you are capable of making a lot of plays. That’s what I think of when I think of spur, and that’s what I try to do – make a lot of plays.”

 

Then he added, “Not everybody can do this. Not everybody can play in the box, blitz, play in the third or play man, and I can do those things and that’s why I love to play it.”

 

DeForest believes playing the spur may also help Dillon’s pro aspirations, even though the 3-3 stack is not a common every-down scheme in the NFL. When the pros use it they call it "Big Nickel."

 

“When a scout comes in to look at our spur safeties and they want to know, ‘Hey, can KJ Dillon cover man?’ ‘Well, flip on the tape,’” said DeForest. “’Can he blitz?’ ‘Flip it on.’ ‘Can he play on the roof?’ ‘Flip it on.’ The bandit does some of the same things, but the spur does it more because he’s always to the field and stuff like that.”

 

Gibson is even more succinct, admitting that many of his defensive calls are predicated on having No. 9 on the football field. When Dillon is out there Gibson has all of the tools in his toolbox.

 

“KJ allows us to do what we do,” Gibson explained. “With him out there we can blitz on first down - or all-out blitz - because of what he can do. We’ve never had a spur like him.”

 

And when KJ is not on the field?

 

“Then we’ve got to worry,” he said.