MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Tony Gibson’s West Virginia University defense is in a different place this spring.

 

Last year, Gibson’s Gang had across-the-board experience with talented and veteran guys manning the safety, linebacker and cornerback positions. As a matter of fact, a number of those guys could likely find themselves on NFL rosters this fall.

 

However, this spring Gibson is going back to basics with new players occupying key spots at linebacker, safety and corner. The one area where the Mountaineers appear to be in pretty good shape right now is defensive line, where proven players Noble Nwachukwu and Christian Brown are returning.

 

Nwachukwu gives West Virginia a hands-in-the-dirt playmaker the Mountaineers probably haven’t had since Keilen Dykes was spending most of his time in the other team’s huddle playing for Rich Rodriguez in the mid-2000s on those outstanding Sugar and Fiesta Bowl teams.

 

“He’s the returning Big 12 sack leader,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen pointed out of Nwachukwu. “We haven’t been able to say that in a while.”

 

No, at least not since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012.

 

And Brown gives WVU an athletic, 300-pounder who can eat up blockers and understands the nuances of Gibson’s 3-3 stack defense. Plus, Gibson said Brown has put the time in during the development season to change his body.

 

“He looks really good,” said Gibson. “He’s a 300-pound kid that’s athletic and can move. He’s worked his butt off.”

 

Nwachukwu and Brown are a good starting point for this year’s defense, as is senior nose Darien Howard, another 300-pounder with pretty good athletic ability. Gibson believes there are a couple more defensive linemen who will be game-ready by the time fall rolls around, so D-line is clearly the strength of this year’s defense.

 

“Our front guys are experienced,” he said. “Everybody knows you win or lose with those guys up front, and to get most of those guys back is helpful.”

 

Gibson said this spring he’s got 10 or 11 players to work up front, 10 or 11 players to work with at linebacker and 10 or 11 available at safety. The one area that is extremely thin is corner where new coach Blue Adams has just six available players to work with - five of those being on scholarship.

 

Four more corners are coming in this fall, meaning a couple of them will have to be ready to go by the time the Missouri Tigers arrive in Morgantown on September 3.

 

Exactly who is No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 on the depth chart is still a long way from being determined, or, who the guys are to man the sub packages Gibson plans on using.

 

The same goes for all three linebacker positions, as well as the all-important spur safety position that was capably handled the last three years by KJ Dillon.

 

Gibson said he will use all 15 practices this spring to evaluate what his guys can do well and plan accordingly.

 

“The things we are looking for right now - obviously this is a space game we’re playing right now - so we’re going to be working on tackling and fundamentals,” he explained. “It may be slow. We may have to go into those first few games with a lot less (packages) than we’ve been used to, which is OK. The goal for us is to be able to play fast, be physical, be aggressive and tackle well.

 

“As long as we can do those things, I’m comfortable with it. Sometimes it’s better to stay simple - that’s kind of where we built this two years ago and we just have to go back to that.”

 

Gibson does have the benefit of having coaches and players familiar with what he wants - defensive line coach Bruce Tall has worked with Gibson in the past and understands how his guys up front tie into the whole deal, Matt Caponi was hand-picked by Gibson to coach the safeties, and word is new corners coach Blue Adams is a take-charge guy on the field capable of teaching his corners how to cover like pros - so that will be beneficial.

 

Gibson also has spent the last couple of years recruiting players specifically for his defense. That means what they’re doing and how they’re doing it is no longer a mystery to any of the guys in the program now.

 

“In the (media), the perception is that we are not going to be any good, especially on defense since we lost so many guys,” said Holgorsen. “I don’t buy into that. We have a lot of guys that look pretty good. They think they are pretty good, and they feel pretty good.”

 

And, Holgorsen has plenty of firepower returning on offense, specifically at offensive line and wide receiver, to go with an experienced quarterback coming off a 532-yard passing performance in January’s Cactus Bowl victory over Arizona State.

 

They say a rising tide lifts all boats, well, West Virginia’s defense going up against Dana Holgorsen’s offense all spring should make those 11 guys on the defensive side of the ball much better football players.

 

It certainly worked out that way last spring when Gibson’s experienced defense was dominating West Virginia’s inexperienced offense.

 

“What I want to see from us coming out of the spring is being able to play in space, tackle well, be aggressive and physical,” pointed out Gibson. “The scheme part of it is a wait-and-see process because we are going to be counting on a lot of guys that we signed to come in and add something to this defense.

 

“All of the pieces won’t be in place until (fall training camp) so mid-August is probably a better time for me to tell you what type of defense we are going to be. Are we going to be a drop-eight (defense)? Are we going to be aggressive? Are we going to mix it up a little bit? Are we going to be heavier blitz? A lot of that depends upon the new secondary guys we have coming in.”

 

In the meantime, Gibson is going to take things slow and steady until he’s sure the guys that are here right now are going to the right places and not blowing up the defense.

 

“We may set goals for a week instead of a day, ‘OK, let’s get good at our base front coverage and don’t give up big plays and tackle,’” Gibson said. “If we’re fitting in the right places, we can fix a lot from that.”

 

Briefly: West Virginia practiced Tuesday and have other practices scheduled for later today and early Saturday afternoon. Saturday’s practice is closed to the general public, but media is permitted to attend. Holgorsen will have an update beforehand and select assistant coaches and players will be made available after practice. Also, be sure to check out this week's Wolf's Den as assistant coach JaJaun Seider is wired for spring football practice sights and sounds.