Campus Connection: Good Reviews for Bridgeport's Tonkery

Among the many positives that came out of West Virginia's 31-24 loss to 21^st-ranked Virginia Tech last Sunday night was the play of redshirt-freshman outside linebacker Dylan Tonkery.

The light has shined brightly on Tonkery from the very first day of fall camp when coach Dana Holgorsen praised his preseason work in the weight room, calling Tonkery's conditioning level "elite."

But looking good and playing good are two entirely different things. How was he going to hold up against Tech's big, physical offensive line? Would he blow up the defense by making a lot of mental errors and missing assignments? And, could he handle all of the dynamic responsibilities defensive coordinator Tony Gibson expects from his linebackers?

The answers were yes, yes and yes.

"He played extremely well," Gibson said. "He tackled well in the open field. He had two big-time tackles, one on the little dump off to the back and the other when they ran a stretch to the boundary. He came under a block and made an open-field tackle that was really nice."

The one play apparent to those of us without the benefit of film study - or who are not kooky enough to DVR the game to study it incessantly - happened midway through the third quarter when Virginia Tech had just reached the red zone and was looking to increase its seven-point lead.

Facing a third and one at the 20, Tech ran 220-pound junior tailback Steven Peoples over right guard. There to meet him a yard behind the line of scrimmage and two yards from where he needed to be was Tonkery.

It was like the old line from Superman when the Ultrasphinx asked, "What happens when the Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Object?"

"They surrender," Superman answered. In this case, Peoples was forced to surrender.

"I saw the guard go out, and I saw the hole," Tonkery, the younger brother of former Mountaineer defensive standout Wes Tonkery, explained. "I could see the back and I just shot it and made the tackle."

"That was a heck of a tackle for a TFL and they ended up missing a field goal on that drive," Gibson added.

The Bridgeport High product was in on 69 of the 72 total snaps the defense saw on Sunday and he said he only missed two assignments. That means he got 67 right out of 69 for 97 percent.

Just think if we did that well on our math tests back in the day how much richer we'd all be right now? Today, they call the people who once scored that highly on their math tests doctors and scientists, certainly not journalists!

At any rate, Tonkery said he was eager to get back to the Puskar Center after Sunday's loss so he could study those 69 plays to see what he did right, what he did wrong and what he could do better.

That seemed to be the general theme amongst the entire defense. Veteran defensive line coach Bruce Tall said it was one of the quietest bus rides he's ever been on in his 35 years of coaching. Tonkery was one of the young guys sitting there quietly, replaying every single snap he could remember in his mind.

"I wanted to see how my technique was, how bad it was, so I can improve - that's the main thing to try and improve each week," Tonkery said.

Based on how well he held up against Virginia Tech, that could be a big deal for West Virginia's defense, especially when David Long Jr. is cleared to resume playing.

Gibson hinted Tuesday that Tonkery is quite capable of flip-flopping over to sam linebacker, meaning the possibility exists that we could see both of them on the field at the same time when Long returns.

That will give Gibson some immediate flexibility at the linebacker position that he's been seeking since the start of preseason camp. Plus, it will reduce the number of snaps some of those guys will be accumulating as the season moves along.

"Putting that many snaps on some of those guys, they're going to wear down at some point," Gibson noted. "It's a long year and that was a very, very physical game."

Tonkery said he has no problem moving from one side to the other if he has to.

"It's easily interchangeable," Tonkery admitted. "I know both positions. When he first moved me down I was a sam and then he moved me over. Most of the assignments are the same, just little differences here and there."

Linebacker is not an easy position to play in the stack because of the run-pass responsibilities and the unorthodox run fits they have. That's why Gibson coaches the linebackers and that's why his predecessor, Jeff Casteel, also coached the linebackers.

And, that's why having players at linebacker who know what they are doing is so vitally important. Knowledge doesn't trump ability, but it can make a slow player faster and a fast player even faster.

"We're asked a lot," Tonkery admitted. "A lot of times we're just trying to fill our gaps and do our responsibilities. When we drop back (in pass coverage) I'm just trying to get back there and help out the safeties and help out the corners."

Tonkery is quick to point out that it wasn't all good on Sunday. He got wiped out by two offensive linemen on one screen pass - "I just grabbed them and pulled them down with me," he said - and his leverage was not always where it needed to be when taking on those 300-pound blockers.

"When you have more leverage than the person across from you, you are going to win," he explained. "Getting your hands inside and getting extension on them … if they get ahold of you you're done."

Indeed, it was a valuable first game for Dylan Tonkery and an extremely young Mountaineer defense eager to make their mark on the 2017 season.

Saturday against ECU presents another challenge for them, and another opportunity for the defense to get a little bit better.

Briefly:

* Have you seen this? https://sports.yahoo.com/national-title-get-clemsons-case-nap-room-ridiculous-amenities-233823833.html

I call this Exhibit A for every class action lawsuit filed against the NCAA now working through the legal system!

* Did you know Pitt and Penn State are playing this Saturday? I didn't either, until this morning.

* RIP Walter Becker. Some of you reading this probably don't know who Walter Becker is, but the guy really had a way of taking the edge off of a long day with his music.

You've probably heard of his band, though: Steely Dan. I rediscovered Becker's music when I was in college and have been listening to it ever since.

Incidentally, is it me or did Becker bear a close resemblance to the Charleston Gazette's Mitch Vingle?

* To all of our friends living in Florida, stay safe this weekend!

* Now, back to Mountaineer football. Defensive line coach Bruce Tall said Tuesday that he was pleased with the rotation of defensive linemen he used last Sunday against Virginia Tech.

"I mixed it up a couple of times just to kind of keep the off base as to who was in," he said. "I do want to play more guys and I will continue to get more guys ready."

One of the youngsters up front who played quite a bit was true freshman nose Lamonte McDougle, who was credited with two unassisted tackles and a TFL.

That's not typical for a true freshman, especially one facing the No. 21-ranked team in the country in his very first college game.

"He's a natural at the nose position," Tall explained. "When you look at him size wise, length wise, he doesn't fit the parameters. However, he plays big. And he knows how to play that position extremely well; good initial contact, uses his hands well, is very active in there and has a way of slipping blocks."

He's listed at 6-feet but is probably closer to 5-9.

"A short guy can still stand up and lose the horizontal power that you need and the power angles that you need to have, so tall guys need to know how to play low and low guys need to play low, too," Tall said.

McDougle seems to be staying pretty low so far.

* Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson admitted he's anxious to see how much his young defense improves from game one to game two. That is typically when you see the most improvement.

* One thing to keep in the back of your mind when reviewing the performance of the defense last Sunday: It did not have the benefit of having a lot of rest between possessions because of the large number of passes West Virginia was forced to attempt against a Hokie D geared toward stopping the run.

Don't forget, the clock stops every time a pass is incomplete, and there were 35 of them from both teams on Sunday.

* Based on the number of times both teams threw the football last weekend - West Virginia 54 attempts versus Virginia Tech and East Carolina 53 attempts against James Madison - there is the possibility for lots of flying footballs on Saturday.

But the Pirates gave up 410 yards on the ground to James Madison and I would expect with WVU's stable of running backs that offensive coordinator Jake Spavital will be inclined to call a few more running plays this weekend.

* Spavital said Tuesday the most encouraging thing he took out of last Sunday's performance from the offense was the team's effort and how physical they were.

"They fought the entire game," he said. "I think the best compliment is when other coaches throughout the country are texting you telling you your kids played very, very hard for you. That's the best thing you can take out of any game you're looking at."

* Saturday's game will be East Carolina's 14^th appearance in Morgantown and its first since 2009, a 35-20 Mountaineer victory.

Although West Virginia has won all 13 meetings, several have been extremely competitive. I remember the 1996 game here going right down to the wire and Pirate coach Steve Logan rolling the dice and going for two late in the game when he team pulled to within 10-9.

That, by the way, was Tony Caridi's first game replacing legendary Voice of the Mountaineers Jack Fleming (you can catch my pregame look back at that game on the Mountaineer Tailgate Show early Saturday morning).

Another close game I recall happened in 2005 when West Virginia held on for a 20-15 victory. If memory serves correctly, the Pirates had the ball at midfield and attempted a pass into the end zone that was batted down on the final play of the game.

I also remember quite well the three losses to the Pirates - two coming in Greenville and the other occurring in Charlotte.

The loss in '95 to East Carolina came during the one year veteran coach Don Nehlen allowed his team to wear blue pants for the first time during road games. WVU lost six times that year to Purdue, Maryland, East Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Miami and those blue pants ended up in the dumpster.

* One thing coach Dana Holgorsen mentioned about East Carolina is the Pirates have always had players and he's right - guys such as running back Chris Johnson, quarterback David Garrard, fullback Vonta Leach, wide receiver Larry Shannon, tight end Carlester Crumpler and quarterback Jeff Blake from years gone by.

I have no doubt ECU is going to have some very good players running around out there on Saturday, too.

* Saturday's game will be televised nationally on FS2. If you are a Comcast customer in Morgantown, that's channel 166.

Those watching the game on DIRECTV, it's channel 618, and FS2 can be seen on channel 397 on DISH Network.

Otherwise, I hope to see you there on Saturday! And as always, enjoy your weekend!