Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU’s Chandler Learning a New Mountaineer Defense
April 22, 2019 12:05 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Josh Chandler was supposed to be David Long Jr.'s heir apparent at outside linebacker in West Virginia's 3-3 stack defense.
That's what the Mountaineers were looking for when they went linebacker shopping at Canton McKinley High two years ago. Former WVU assistant Matt Caponi came to Chandler's school and offered him a scholarship late in the recruiting process.
"I had offers, but I had no idea West Virginia was recruiting me," Chandler recalled.
Most of his contact was with Pitt, Kentucky and all of the MAC schools, but Chandler clicked with West Virginia once he came down to Morgantown for a visit and got to meet Long.
They saw eye to eye on many different levels.
"We're not from the same part of Ohio, but we're from Ohio," Chandler pointed out. "There are a lot of cities in Ohio that are the same so just how he carried himself and did different things it was good to be able to learn from him."
The first big lesson Chandler learned from Long was how to prepare. The very first week he was on campus as a January enrollee Long sent Chandler a text message asking him to go work out with him and then watch film afterward.
This was on a Saturday morning.
"I hadn't even started to learn the defense yet and he was telling me to do that," Chandler said.
As an early enrollee, Chandler was able to get a jump on the rest of his class by participating in spring practice last year. He said that experience was invaluable to him.
"I would definitely recommend anybody to come in early," he said. "What would you do at home for those last six months instead of coming in and getting a jumpstart? If you are playing football, why would you stay (in high school) and play basketball and run track? You're not going to college for that."
Those extra six months here enabled Chandler to get on the field as a freshman backup to Long when he took part in 14 tackles – 7 ½ of those coming on special teams. Chandler's rapid development made it easier for the former coaching staff to bless Long Jr.'s decision to leave school a year early to enter the NFL Draft.
Then, shortly after that, Dana Holgorsen left for Houston and his defensive staff scattered to other places, including Gibson, now NC State's co-defensive coordinator.
Chandler admits the change was difficult for him to initially process.
"You were kind of dejected because we weren't there," he said. "It happened over the break, but I was able to come in and get in a good talk with coach Gibson because he was the guy who recruited me. He was probably the closest person I was to on that entire staff, and he just basically said there was nothing for me to worry about. He told me to trust the next staff, and I did, and it's been great so far."
According to Chandler, his interactions with new defensive coordinator Vic Koenning also have been very positive.
After studying what West Virginia did last year, Koenning was able to incorporate a lot of the things they did well with what he wants to do in his defense this year.
That means putting West Virginia's two smaller linebackers Chandler, who stands 5-feet-11 and weighs 234 pounds, and JoVanni Stewart, a 5-foot-8, 197-pounder, in areas of the field where they can be successful.
"He said I was able to move around quick in the box so he said he would have some different things for me but he just took the strengths of our entire defense and just kind of converted it," Chandler explained. "Me and JoVanni are smaller backers, so he's been able to kind of create the Will and Spear positions to kind of work toward our strengths and weaknesses."
Chandler says Koenning is big on his guys studying and being prepared.
"Coach Vic is kind of like a genius," Chandler said. "That's what coach (Al) Pogue likes to say. He comes up with different things in his head and about six or seven defenses a day. He switches stuff and changes things, but we quickly get adjusted. With him his big deal is to really watch film and learn what we have to do."
And that suits Chandler just fine. Chandler has become sort of a film junkie himself watching tape whenever he has free time. Sometimes he will even sneak into the offensive room to watch other teams' defenses.
He did that last year when West Virginia was preparing to face TCU. He said he was watching how the Horned Frogs lined up, played their positions, saw things, what type of tendencies their linemen had, how their linebackers played underneath routes, how they called things and so forth.
"I like to do stuff like that," he admitted. "(Koenning's defense) is similar to TCU's defense but of course we have our own unique things because we have different types of players. I would say it's a Texas and TCU or however you want to combine that."
The key to Koenning's defense, according to Chandler, is all of the movement the players do before the ball is snapped to create maximum confusion.
"He's got a lot of twists and stunts and movements," Chandler said. "One play I'm here and one play I'm there. One play a safety is in the box and one play he's not, so it's just confusing. The linemen, once they get a count at the snap of the ball, we can switch it up and somebody is coming."
Sometimes this spring, however, there have been instances when players have gone the wrong way. "It's definitely been that way," he laughed.
That's when defensive assistants Al Pogue, Blake Seiler, Jahmile Addae and Jordan Lesley have to intervene to make sure the guys are clear about what Koenning wants them to do.
What the players know and can handle is just as important as what their defensive coordinator knows.
"Sometimes he addresses something quick and then comes back to it and sometimes he will say something and we all get it. He definitely spits a lot at us, but we're able to take it," Chandler said.
And when they can't?
"(Koenning's assistants) are able to dumb it down for us and we've been able to get it," Chandler laughed.
Overall, Chandler believes what Koenning has in store for West Virginia's defense will eventually make for a great product on the field this fall.
"Things we've done in the past that we're good at and things he's seen at different schools will combine our strengths," Chandler predicted.
"We've been really working hard on getting this down," Chandler added. "The coaching staff has been really pushing us to learn it so hopefully we can be really good on defense this fall – that's the main goal."
That's what the Mountaineers were looking for when they went linebacker shopping at Canton McKinley High two years ago. Former WVU assistant Matt Caponi came to Chandler's school and offered him a scholarship late in the recruiting process.
"I had offers, but I had no idea West Virginia was recruiting me," Chandler recalled.
Most of his contact was with Pitt, Kentucky and all of the MAC schools, but Chandler clicked with West Virginia once he came down to Morgantown for a visit and got to meet Long.
They saw eye to eye on many different levels.
"We're not from the same part of Ohio, but we're from Ohio," Chandler pointed out. "There are a lot of cities in Ohio that are the same so just how he carried himself and did different things it was good to be able to learn from him."
The first big lesson Chandler learned from Long was how to prepare. The very first week he was on campus as a January enrollee Long sent Chandler a text message asking him to go work out with him and then watch film afterward.
This was on a Saturday morning.
"I hadn't even started to learn the defense yet and he was telling me to do that," Chandler said.
As an early enrollee, Chandler was able to get a jump on the rest of his class by participating in spring practice last year. He said that experience was invaluable to him.
"I would definitely recommend anybody to come in early," he said. "What would you do at home for those last six months instead of coming in and getting a jumpstart? If you are playing football, why would you stay (in high school) and play basketball and run track? You're not going to college for that."
Those extra six months here enabled Chandler to get on the field as a freshman backup to Long when he took part in 14 tackles – 7 ½ of those coming on special teams. Chandler's rapid development made it easier for the former coaching staff to bless Long Jr.'s decision to leave school a year early to enter the NFL Draft.
Then, shortly after that, Dana Holgorsen left for Houston and his defensive staff scattered to other places, including Gibson, now NC State's co-defensive coordinator.
Chandler admits the change was difficult for him to initially process.
"You were kind of dejected because we weren't there," he said. "It happened over the break, but I was able to come in and get in a good talk with coach Gibson because he was the guy who recruited me. He was probably the closest person I was to on that entire staff, and he just basically said there was nothing for me to worry about. He told me to trust the next staff, and I did, and it's been great so far."
According to Chandler, his interactions with new defensive coordinator Vic Koenning also have been very positive.
After studying what West Virginia did last year, Koenning was able to incorporate a lot of the things they did well with what he wants to do in his defense this year.
That means putting West Virginia's two smaller linebackers Chandler, who stands 5-feet-11 and weighs 234 pounds, and JoVanni Stewart, a 5-foot-8, 197-pounder, in areas of the field where they can be successful.
"He said I was able to move around quick in the box so he said he would have some different things for me but he just took the strengths of our entire defense and just kind of converted it," Chandler explained. "Me and JoVanni are smaller backers, so he's been able to kind of create the Will and Spear positions to kind of work toward our strengths and weaknesses."
Chandler says Koenning is big on his guys studying and being prepared.
"Coach Vic is kind of like a genius," Chandler said. "That's what coach (Al) Pogue likes to say. He comes up with different things in his head and about six or seven defenses a day. He switches stuff and changes things, but we quickly get adjusted. With him his big deal is to really watch film and learn what we have to do."
And that suits Chandler just fine. Chandler has become sort of a film junkie himself watching tape whenever he has free time. Sometimes he will even sneak into the offensive room to watch other teams' defenses.
He did that last year when West Virginia was preparing to face TCU. He said he was watching how the Horned Frogs lined up, played their positions, saw things, what type of tendencies their linemen had, how their linebackers played underneath routes, how they called things and so forth.
"I like to do stuff like that," he admitted. "(Koenning's defense) is similar to TCU's defense but of course we have our own unique things because we have different types of players. I would say it's a Texas and TCU or however you want to combine that."
The key to Koenning's defense, according to Chandler, is all of the movement the players do before the ball is snapped to create maximum confusion.
"He's got a lot of twists and stunts and movements," Chandler said. "One play I'm here and one play I'm there. One play a safety is in the box and one play he's not, so it's just confusing. The linemen, once they get a count at the snap of the ball, we can switch it up and somebody is coming."
Sometimes this spring, however, there have been instances when players have gone the wrong way. "It's definitely been that way," he laughed.
That's when defensive assistants Al Pogue, Blake Seiler, Jahmile Addae and Jordan Lesley have to intervene to make sure the guys are clear about what Koenning wants them to do.
What the players know and can handle is just as important as what their defensive coordinator knows.
"Sometimes he addresses something quick and then comes back to it and sometimes he will say something and we all get it. He definitely spits a lot at us, but we're able to take it," Chandler said.
And when they can't?
"(Koenning's assistants) are able to dumb it down for us and we've been able to get it," Chandler laughed.
Overall, Chandler believes what Koenning has in store for West Virginia's defense will eventually make for a great product on the field this fall.
"Things we've done in the past that we're good at and things he's seen at different schools will combine our strengths," Chandler predicted.
"We've been really working hard on getting this down," Chandler added. "The coaching staff has been really pushing us to learn it so hopefully we can be really good on defense this fall – that's the main goal."
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballRich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
