Photo by: Kaitlyn Cole
Stewart Back To Picking On Guys His Own Size For Mountaineer Defense
April 09, 2019 07:12 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – JoVanni Stewart may have been the smallest starting outside linebacker to play for a Power 5 football team last year.
Standing 5-feet-8 and weighing a couple donuts shy of 200 pounds, the Katy, Texas, resident was asked to take on guys 6 or 7 inches taller and 100 to 125 pounds heavier than he was as the Mountaineers' starting Sam linebacker.
Normally a safety, Stewart was forced to switch to Sam after the season opener against Tennessee when starter Charlie Benton was injured against the Volunteers.
That meant he frequently had to play near the line of scrimmage where he had to take on offensive guards, tackles and fullbacks much, much bigger than him. And more often than not, Stewart did more than just hold his ground.
He produced 54 tackles, 10 ½ tackles for losses and four sacks and recovered a fumble in 10 games as a starter. He had a career-high seven tackles in the Texas victory and matched that a week later against TCU, also a Mountaineer win.
Usually, he was even smaller than the guys he was tackling.
"It's having a dog mindset," Stewart explained recently. "If you go in there intimidated and scared you will get embarrassed. I went in there like I was 6-4, 250. I had the mindset like that so I didn't really have a problem."
He also doesn't have a problem moving back off the ball this spring in Vic Koenning's new defense. Moved to Spear linebacker, Stewart no longer has to bang his head into a brick wall.
He says he feels a lot freer in the new scheme based on where he lines up.
"Where I am on the field this year compared to last year is I have a whole lot more freedom because I have a whole lot more space," he said. "I just feel my first five steps I'm not always running into somebody."
Stewart is learning a new defense for the first time since he joined the Mountaineer program three years ago. Once he found out Neal Brown was going to be West Virginia's new coach in January, he began watching Troy cutups on YouTube.
He wanted to see what type of defense the Trojans ran.
"I had to watch a game," he said. "I watched LSU, and I loved it."
He also loves his role in West Virginia's new defense as its Spear linebacker, working with Dante Bonamico and Kwantel Raines.
"There are aggressors and protectors in our defense," Stewart explained. "If I told you, you can go shoot that (gap) and mess up it's okay because somebody is behind you, that's very comforting."
Last year, the player doing most of the gap-shooting was David Long Jr., which meant sometimes gaps went uncovered if he guessed wrong.
Most of the time, Stewart, Dylan Tonkery and Shea Campbell were able to cover for him but not always.
Many of the rules and keys Stewart once relied on to play Tony Gibson's 3-3 stack defense went out the window when the new staff arrived. Stewart said he had to erase from his memory a lot of the things he was once taught to do.
"It's like going from high school to college," he explained. "You can't go into it going 'but in high school …' No. These new guys don't care about that. We're trying to set a whole new foundation."
It has taken a couple of weeks of spring practice for the players to get a handle on what Koenning wants done with a lot more thinking and not enough reacting going on.
Now that players are beginning to get settled in the new scheme, that has allowed Koenning to start putting guys in motion before the ball is snapped. Stewart said all of the pre-snap movement helps the defensive players read formations and better predict what the offense is going to do.
"Guys were worried about getting their assignments down, but now we're starting to move around a little bit – show this and move into something else," Stewart said. "That's definitely going to help us a lot more in our defense because that's how turnovers happen."
Koenning is a big proponent of creating turnovers, and Stewart said they spend a good portion of each practice working on that.
"We emphasize turnovers, and we do so much more with turnover circuits and stuff like that," he said.
According to Stewart, open-field tackling is another fundamental technique Koenning has them spending a lot of time doing.
"That's definitely a little different, just the technique of how he wants us to tackle," he admitted. "Before it was a lot more just go and deliver the blow and keep your pads … I can't really explain.
"But Vic's style, it's more a way of getting the ball out. Make sure your head is on the ball and we emphasize that. We do plenty of drills wrapping up teammates and making sure our head is on the ball while other guys are making sure they strip it – which we did with our old coaching staff, too."
What Stewart's old coaching staff didn't have was Mr. Enthusiasm, Al Pogue. The players have really taken to Pogue's charismatic coaching style.
"He brings energy and enthusiasm," Stewart chuckled. "He's a great guy. He definitely brings our room together, and he makes football a whole lot more fun. He reminds us football is a game and it's supposed to be fun.
"A lot of people have problems overthinking things and just getting that daily reminder – 'juice' as he calls it – it just brings good vibes. You go out on the practice field and that helps you give a little extra."
For Stewart, a little extra now also includes doing more backpedaling than he once did at outside linebacker. Even though his quads are much sorer than they once were, he's thankful he's back in an area of the football field where he can pick on guys closer to his size.
However, there are times when he misses banging helmets with the big boys up front and showing them that No. 9 packs quite a punch in his sub-200-pound frame.
"It's not that I didn't get enough. I'm cool with offensive tackles, I just wouldn't want to say 'hi' to them every play. We can talk every now and then," he laughed.
Standing 5-feet-8 and weighing a couple donuts shy of 200 pounds, the Katy, Texas, resident was asked to take on guys 6 or 7 inches taller and 100 to 125 pounds heavier than he was as the Mountaineers' starting Sam linebacker.
Normally a safety, Stewart was forced to switch to Sam after the season opener against Tennessee when starter Charlie Benton was injured against the Volunteers.
That meant he frequently had to play near the line of scrimmage where he had to take on offensive guards, tackles and fullbacks much, much bigger than him. And more often than not, Stewart did more than just hold his ground.
He produced 54 tackles, 10 ½ tackles for losses and four sacks and recovered a fumble in 10 games as a starter. He had a career-high seven tackles in the Texas victory and matched that a week later against TCU, also a Mountaineer win.
Usually, he was even smaller than the guys he was tackling.
"It's having a dog mindset," Stewart explained recently. "If you go in there intimidated and scared you will get embarrassed. I went in there like I was 6-4, 250. I had the mindset like that so I didn't really have a problem."
He also doesn't have a problem moving back off the ball this spring in Vic Koenning's new defense. Moved to Spear linebacker, Stewart no longer has to bang his head into a brick wall.
He says he feels a lot freer in the new scheme based on where he lines up.
"Where I am on the field this year compared to last year is I have a whole lot more freedom because I have a whole lot more space," he said. "I just feel my first five steps I'm not always running into somebody."
Stewart is learning a new defense for the first time since he joined the Mountaineer program three years ago. Once he found out Neal Brown was going to be West Virginia's new coach in January, he began watching Troy cutups on YouTube.
He wanted to see what type of defense the Trojans ran.
"I had to watch a game," he said. "I watched LSU, and I loved it."
He also loves his role in West Virginia's new defense as its Spear linebacker, working with Dante Bonamico and Kwantel Raines.
"There are aggressors and protectors in our defense," Stewart explained. "If I told you, you can go shoot that (gap) and mess up it's okay because somebody is behind you, that's very comforting."
Last year, the player doing most of the gap-shooting was David Long Jr., which meant sometimes gaps went uncovered if he guessed wrong.
Most of the time, Stewart, Dylan Tonkery and Shea Campbell were able to cover for him but not always.
Many of the rules and keys Stewart once relied on to play Tony Gibson's 3-3 stack defense went out the window when the new staff arrived. Stewart said he had to erase from his memory a lot of the things he was once taught to do.
"It's like going from high school to college," he explained. "You can't go into it going 'but in high school …' No. These new guys don't care about that. We're trying to set a whole new foundation."
It has taken a couple of weeks of spring practice for the players to get a handle on what Koenning wants done with a lot more thinking and not enough reacting going on.
Now that players are beginning to get settled in the new scheme, that has allowed Koenning to start putting guys in motion before the ball is snapped. Stewart said all of the pre-snap movement helps the defensive players read formations and better predict what the offense is going to do."Guys were worried about getting their assignments down, but now we're starting to move around a little bit – show this and move into something else," Stewart said. "That's definitely going to help us a lot more in our defense because that's how turnovers happen."
Koenning is a big proponent of creating turnovers, and Stewart said they spend a good portion of each practice working on that.
"We emphasize turnovers, and we do so much more with turnover circuits and stuff like that," he said.
According to Stewart, open-field tackling is another fundamental technique Koenning has them spending a lot of time doing.
"That's definitely a little different, just the technique of how he wants us to tackle," he admitted. "Before it was a lot more just go and deliver the blow and keep your pads … I can't really explain.
"But Vic's style, it's more a way of getting the ball out. Make sure your head is on the ball and we emphasize that. We do plenty of drills wrapping up teammates and making sure our head is on the ball while other guys are making sure they strip it – which we did with our old coaching staff, too."
What Stewart's old coaching staff didn't have was Mr. Enthusiasm, Al Pogue. The players have really taken to Pogue's charismatic coaching style.
"He brings energy and enthusiasm," Stewart chuckled. "He's a great guy. He definitely brings our room together, and he makes football a whole lot more fun. He reminds us football is a game and it's supposed to be fun.
"A lot of people have problems overthinking things and just getting that daily reminder – 'juice' as he calls it – it just brings good vibes. You go out on the practice field and that helps you give a little extra."
For Stewart, a little extra now also includes doing more backpedaling than he once did at outside linebacker. Even though his quads are much sorer than they once were, he's thankful he's back in an area of the football field where he can pick on guys closer to his size.
However, there are times when he misses banging helmets with the big boys up front and showing them that No. 9 packs quite a punch in his sub-200-pound frame.
"It's not that I didn't get enough. I'm cool with offensive tackles, I just wouldn't want to say 'hi' to them every play. We can talk every now and then," he laughed.
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
S
/ Football
LB
/ Football
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
