Photo by: Caleb Saunders
WVU’s Dante Stills Now Flying Solo Without Older Brother Darius
April 09, 2021 05:00 AM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Dante Stills admits he entertained the idea of joining his older brother, Darius, in this year's NFL Draft, but he just felt his junior-season numbers at West Virginia weren't really good enough to make the leap."My goal going into my junior year was to leave," Stills said earlier this week. "I wanted to be a three-year-and-out guy, but throughout the season, I wasn't performing at the level I thought I could. People said I did well, but my stats weren't showing it, which is kind of a big deal."
Then you look at what he did last year in 10 games as a defensive lineman – 35 tackles, a team-best 10½ tackles for loss, two sacks, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick – and those numbers are not too shabby, really. Put what he did in 2020 together with his lofty expectations for 2021 and your imagination begins to run wild.
What kind of year is he expecting?
What kind of year is he capable of having?
Let's put it this way, if he does what he expects to do then there are going to be a lot of happy Mountaineer fans from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between!
Consider this: older brother Darius, West Virginia's first consensus All-American in 15 years, put up 85 tackles, 25½ tackles for loss and 11½ sacks in four seasons at WVU. He will go down as one of the five best defensive linemen in school history. Put Dante's numbers next to Darius' and you immediately realize Dante actually has more career TFLs (28½) and sacks (12) in three seasons than Darius had in four. Now to be fair, his big brother ate up a lot of the blockers that helped get Dante free to make many of those plays.
And not only did Darius help his younger brother take care of business on the field, he helped him off the field as well as a confidant, motivator, life coach, friend and supporter. He always knew which buttons to push to get the most out of Dante.
So in that regard, Dante is now his own man just like he once was during his senior year in high school.
"Darius always got into my ear talking and making sure I'm focused and ready to go throughout the game, before games, during practices and stuff like that," Dante explained. "You've got to lead yourself before you can lead others, so I have to make sure I'm doing the right things on the field – doing techniques right and making sure the guys behind me are copying that so they are able to perform."
Including his father, Gary, a standout rush linebacker for the Mountaineers in the mid-1990s, it's pretty impressive what the Stills family has accomplished here so far. Gary still ranks second in career sacks with 26 - a number Dante could possibly reach if he has the type of year he is expecting in 2021.
Or, if Dante only repeats what he did last year in 10 games he will still crack the school's all-time top five in career TFLs.
Therefore, we've probably taken what Dante has done so far for granted a little bit because he was so heavily recruited coming out of Fairmont Senior High. Sometimes, we expect those four- and five-star guys to jump over tall buildings and do super-human things.
Dante didn't have to do that when Darius was around, and he doesn't have to do it now with Darius gone. He's still got an outstanding supporting cast that includes senior defensive end Jeffery Pooler Jr. and emerging sophomore Akheem Mesidor, who is a potential star in the making.Ballers know ballers, and Dante says Akheem is a "big baller."
"My first year, I got Freshman All-American so he asked me how many sacks I got my freshman year. I said 'I only got three,' and I told him he would beat that for sure, and he did – easy," Dante said. "As a freshman, you tend to be nervous, and I told him he has no reason to be nervous, because he's got all of the talent in the world.
"This year, he's an even better player than he was last year, so it's definitely going to be very exciting, for sure," he added.
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley has talked about moving the defensive linemen around in the spring to learn other positions and techniques, believing it will make the defense more versatile and improve its depth.
Having these athletic guys standing up or having their hands down on the ground will make them more difficult to block because it's much harder to lock on to someone when he's lining up in different places. Coach Neal Brown talked earlier in the spring about his defensive linemen needing to win more one-on-one battles this season, and moving them around could help in that regard.
Dante is definitely on board.
"Our coaches are having us play a five (technique), four, three, two, one and zero," he said. "They're moving us all around, because in a game, you never know when someone might go down or you might be thrown into the game at any point, so you have to know every position you're taught."
Stills says having new defensive line coach A.J. Jackson with them every day is going to help as well.
"I definitely like him," Stills said. "He's new to the system, but I feel like he's catching up real quickly, and I'm definitely impressed with him for sure."
Now that Stills is the old man on the field, he's got to take on the role of becoming one of the team leaders. It's a role he said he is embracing.
"As a senior, I'm not saying you're automatically a leader, but I've played the last three seasons, and being a senior now, I feel like I've had that type of guidance throughout my years. My first year it was Zeke (Rose), Reese (Donahue), my brother and all of the older guys, and throughout the years, I just learned off of them how to be vocal and just to be there for my guys," Stills said. "If they have any questions, I'm all for answering them. I like being in this role. Who doesn't want to be a leader?"
Dante's first piece of advice to the younger guys is to get ready to play in front of more people in Milan Puskar Stadium this fall. COVID-19 concerns required local health officials to limit Milan Puskar Stadium's capacity to just 25% for the 2020 season.
"It's a whole different feeling when you are out there in front of 60 (thousand) plus," he said. "I tell these freshman all the time and people last year that came in, 'You haven't experienced Morgantown yet. You haven't experienced the game day atmosphere here.' As a freshman, you might feel overwhelmed, but all of these people are here for us to help us play our best.
"I'm definitely excited to have the fans back and have this place rocking again."
Tickets for the 2021 Gold-Blue Spring Game, to be played at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, April 24 at 1 p.m., are currently on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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