Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Kpogba Making The Most of His Second Opportunity With Mountaineers
May 20, 2022 11:35 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As I recently watched Lee Kpogba saunter into the media room, sit down at the dais and reveal his broad, extremely defined shoulders, I had to readjust my eyes.
For a brief moment, I thought I was looking at J.T. Thomas III.
Surely you remember J.T., the son of J.T. Thomas Sr.. The younger Thomas played six years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants.
J.T. looked like the football player that we all wanted to look like.
If you think about it, West Virginia hasn't had too many linebackers lately who look like J.T. Nick Kwiatkoski and David Long Jr. did, for sure, and probably Arizona transfer Tony Fields II, too. Those were the most athletic linebackers the Mountaineers have had that I can recall since J.T. played here more than a decade ago.
Now, you can add Kpogba to the list. You can also include will linebacker Lance Dixon and incoming Miami transfer Tirek Austin-Cave as well.
According to longtime WVU strength and conditioning coach Mike Joseph, Kpogba (pronounced Co-Bah) has gone from 217 to 232 pounds while increasing his speed, and a faster version of Dixon is now 220 instead of the 203 pounds he weighed when he first arrived on campus from Penn State.
Austin-Cave is listed at 225 pounds, so we'll see which direction he ends up going once Joseph gets his hands on him.
The point is, West Virginia has sorely needed to improve its size and athleticism at the linebacker position to match the types of teams now on its schedule, from defending ACC champion Pitt and ACC rival Virginia Tech, to the teams it faces on a weekly basis in the Big 12.
In this day and age, you've got to have some longer, leaner, more athletic linebackers in your program. It's not the be-all, end-all, but it is important. Aspiring NFL executive Doug Whaley innocently got himself into the soup the other day when he said on a Pittsburgh sports talk show that Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham would have been a backup special teams player in today's game.
"He couldn't play in this era, just couldn't," Whaley said.
Although the analogy Whaley used is absurd because it was a different era when Ham played and he didn't have access to the modern training and nutritional methods today's athletes do, Whaley's overall point about athleticism in football is worth exploring.
The game today is much more athletic than it ever has been.
"You always want to have as much length and athleticism as possible; that's a given," West Virginia linebackers coach Jeff Koonz said recently. "That's why we measure guys in recruiting, and that's why the NFL measures guys when they draft. That's part of it.
"You want the biggest, longest, fastest and most flexible guy with instincts. I just described the Super Linebacker," Koonz added.
Let's be clear; Kpogba, Dixon and now Austin-Cave are not quite in Koonz's Super Linebacker category just yet, but they do bring an athletic dimension to a Mountaineer defense that highly values athleticism and speed.
Kpogba spent this spring learning and developing, and more importantly, he's eager to learn and develop even more.
"Lee has done a good job embracing this team, embracing this culture and understanding his role in the defense," Koonz said. "He's been a quick study. He's worked really hard at it and is by far the best note taker and how much he studies and how much he's over here on his own."
Those who consume college football recruiting know Kpogba's background. He was once a four-star prospect out of Parkland High in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who had his sights set on attending West Virginia until the coaching change happened following the 2018 season.
Kpogba said he grew up watching Karl Joseph's highlights on YouTube and developed an affinity for the way he played the game. But Kpogba soon got lost in the transition, decommitted from the Mountaineers, and instead committed to Syracuse.
He spent two seasons playing for the Orange, mostly as a backup linebacker and special teams player, but eventually found himself in coach Dino Babers' doghouse and ended up transferring to East Mississippi Community College. It was at East Mississippi, playing for coach Buddy Stephens, where Kpogba got his football career back on track.
"Going to juco was a very humbling experience for me," Kpogba admitted. "It's a grind in juco. It shows how much you appreciate football. It definitely opened my eyes and made me realize that I have to buy in to what the coaches tell me and just come and show up every day and be consistent with what I do."
Kpogba's strong play at East Mississippi caught the eye of West Virginia defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, who knows the Mississippi junior college system like the back of his hand. He saw immediately that Kpogba's athleticism and aggressiveness were well-suited for his defense and offered him a second chance to play Power 5 football.
"You never know what life has in store for you, and I definitely wasn't expecting to come back here, but coach Lesley called me and explained to me the opportunity I would have here, and I just couldn't turn it down," Kpogba explained.
Kpogba came to West Virginia thinking he was going to battle it out with Josh Chandler-Semedo for the starting mike linebacker job, but when Chandler-Semedo put his name into the transfer portal, eventually choosing Colorado, Kpogba had to adjust his thinking a little bit.
"I was always willing to come in and compete, so I was going to fight for the one-spot regardless who was here," he explained. "That wasn't going to change my demeanor or how I approached things. With him leaving, though, it made me feel like I had to step up a lot faster, so I hopped in my playbook to learn things faster."
Koonz said he couldn't be happier with Kpogba's positive attitude and eagerness to learn.
"When you watch Lee practice, it takes about three seconds to see how much he loves football," Koonz said. "That's fun to coach and that's fun to play next to. You can see it from the other guys."
Koonz added, "The thing about Lee is he's played Power 5 football; we know his journey and how he got here and the thing about Lee that's fun is he appreciates being here. He appreciates what we're trying to do as far as the defense and what we're trying to do as far as the program. He's excited every day when he walks in here, and that's something that's exciting for everybody."
"The game of football has done a lot for me, and I'm just appreciative of getting to play the game I love. It was taken away from me for a little bit so just getting another chance to play, I want to make the most of this opportunity," Kpogba concluded.
Although some guys have remained in town to train with Joseph and his strength and conditioning staff, the football summer training program officially begins May 31 and will last eight weeks leading into fall camp.
There will be five weeks of workouts before the July 4 break, and finally three more weeks before camp commences in early August.
For a brief moment, I thought I was looking at J.T. Thomas III.
Surely you remember J.T., the son of J.T. Thomas Sr.. The younger Thomas played six years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants.
J.T. looked like the football player that we all wanted to look like.
If you think about it, West Virginia hasn't had too many linebackers lately who look like J.T. Nick Kwiatkoski and David Long Jr. did, for sure, and probably Arizona transfer Tony Fields II, too. Those were the most athletic linebackers the Mountaineers have had that I can recall since J.T. played here more than a decade ago.
Now, you can add Kpogba to the list. You can also include will linebacker Lance Dixon and incoming Miami transfer Tirek Austin-Cave as well.
According to longtime WVU strength and conditioning coach Mike Joseph, Kpogba (pronounced Co-Bah) has gone from 217 to 232 pounds while increasing his speed, and a faster version of Dixon is now 220 instead of the 203 pounds he weighed when he first arrived on campus from Penn State.
Austin-Cave is listed at 225 pounds, so we'll see which direction he ends up going once Joseph gets his hands on him.
The point is, West Virginia has sorely needed to improve its size and athleticism at the linebacker position to match the types of teams now on its schedule, from defending ACC champion Pitt and ACC rival Virginia Tech, to the teams it faces on a weekly basis in the Big 12.
In this day and age, you've got to have some longer, leaner, more athletic linebackers in your program. It's not the be-all, end-all, but it is important. Aspiring NFL executive Doug Whaley innocently got himself into the soup the other day when he said on a Pittsburgh sports talk show that Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham would have been a backup special teams player in today's game.
"He couldn't play in this era, just couldn't," Whaley said.
Although the analogy Whaley used is absurd because it was a different era when Ham played and he didn't have access to the modern training and nutritional methods today's athletes do, Whaley's overall point about athleticism in football is worth exploring.
The game today is much more athletic than it ever has been.
"You always want to have as much length and athleticism as possible; that's a given," West Virginia linebackers coach Jeff Koonz said recently. "That's why we measure guys in recruiting, and that's why the NFL measures guys when they draft. That's part of it.
"You want the biggest, longest, fastest and most flexible guy with instincts. I just described the Super Linebacker," Koonz added.
Let's be clear; Kpogba, Dixon and now Austin-Cave are not quite in Koonz's Super Linebacker category just yet, but they do bring an athletic dimension to a Mountaineer defense that highly values athleticism and speed.
Kpogba spent this spring learning and developing, and more importantly, he's eager to learn and develop even more.
"Lee has done a good job embracing this team, embracing this culture and understanding his role in the defense," Koonz said. "He's been a quick study. He's worked really hard at it and is by far the best note taker and how much he studies and how much he's over here on his own."
Those who consume college football recruiting know Kpogba's background. He was once a four-star prospect out of Parkland High in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who had his sights set on attending West Virginia until the coaching change happened following the 2018 season.Kpogba said he grew up watching Karl Joseph's highlights on YouTube and developed an affinity for the way he played the game. But Kpogba soon got lost in the transition, decommitted from the Mountaineers, and instead committed to Syracuse.
He spent two seasons playing for the Orange, mostly as a backup linebacker and special teams player, but eventually found himself in coach Dino Babers' doghouse and ended up transferring to East Mississippi Community College. It was at East Mississippi, playing for coach Buddy Stephens, where Kpogba got his football career back on track.
"Going to juco was a very humbling experience for me," Kpogba admitted. "It's a grind in juco. It shows how much you appreciate football. It definitely opened my eyes and made me realize that I have to buy in to what the coaches tell me and just come and show up every day and be consistent with what I do."
Kpogba's strong play at East Mississippi caught the eye of West Virginia defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, who knows the Mississippi junior college system like the back of his hand. He saw immediately that Kpogba's athleticism and aggressiveness were well-suited for his defense and offered him a second chance to play Power 5 football.
"You never know what life has in store for you, and I definitely wasn't expecting to come back here, but coach Lesley called me and explained to me the opportunity I would have here, and I just couldn't turn it down," Kpogba explained.
Kpogba came to West Virginia thinking he was going to battle it out with Josh Chandler-Semedo for the starting mike linebacker job, but when Chandler-Semedo put his name into the transfer portal, eventually choosing Colorado, Kpogba had to adjust his thinking a little bit.
"I was always willing to come in and compete, so I was going to fight for the one-spot regardless who was here," he explained. "That wasn't going to change my demeanor or how I approached things. With him leaving, though, it made me feel like I had to step up a lot faster, so I hopped in my playbook to learn things faster."
Koonz said he couldn't be happier with Kpogba's positive attitude and eagerness to learn.
"When you watch Lee practice, it takes about three seconds to see how much he loves football," Koonz said. "That's fun to coach and that's fun to play next to. You can see it from the other guys."
Koonz added, "The thing about Lee is he's played Power 5 football; we know his journey and how he got here and the thing about Lee that's fun is he appreciates being here. He appreciates what we're trying to do as far as the defense and what we're trying to do as far as the program. He's excited every day when he walks in here, and that's something that's exciting for everybody."
"The game of football has done a lot for me, and I'm just appreciative of getting to play the game I love. It was taken away from me for a little bit so just getting another chance to play, I want to make the most of this opportunity," Kpogba concluded.
Although some guys have remained in town to train with Joseph and his strength and conditioning staff, the football summer training program officially begins May 31 and will last eight weeks leading into fall camp.
There will be five weeks of workouts before the July 4 break, and finally three more weeks before camp commences in early August.
Players Mentioned
Ryan Ward | April 6
Tuesday, April 07
Coach Ryan Garrett | April 6
Tuesday, April 07
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 6
Tuesday, April 07
Alumni Series | Rachel Viglianco Wagner
Monday, April 06
