Alston Has Become WVU’s Mr. Dependable

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Many, many years ago, there was an older lady who lived in my neighborhood who used to always tell the young kids, "Be dependable."

Taijh Alston certainly didn't grow up in my neighborhood, but somebody, somewhere along the way delivered a similar message to him – be dependable.

Dependability is near the top of the list of attributes football coaches seek in their players, and you can count Neal Brown among them.

"Taijh has a great story," the fourth-year coach said after this morning's practice. "He was up for the comeback player of the year last year, and he's done a great job of taking care of his body, and he's really consistent. He's been a guy we can depend on."

There you go, Taijh Alston, Mr. Dependable. Alston credits his father for helping him understand the value of dependability.

"He's retired from the military, so I feel like he instilled in me early that discipline is key, and if you want to get something, you've always got to be there," Alston said earlier today. "If I'm not there at practice then something is like critically wrong with me. I always just stack days and just try and be there even on the days when I'm tired or don't feel like going, I just push myself."

The Lumberton, North Carolina, resident has been a dependable player for the Mountaineers as long as he's been healthy. Unfortunately, that's been difficult. A variety of injuries limited his 2019 and 2020 seasons to only three games.

But last year, he was finally healthy enough to play a full season, and he responded by producing 37 tackles, 11 tackles for losses and five sacks. He was in on a couple of sacks in the big home win against Virginia Tech, and he also had a pair of sacks at Oklahoma.

After getting a taste of what it's like to play a full college football season - the first since his one year at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in 2018 after an injury-riddled freshman year at East Carolina - he wanted more.

There was no doubt he was putting on the West Virginia uniform again in 2022.

"I knew I was going to come back because I want to show people what I can do," he admitted. "As far as me improving, I feel like putting on the weight and working on my hand placement, I just feel like I can do better."

Alston said he played last season at 248 pounds and this year he wants to play closer to 260.

"I'm 8-to-10 pounds heavier than I was last season so I feel like that will help me a lot when I take on double teams," he explained.

Another reason Alston returned for his final season of college eligibility is he wants to play on a successful football team. The three seasons he's spent at WVU have been just average, at best.

He said the players talk all the time about simply becoming a better football team.

"Last year, we went to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, but I want to be in a bigger bowl game, and I want us to be ranked in the Top 10," he said. "I'm going to do everything in my power as far as putting in the extra work and eating the meals that I need to eat and stuff like that to try and get there.

"I take every practice and every rep as a chance to get better and critique my craft. I kind of look at the things I did last season and what I need to improve on, and I just try and focus on that," he added.

Alston said this year's defense has the ability to get to the football. He also believes he's playing with a hungrier, closer group of players.

"We all hang out a lot more outside of the stadium and things like that," he said. "As for our D-line, I want people to know that we're physical, we run to the ball and we're going to do whatever it takes to get the offense back on the field."

Those outside the program see the surprising loss of Akheem Mesidor this past spring as a big blow to the defensive line, but Alston doesn't. He said there are plenty of other good football players in the program to help pick up the slack.

"Even though we lost Akheem - that's my brother - he wasn't the only one in our room. We've got a lot of guys, and it's the next-man-up mentality. That's pretty much how we go about that," he said.

As for some of the white noise that has been out there in social media, particularly following the Mountaineers' disappointing performance in last year's bowl game, Alston said he hears it but it doesn't affect him too much.

"I just keep my head down and work," he said. "I'm not really with all that talking, so you will see Sept. 1^st."

Briefly:

* Alston was asked about the PSD Underwear that he is promoting on his Instagram account as part of his NIL deal. He said he's not a paid endorser, but he does get free underwear.

"I ain't going to turn down free underwear," he laughed.

* Today, the Mountaineers spent about two hours on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field and used the latter part of practice to work on some situational football, primarily third and medium and third and long situations.

"Those are critical plays within a game, and we also introduced two-minute, end-of-game situations," Brown said. "There is give-and-take in practice all the time, but I thought the one-offense executed pretty well and the two-offense did not.

"I thought the two-defense made plays, especially Sean Martin. I thought he stood out today at the end of the day in the two-minute drill," he said.

* Through the first three practices, one young player who continues to show up is sophomore safety Aubrey Burks. He's always seems to be wherever the football is.

"We felt like he was positioning himself last year to get into the safety rotation right as he got hurt," Brown noted. "He had to have surgery and missed the rest of the year, but he was really consistent throughout the spring, and he's been good so far through three practices. He just needs to get live reps without coaches on the field, and the scrimmages are going to be really important for him."

* Senior Sam James has been putting in some quality work within a receiver group that includes senior Bryce Ford-Wheaton and emerging sophomore Kaden Prather.

"I really think Sam's best football is in front of him," Brown said. "He had his best winter and his best summer. Through three practices, he's done a good job, and I have high expectations for him."

Also, junior college transfers Cortez Braham and Jeremiah Aaron appear to be valuable additions to the receiver corps as well. Both have shown the ability to make catches down the field.

* Brown believes the overall team culture is better than it's ever been right now.

"Going into year four, this is the first time I really feel like, from a culture standpoint, we've got some guys that are kind of paying it forward and that's what you have to have," he admitted. "Because a football team is so large, you have to have guys within every position room that can lead competitively and from a moral standpoint, enforce the culture that you want to have within the program, and we've now got that."

* Brown said Thursday's practice will last about an hour and will be heavy on special teams work. Friday will be a non-practice day and the team will resume on-field work on Saturday morning. Brown is scheduled to meet with the media again following Saturday's practice.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Jeremiah Aaron

Taijh Alston

Cortez Braham

Aubrey Burks

Bryce Ford-Wheaton

Sam James

Sean Martin

Akheem Mesidor

Kaden Prather

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