Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
WVU’s Brown Eyeing Leadership Role for Martin on Defensive Line
March 31, 2023 11:50 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Dante Stills' unique blend of size, power, speed and length will be impossible to replace, but coach Neal Brown believes junior Sean Martin has positioned himself to move up into that leadership role on the defense.
Brown lists the three important qualities he seeks in his leaders - production, work ethic and being a good person – and Martin checks each box.
"He's played a bunch of football," Brown said. "He's as talented as anyone we have, and my expectation is his production is going match his talent, and maybe exceed that this year."
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley agrees.
"Sean is extremely talented, but he's just different than Dante. He's longer and has a little more power, but he's a different type of player. Sean is the one that we're going to look at and say, 'Alright, this is our guy.' If there is one that we're going to lean on, it's Sean."
Martin has been on people's radar screens around here ever since his days at Bluefield High when he captained the all-state team in 2019. That year, Martin was considered the state's top defensive prospect, and he had numerous offers coming out of high school, including once briefly committing to North Carolina before reconsidering.
He eventually beat out Taijh Alston for the defensive end job last year and ended up starting eight of the Mountaineers' final 10 games. He made a couple of sacks in West Virginia's big victory over Oklahoma and added three tackles in the season finale against Oklahoma State, another notable win.
For the season, Martin was in on 34 tackles, 8½ tackles for loss and four sacks after generating 15 tackles in 2021.
He gives West Virginia much-needed size and power up front (standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 293 pounds) and is a player defensive line coach A.J. Jackson can count on this fall.
"Sean's biggest growth is his consistency," Jackson pointed out Thursday. "I think that he's taken a major step from beating out a guy and earning a starting role to being a guy who we can rely on to make plays every series."
Let's be clear, Sean Martin is not Dante Stills in any way, shape or form, including their personalities. Where Dante is outgoing and outspoken, Sean is quiet and reserved. He doesn't need to be around a lot of other people to enjoy himself.
And, he usually doesn't have much to say unless someone says something to him first. That's just his personality, and his teammates are fine with that.
"I'm not a talker at all," he admitted. "I'm really calm. I only start talking when somebody makes me mad. On the field, I don't talk and (in the media room) I've got to talk more, that's all."
Martin said he learned a lot playing alongside Stills, but he doesn't need to play the way Dante played to be effective. He can be effective in other ways.
"We are different people, so I've just got to do the stuff that I do," he shrugged.
Which is perfectly fine with Lesley, who is going back to basics with his Mountaineer defense this year. Lesley felt they tried to do too many things last year to compensate for injuries and unexpected losses to the transfer portal, and when stuff was pared down late in the season, he thought the defense performed much better.
This year, it's back to fundamentals for his guys, including a slightly different look up front.
"We've got some guys who are really good football players who are built different, so we have to figure out what is the best way to use them to get the production that we need," Lesley explained. "We've got to see what our guys can do and, more importantly, what they can't do and just stay away from that and play to their skill sets, but I like the pieces."
Jackson is working with fewer guys now than he will have in the fall with Zeiqui Lawton and Asani Redwood out and Jalen Thornton still limited after last fall's surgery.
Also, Penn State transfer Fatorma Mulbah must graduate this spring before he becomes available, which will then give WVU another 300-plus-pounder up front for the fall.
Other guys working in this group right now include Edward Vesterinen (Eddie V), Georgia Tech transfer Mike Lockhart, Hammond Russell IV, Taurus Simmons and Tennessee State transfer Davoan Hawkins. Others could emerge, including possibly another addition through the transfer portal.
What Neal Brown wants is for Sean Martin to lead them, even if it is done so silently.
"The natural progression for him, as he moved into a starting role late last year, is now he's more comfortable, more confident and he can feel like the leader of that group," Brown explained.
Martin said he's good with that.
"Lee (Kpogba) kind of controls all of the defensive calls once they come from coach Lesley, and I've got to communicate what we've got to do up front, but I don't really need to talk that much," Martin admitted.
He'd prefer to let his performance do the talking - or his coaches.
"I expect him to take off and be an all-conference-type player and close off one side of the field for us," Jackson predicted. "Now I'm not putting pressure on him to be the next Stills brother coming up, but I think he should be a playmaker for us."
West Virginia has a practice schedule for today in conjunction with its annual coaches' clinic, and then will have a closed scrimmage inside the stadium on Saturday morning. Brown will be available to the media afterward to recap Saturday's work.
Brown lists the three important qualities he seeks in his leaders - production, work ethic and being a good person – and Martin checks each box.
"He's played a bunch of football," Brown said. "He's as talented as anyone we have, and my expectation is his production is going match his talent, and maybe exceed that this year."
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley agrees.
"Sean is extremely talented, but he's just different than Dante. He's longer and has a little more power, but he's a different type of player. Sean is the one that we're going to look at and say, 'Alright, this is our guy.' If there is one that we're going to lean on, it's Sean."
Martin has been on people's radar screens around here ever since his days at Bluefield High when he captained the all-state team in 2019. That year, Martin was considered the state's top defensive prospect, and he had numerous offers coming out of high school, including once briefly committing to North Carolina before reconsidering.
He eventually beat out Taijh Alston for the defensive end job last year and ended up starting eight of the Mountaineers' final 10 games. He made a couple of sacks in West Virginia's big victory over Oklahoma and added three tackles in the season finale against Oklahoma State, another notable win.
For the season, Martin was in on 34 tackles, 8½ tackles for loss and four sacks after generating 15 tackles in 2021.
He gives West Virginia much-needed size and power up front (standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 293 pounds) and is a player defensive line coach A.J. Jackson can count on this fall.
"Sean's biggest growth is his consistency," Jackson pointed out Thursday. "I think that he's taken a major step from beating out a guy and earning a starting role to being a guy who we can rely on to make plays every series."
Let's be clear, Sean Martin is not Dante Stills in any way, shape or form, including their personalities. Where Dante is outgoing and outspoken, Sean is quiet and reserved. He doesn't need to be around a lot of other people to enjoy himself.
And, he usually doesn't have much to say unless someone says something to him first. That's just his personality, and his teammates are fine with that.
"I'm not a talker at all," he admitted. "I'm really calm. I only start talking when somebody makes me mad. On the field, I don't talk and (in the media room) I've got to talk more, that's all."
Martin said he learned a lot playing alongside Stills, but he doesn't need to play the way Dante played to be effective. He can be effective in other ways.
"We are different people, so I've just got to do the stuff that I do," he shrugged.
Which is perfectly fine with Lesley, who is going back to basics with his Mountaineer defense this year. Lesley felt they tried to do too many things last year to compensate for injuries and unexpected losses to the transfer portal, and when stuff was pared down late in the season, he thought the defense performed much better.
This year, it's back to fundamentals for his guys, including a slightly different look up front.
"We've got some guys who are really good football players who are built different, so we have to figure out what is the best way to use them to get the production that we need," Lesley explained. "We've got to see what our guys can do and, more importantly, what they can't do and just stay away from that and play to their skill sets, but I like the pieces."
Jackson is working with fewer guys now than he will have in the fall with Zeiqui Lawton and Asani Redwood out and Jalen Thornton still limited after last fall's surgery.
Also, Penn State transfer Fatorma Mulbah must graduate this spring before he becomes available, which will then give WVU another 300-plus-pounder up front for the fall.
Other guys working in this group right now include Edward Vesterinen (Eddie V), Georgia Tech transfer Mike Lockhart, Hammond Russell IV, Taurus Simmons and Tennessee State transfer Davoan Hawkins. Others could emerge, including possibly another addition through the transfer portal.
What Neal Brown wants is for Sean Martin to lead them, even if it is done so silently.
"The natural progression for him, as he moved into a starting role late last year, is now he's more comfortable, more confident and he can feel like the leader of that group," Brown explained.
Martin said he's good with that.
"Lee (Kpogba) kind of controls all of the defensive calls once they come from coach Lesley, and I've got to communicate what we've got to do up front, but I don't really need to talk that much," Martin admitted.
He'd prefer to let his performance do the talking - or his coaches.
"I expect him to take off and be an all-conference-type player and close off one side of the field for us," Jackson predicted. "Now I'm not putting pressure on him to be the next Stills brother coming up, but I think he should be a playmaker for us."
West Virginia has a practice schedule for today in conjunction with its annual coaches' clinic, and then will have a closed scrimmage inside the stadium on Saturday morning. Brown will be available to the media afterward to recap Saturday's work.
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