Eddie Vesterinen talks about adapting to America

Eddie Vesterinen is a name that West Virginia fans can expect to hear more this season. 

Vesterinen is a 6-foot-3, 284 pound defensive lineman from Helsinki, Finland. He appeared in 12 games at defensive tackle for the Mountaineers last season. Vesterinen is a junior, coming to West Virginia from Finland in January of 2021. 

“Back home I played with the men’s team (Finland National Team),” said Vesterinen. “I played with big guys. I played big, tall, heavy o-linemen before, but the technique is way better here. It goes back to the last time I had the interviews , it’s the speed of the game. The o-linemen are way quicker here and back home they’re very slow.”

Having only spent the last two years  in America, Vesterinen took the time to talk about his experience in a new country, saying it has been “welcoming.”

“I would say America has been very welcoming to me,” Vesterinen said. “As soon as I got here, the coaches, they told me if I need help with anything I can just reach out.

“I think it’s just a culture of speaking more and communicating more like saying how are you doing. It’s hard to explain how different it is. Back home, like the last time I said the small talk is not very good, especially with strangers, we don’t talk to strangers much, but it’s been very nice, I’ve gotten to see a lot of America and I like it so far.”

Vesterinen has spent the last two seasons as a backup to Dante Stills, which he said was not easy but was a great learning experience. Following the departure of Stills as well as some other members of the defensive line last year, Vesterinen is expected to have a more increased role this season. 

“It was hard. There were times where they pulled me off the field because they wanted to put Dante in for critical situations. It was hard to but Dante, it was nice to learn a lot from him being his backup and seeing how he plays the game. I think I learned a lot from him too.”

Photo from WVU Athletics