West Virginia Football lost their season opener at Penn State on Saturday. The Mountaineers hung in there throughout the first half, but the Nittany Lions ran away with it in the second.
But how did the individual players grade out?
This article will take a look at the defensive Pro Football Focus grades from West Virginia’s game against Penn State. It will be broken down by each position starting with defensive line.
Defensive Line
- DL Fatorma Mulbah: 72.5 (15 snaps)
- DL Hammond Russell IV: 69.5 (5 snaps)
- DL Davoan Hawkins: 64.4 (12 snaps)
- DL Sean Martin: 63.1 (54 snaps)
- DL Tomiwa Durojaiye: 60.9 (8 snaps)
- DL Jalen Thornton: 58.6 (4 snaps)
- DL Edward Vesterinen: 55.8 (48 snaps)
- DL Mike Lockhart: 33.0 (44 snaps)
Transfer acquisition and former Penn State Nittany Lion Fatorma Mulbah was the highest graded defensive lineman on the night. He had a solid 74.6 grade in run defense.
Hammond Russell saw action on five defensive snaps, recording a tackle on one of them.
Transfer acquisition Davoan Hawkins had one tackle and also batted a pass. He had a solid 72.8 grade in tackling.
Sean Martin had two tackles, three pressures, and a sack per PFF’s data. He also had a solid 74.7 grade in tackling.
Transfer acquisition Tomiwa Durojaiye had a tackle, a pressure, and a sack. He had the best pass rushing grade among defensive linemen at 75.1 but a 28.7 tackling grade didn’t help his overall grade.
Jalen Thornton saw limited action on the night. His run defense and pass rushing grades were similar to his overall grade.
Edward Vesterinen was credited with two combined tackles, two pressures, a quarterback hit, and a hurry. He graded poorly in tackling at 21.4, in large part due to two missed tackles.
Mike Lockhart was the lowest graded defensive player on the night. He was credited with two tackles, a pressure, and a hurry, and his 28.0 run defense grade was the lowest on the team.
Linebacker
- LB Lee Kpogba: 82.1 (58 snaps)
- BAN Tyrin Bradley: 64.9 (25 snaps)
- LB Trey Lathan: 63.4 (61 snaps)
- LB Jairo Faverus: 62.6 (4 snaps)
- BAN Jared Bartlett: 57.9 (49 snaps)
- SPEAR Lance Dixon: 57.8 (34 snaps)
Lee Kpogba was the team’s highest graded defensive player on the night as aforementioned in the title. He was credited with 12 combined tackles, three pressures, two quarterback hits, and a hurry.
Tyrin Bradley was credited with one tackle and had a solid 73.0 grade in tackling. Despite allowing catches on both targets in coverage, he graded out OK at 71.1 in that facet.
Trey Lathan was credited with six combined tackles, five pressures, three quarterback hits, and two hurries. He graded out rather low in tackling at 41.4 thanks to two missed tackles.
Jairo Faverus saw limited action on defense and saw run defense and coverage grades similar to his overall grade.
Jared Bartlett had four combined tackles, a pressure, and a hurry. A missed tackle hurt his tackling grade a little bit at 47.3.
Lance Dixon had three combined tackles, two pressures and two hurries. He had an impressive 80.1 grade in tackling but a 48.1 grade in coverage hurt him.
Defensive Back
- CB Beanie Bishop Jr.: 63.3 (60 snaps)
- SS Anthony Wilson: 60.1 (53 snaps)
- CB Malachi Ruffin: 58.0 (12 snaps)
- FS Keyshawn Cobb: 55.3 (43 snaps)
- CB Hershey McLaurin: 52.9 (28 snaps)
- CB Andrew Wilson-Lamp: 52.3 (46 snaps)
- CB Montre Miller: 52.2 (12 snaps)
- FS Aubrey Burks: 35.0 (40 snaps)
Transfer acquisition Beanie Bishop Jr. in his Mountaineer debut was credited with eight combined tackles, which gave him an 83.2 grade in that facet. He also allowed a 66.7 completion percentage, had a pass breakup, and allowed a touchdown in coverage.
Another transfer acquisition, Anthony Wilson, was credited with six combined tackles on the night.
Malachi Ruffin was credited with three combined tackles and had a good 77.7 grade in that facet.
Transfer acquisition Keyshawn Cobb was credited with three combined tackles much like Ruffin and allowed both catches in coverage.
Hershey McLaurin was credited with two tackles and two catches allowed in coverage. Two missed tackles drag his overall grade down with a 23.4 mark in that facet.
Andrew Wilson-Lamp was credited with three tackles and only one of his two targets to be caught.
Transfer acquisition Montre Miller was credited with two tackles and had a solid 76.6 mark in that facet.
Aubrey Burks had a performance to forget, as he allowed two touchdowns in coverage that ultimately led to a 30.6 grade for coverage. He did manage to have a respectable 76.4 grade in tackling to keep his grade from being any lower.
