Leading up to WVU’s final home game of the season, defensive lineman TJ Jackson was asked during Monday’s media availability to talk about what he sees from UCF’s RJ Harvey.
Harvey is averaging just under seven yards per carry for a total of 1,328 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground this season. He has also added 15 catches for 229 yards and two more touchdowns receiving the ball.
Jackson said on Monday the defensive game plan will be to stop the running back. “We got to sop RJ Harvey. I can’t remember the game they played but I remember watching RJ Harvey highlights of the game and he was just running crazy. I was like yeah once we get to him that’s gonna be a guy we got to worry about.”
According to Jackson, Harvey is a type of player that will have to be contained at the front line. The defensive lineman mentioned Harvey’s ability to take the ball to the endzone if he gets into the secondary.
“His ability to be able to break tackles and once he does get past the defensive line and linebackers, he gets really fast.”
It was also brought up asking Jackson if WVU has seen a running back like Harvey at any point this year. And while Jackson was able to find similarities to Kansas’s Devin Neal, he also mentioned the ways Harvey might be even better.
“I would say he’s a bigger Devin Neal. A little more of a harder runner than Devin Neal. Devin Neal is a type of shifty guy. RJ, he the type of guy to put his shoulder down and still break away from you.”
The challenged is set for WVU’s front seven to look to contain one of the best running backs in all of college football, something they’ve done fairly well up to this point in the season.
West Virginia will play UCF in their final home game on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 3:30 pm.m ET. The game can be viewed on ESPNU.
