With the 2025 WVU Football season now in the rearview mirror, we can now officially observe which players lead the Mountaineers statistically this year. These were the statistical leaders for the Mountaineers across multiple defensive categories:
Tackles
Fred Perry – 78 tackles
A fan favorite from day one who seemed to be around the ball on nearly every play for the WVU defense in 2025, posted the numbers that certainly backed up how he looked during games. 78 tackles is a pretty impressive number by itself, especially when you consider that a lot of those tackles were of the hard-hitting variety – they often garnered a great crowd reaction. However, what may be even more impressive about Perry’s team leading 78 tackles this season is the fact that more than half of those were solo tackles, as he racked up 51 of those in 2025.
2nd: Darrian Lewis – 75 tackles
3rd: Reid Carrico – 69 Tackles
Tackles for a Loss
Fred Perry – 10 TFLs
Here is further proof that Perry was the most valuable player on the WVU defense in 2025. Not only was he the aforementioned leading tackler for the season, but he was also getting those tackles in the opposing teams’ backfields more than any other Mountaineer as well. Perry was certainly a do-it-all type of player for West Virginia in 2025 as he also led the team in forced fumbles and fumble recoveries as he accounted for two of each and was also 2nd on the team in sacks.
2nd: Reid Carrico – 8 TFLs
3rd: Edward Vesterinen – 5.5 TFLs
Sacks
Reid Carrico – 4.5 Sacks
Speaking of sacks, no one on the West Virginia defense got to the quarterback more than linebacker Reid Carrico, as he quietly put together a pretty solid senior season. The standout game for Carrico came against Colorado when he picked up two of these sacks in a single game. He would go on to add a final sack to end the season and his Mountaineer career on Senior Day against Texas Tech.
T-2nd: Reid Carrico – 3 Sacks
Chase Wilson – 3 Sacks
Ben Bogle – 3 Sacks
Devin Grant – 3 Sacks
Interceptions
Darrian Lewis – 2 INTs
Chase Wilson – 2 INTs
Ben Cutter – 2 INTs
The WVU defense managed to grab 11 interceptions as a team, but no single player really stood out as the leader in that category. Safety Darrian Lewis and linebackers Chase Wilson and Ben Cutter each snagged two to tie for the lead while five other Mountaineers hauled in a single interception in 2025 (Jason Chambers, Jordan Scruggs, Derek Carter, Nick Taylor, Joran Walker).
Some other defensive stat leaders include:
Pass Breakups: Michael Coats – 7 PBUs
QB Hurries: Reid Carrico – 5 QB Hurries
Fumble Recoveries: Fred Perry – 2 FR
Forced Fumbles: Fred Perry – 2 FF
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