MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Even by West Virginia standards, where smaller linebackers can persist in the 3-3-5 stack defense, fifth-year senior Shaq Petteway is undersized.
He doesn’t quite measure up to the 6 feet listed on the roster, yet he’s currently playing as well as anyone on the roster.
“Five or six days into camp he’s the most productive defensive player we have,” said coordinator Tony Gibson.
A converted safety now in his third season playing linebacker, Petteway has solidified his spot with the starters at Will. While he doesn’t look like much of an obstacle for Big 12 offensive linemen who typically weigh 70 to 80 pounds more, Petteway survives on striking ability at close range. He doesn’t need a 10-yard sprint to build momentum.
“Not big, but he’s got pop,” Gibson said. “He’s got as much pop as anybody from a short distance. He can roll those hips, and he generates power from the tip of his toes to the top of his head.
“Some shorter guys get swallowed up and they don’t have anything to escape with. He’s 230 pounds and he gets every bit of it. Great leverage.”
A two-way star at Steubenville, Ohio, Petteway chose West Virginia over Syracuse and Michigan State in 2011.
Utilized at reserve safety and on special teams as a freshman, Petteway moved to outside linebacker as a sophomore and played behind Terence Garvin. His potential breakout season of 2013 was interrupted by a training camp knee injury that led to a medical redshirt.
“When I got on the surgery table, I started to cry because I didn’t know if I was ever going to get back to playing at high level,” Petteway said. “Just the day that I sat there and told myself that I wasn’t going to play football for a whole year.”
By last season, he was back—appearing in all 13 games, participating on 380 defensive snaps and making his first college start. He’s in line for many more starts this fall.
“When I was out, I reconnected my love for football,” Petteway said. “When you have an injury and it’s taken away from you, you start to appreciate practices, you appreciate lifting weighs and stuff like that.”
Situational pass rusher: Forced to use Shaquille Riddick on too many running downs last year, West Virginia doesn’t want this season’s lanky defensive end, Larry Jefferson, to suffer as many bad matchups.
A 6-foot-5, 225-pound newcomer from Itawamba (Miss.) Community College, Jefferson was rated by Rivals as the No. 28 juco player in the class of 2015. He’s currently working with the second-team defense and using his sprinter’s burst—he ran the 200 meters in high school—to make trouble off the edge.
“At times last year, because of depth issue, (Roddick) had to play it all,” Gibson said. “He had to play in our Bear front or three-technique, four-technique or five-technique. We want Larry to lock in to just being a five or a nine.
On a run down, we don’t want to have a 220- or a 230-pound guy in there.”
Will freshmen contribute? With 16 defensive veterans having started at some point in their careers, West Virginia won’t be reliant upon freshmen this season.
“I’d love to redshirt all of them,” Gibson said.
His early guesses as to which freshmen could see action is a short list: Safety Kevin Williams and defensive end Adam Shuler.
While Williams has impressed working as KJ Dillon’s backup at the Spur position, Shuler has yet to take many live reps during the first week of camp. That figures to change soon as WVU seeks depth behind Noble Nwachukwu and Christian Brown at ends.
Gibson also highlighted some good showings by Cincinnati linebacker David Long, though he added, “I don’t know if we’ll need him at this point.”