— By Taylor Kennedy
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Consensus All-American and West Virginia University Athletics Hall of Fame member Darryl Talley will have his number 90 retired on October 2 — the day the Mountaineers welcome Texas Tech.
Talley will join Mountaineer icons Sam Huff (75), Ira “Rat” Rodgers (21) and Bruce Bosley (77) to have their numbers retired.
Current Mountaineer defensive lineman Akeem Mesidor will finish his career wearing 90 before Talley’s number is permanently hung up.
“When I first got to WVU, the number they gave me was No. 45,” Talley said on Statewide Sportsline. “I actually looked at the telephone in my room. Back then we had a dial telephone. I was like, ‘the last two numbers on this phone are nine and zero.’ Delbert Folwer was No. 95 and Jeff Seals was No. 80. I told them that I am going to be the last two numbers on their phone, but the first one you better call.”
Talley, an East Cleveland native, played two seasons at West Virginia for Frank Cignetti, before Don Nehlen took over.
Talley recalled a memorable first meeting held by Nehlen as a guest on episode 290 of Three Guys Before The Game.
“Frank Cignetti was a great guy and coach,” Talley said. “His coaching staff was the reason I got to WVU. Coach Nehlen’s first meeting, never forget, was downstairs in towers. Frank Kinczel had his feet up on the chair. [Nehlen] shouted ‘get your feet out of the chair.’ We are sitting there and he says ‘you all are my guys. Even though I did not recruit you all are still my guys.’”
Nehlen’s immediate impact helped shift the development of Talley and his teammates around him.
“After a while, he was doing the things he said he was going to do,” said Talley. “He won you over that way. Whatever he said he was going to do, he did.”
Talley produced one of the most prominent careers at West Virginia University. He holds the total tackles record with 484. Talley appeared in 47 career games, recording 19 sacks and 35 tackles for loss as a Mountaineer.
“The teammates I played with,” Talley noted on what comes to mind when discussing WVU. “The guys who came in with me as a freshman in 1978, I go back to them. Those are the guys that pop into my head first. We had a tremendous time on Sunnyside and High Street. We were typical wild kids like everyone else. We had a sense of togetherness. I do not know if many teams had the type of togetherness we had at that school.”
Talley played a major role in a few of the more memorable games in program history, including the 1981 Peach Bowl against Florida and upsetting No. 9 Oklahoma in 1982.
Talley was a second-round selection by the Buffalo Bills in the 1983 draft. He would spend 12 seasons with the Bills and played for 14 seasons in the NFL, also playing for the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.
When he left Buffalo, Talley did so as the all-time tackles leader with 1,137 total tackles. He finished his professional career with 1,252 total tackles, 14 fumble recoveries, and 12 interceptions.
Despite having an elbow injury in 1990, Talley never missed a game during his NFL career. He appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls with the Bills and competed in two Pro Bowls.
Talley got to play for two of the more enthusiastic fanbases in the country. He remembers competing in front of the Mountaineer and Bills’ faithful and remains appreciative of their continuous love and support since stepping away from football.
“I have been blessed to have played in front of people like that,” Talley said. “They make the game more fun. They make the game more enjoyable because you live off their energy.”
The accolades continued flooding in for Talley after he stepped away from football. Talley became a member of WVU’s All-Time Football Team, the 20th member of the Bills Wall of Fame, was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and earned a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011.