MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Dante Stills opted to return for a fifth season at West Virginia, it was welcome offseason news for a Mountaineers’ defense to bring back a proven veteran.
One of the more accomplished defensive lineman in WVU history, Stills got feedback from NFL scouts before deciding to stay in Morgantown to exercise his final year of eligibility.
If Stills’ performance in last week’s season opener at Pitt is any indication, he could be in line for his best season yet.
The 6-foot-4, 285-pound Fairmont native was tied for second on the Mountaineers with six tackles, added 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
“That was the best football game of his career,” head coach Neal Brown said. “He played within the scheme, was still really productive and created opportunities for other guys to make plays. He was mentally in the game. It’s the best shape he’s ever been in. He looked like what we expect him to look like, but I felt it was his best, complete football game that he’s played in our time here.”
Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley echoed those thoughts.
“It’s the most complete game he’s played within his job and fundamentally,” Lesley said. “It showed and it’s one of the things we talked about with him throughout the course of the offseason, and some of the feedback that he got was part of that.”
According to Brown, Stills’ statistics didn’t tell near the entire story, which isn’t uncommon for a player of his position.
“Statistically, Dante had a good game, but he also created opportunities by making plays so that other guys could get statistics too within the framework of the defense,” Brown said, “which is a credit to him.”
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The impressive debut of true freshman CJ Donaldson saw the bruising 240-pound back rush for 125 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Donaldson also blocked a punt one play before his rushing score.
Yet neither of those may have been his top quality against Pitt, with Donaldson’s pass-blocking helping put to rest some of Brown’s concerns.
“When you get in a game and you’re in a flow, you have a plan and one of our concerns was in pass protection, especially in a first game where you don’t really know what your opponent is going to do,” Brown said. “He picked up [Pitt linebacker SirVocea Dennis] two times and one was a big-time collision. There was no flinch by him. That was as impressive as anything he did all evening, including the blocked punt.”
First-year WVU offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was also impressed with what Donaldson displayed in pass protection and referenced a play on which Donaldson blocked both a linebacker and blitzing safety during his weekly media session.
“To run the ball the way he did in his first college game, that’s what everyone saw and it was really impressive, but to protect the way he did may have been more impressive,” Harrell said. “That’s not an easy team to protect against and not an easy job for many running backs. He did a phenomenal job with that. That was very encouraging. You have to be smart with CJ and make sure he can handle whatever you’re asking him to do. He’s a kid that has a special skill set and obviously will help us out throughout the year.”
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Brown made it a point to note Kansas’ performance over its last four games, dating back to the final three of the 2021 season: A 57-56 overtime win over Texas, a three-point loss to TCU, a six-point loss to West Virginia and a 56-10 victory against Tennessee Tech one week ago.
Both Brown and Lesley believe the Jayhawks will be in the thick of the discussion as one of the more improved teams in college football by season’s end.
However, in large part because of the NCAA Transfer Portal, both WVU and KU have an abundance of different personnel than in the late November 2021 matchup won by West Virginia, 34-28.
Second-year KU head coach Lance Leipold made note of a different-looking WVU offense led by quarterback JT Daniels and featuring Donaldson. He sees plenty of fresh faces on the other side of the ball as well.
“Defensively, they’ve added transfers,” Leipold said. “People talk about what we’ve done, they’ve done a great job utilizing the portal as well. Game 12 a year ago doesn’t really equate to the pieces we’re going against. We’ve mentioned a true freshman [Donaldson] and a former five-star quarterback [Daniels] that transferred in, let alone five defensive starters. That’s a different football team and we have to prepare for that. [Kansas running back Devin Neal] didn’t play in the last game last year. There are some different pieces for us as well.”
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Kansas was without two suspended receivers in its season opener following the August arrests of Trevor Wilson and Tanaka Scott.
Wilson was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with use of a deadly weapon, while Scott was charged with one count of aggravated assault with a handgun in the same incident.
Scott could play against West Virginia, though Leipold confirmed Wilson will not.
“Tanaka is practicing and we’ll see how that progresses for a game plan, but he is available,” Leipold said. “Trevor is still suspended and the word indefinitely is still there until we find out some other answers. Hopefully that can be sooner than later.”
Scott preserved his redshirt last season, while Wilson, who followed Leipold from Buffalo to Kansas, caught 27 passes for 364 yards and one touchdown in 2021.
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The performance of Daniels was mostly received with positive reviews in a 38-31 loss at Pitt, though it didn’t prevent backup Garrett Greene from seeing the field entirely.
Greene, a sophomore, had a 5-yard in the second quarter on a play in which he was lined up at quarterback.
A year ago, Greene was used somewhat extensively and rushed 47 times for 306 yards and four touchdowns, while completing 16-of-26 passes for 147 yards.
“Garrett’s a good athlete and we like to get the football in his hands,” Harrell said. “The cool thing about Garrett is he has a big arm. As a staff, when we talk about game-planning, what we try to do is get our playmakers in space with the football. He’s a guy we think can make plays throwing the football or with his legs.”