MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Trey Lathan had suffered injuries before, though none could compare to what he was feeling while laying on the playing surface of Amon G. Carter Stadium.
It was late in West Virginia’s fifth game of the 2023 season, and throughout September, Lathan, a linebacker, had proven he more than belonged in his second season of college football and first with extensive playing time.
“I looked at my leg. It was dangling over, so I already knew it was over,” Lathan recalls of what amounted to a broken tibia and fibula.
How bad was it?
“It basically snapped in half,” says Lathan, who would undergo surgery that included a rod and four screws being inserted to help repair it.
Less than seven months later, Lathan has returned to football activities and is without restriction as he prepares for the 2024 season.
“It started a couple days after I got back to Morgantown,” Lathan said. “They got me going fast and started walking. Ditched the crutches after three days and they told me the faster I walked normal, the faster I’d be back. I did that and I’m back here now.”
While appearing in four games to preserve his redshirt status as a true freshman in 2022, Lathan was in on six tackles. He knew an expanded role was on the horizon the next year, and had been making the most of the opportunity with 27 tackles, including one for loss, a forced fumble and a pair of passes defensed up until the time of the injury. Perhaps most importantly, Lathan was consistently avoiding mistakes that could lead to him being out of position, and was showing he was plenty capable of starting at this level.
“I was doing well. I felt like I was getting better each week and a lot of things were starting to become more clear once I started playing more and got more snaps,” Lathan said.
Extended time away from football wasn’t what Lathan had in mind, but it did offer a new perspective for the Goulds, Fla., native and a former teammate of WVU tailback CJ Donaldson’s at Gulliver Prep.
“One day I’m going to be done with this and that’s what it felt like for six months,” Lathan said. “It felt like I was done with football and I had to really focus on life and getting things on track.”
It also allowed Lathan to focus more on school and develop ideas of what’s to come when his days on the gridiron are done.
“I want to start a trucking business, so I was looking into that more,” says Lathan, who noted he first took interest in the profession from an economics class in high school and followed it throughout the COVID pandemic when there was a shortage of drivers.
As he gets back up to speed, Lathan likes what he’s seen from the linebacker group and defense as a whole. The unit is out to replace Lee Kpogba, a high-impact linebacker who led the Mountaineers in tackles each of the last two seasons.
A solid nucleus remains in place however, with the likes of Lathan, Ben Cutter and Caden Biser all having valuable experience and Josiah Trotter having returned from a lower leg injury that cost him his true freshman campaign. Additionally, Ty French is expected to make an impact on the outside, particularly as a pass-rusher, after transferring from Gardner-Webb, where he was one of the more decorated defenders in the history of the FCS program.
“This is the best defense we’ve had since I’ve been here. We have a different type of mentality this year,” Lathan said. “We don’t have to coach guys getting to the ball. Everybody is getting to the ball every play, so I think it’s going to be a lot different.”
Having Lathan around for a full season would certainly be beneficial to a group that likes its depth.
“Anything I want, I can go grab it,” Lathan said. “That’s kind of the mentality I have right now.”