[shortsleeve47]

West Virginia University’s rebuilt defense has shown some improvement.

WVU had some major losses on that side of the ball after last season. Starting linebackers Marc Magro and Bobby Hathaway have departed, along with defensive backs Ryan Mundy, Eric Wicks, Vaughn Rivers and Antonio Lewis, and defensive linemen Keilen Dykes and Johnny Dingle.

“As long as the kids prepare themselves and work hard, they will have an opportunity to have some success,” Casteel said. “We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of new kids that have not played in situations that they’re going to have to play in when the season starts.

“So once we see them with the stands full and how they react under pressure in different situations, we’ll be able to tell how good we’re going to be.”

Chris Neild and Larry Ford, a defensive end with junior-college experience, are performing well in spring drills. Both are having a good spring, as is Berry who expects to be better.

“But those two we lost (Dykes and Dingle) made a lot of plays for us,” Casteel stressed. “So it will be a concern until we start playing somebody else. If the guys in there can become as productive as those two, we’ll have a chance.”
Defensive Coordinator Jeff Casteel said spring practice headed into its final week, with the annual Gold-Blue Game coming up on Saturday at Mountaineer Field/Milan Puskar Stadium

http://www.timeswv.com/wvu_sports/local_story_109015227.html

[Lefty Noob]

I'm very anxious to see how this defense will perform. This has long been WVU's primary Achilles heel. Hopefully no longer.