Josh Chandler is the New Cleanup Man for the Mountaineer Defense

Morgantown, WV – Regardless of anyone’s opinion fo the overall product on that was seen at Milan Puskar Stadium this afternoon, WVU fans can likely agree on one thing: Josh Chandler looks like a worthy successor to David Long, Jr.

From the opening snap, the sophomore’s impact was felt, making two tackles on James Madison’s first drive to help force a three and out. From there, it seemed as if Chandler was in on every play for the Mountaineer defense, tallying seven solo stops in the first thirty minutes of play alone.

James Madison attempted to ride their stable of backs, led by Percy Agyei-Obese and Solomon Vanhorse, throughout the first half but after allowing one score to the Dukes, Chandler and the WVU front seven stepped up huge and held JMU off the board throughout the second quarter with the Ohio native making four of his whopping ten first-half tackles in that frame. Anytime it looked like a Duke runner had a chance to break out into open space past the WVU second level, Chandler was there to clean up the play, serving as a sort of saving grace for the Mountaineers on more than one occasion.

Chandler picked up right where he left off in the second half, adding another pair of solo stops to his stat sheet as the WVU defensive line made a pair of key sacks, holding JMU to a field goal. As the Mountaineer defense locked down the Ben DiNucci-led JMU offense, Chandler continued to be in on countless plays finishing with an outstanding fourteen total tackles, nine of which were solo, to go along with a pass breakup.

After a shaky start, Chandler was able to key a defense that held JMU to just 87 yards in the second half of the game. Chandler swarming to the ball in the run game helped to force JMU to rely on the arm of DiNucci which allowed the stout WVU front line to get home and make four sacks in the second half.

Neal Brown was happy with the way Chandler played but certainly saw room for improvement from his sophomore starter. The mistakes made by Chandler today, according to Brown, are just symptoms of youth and inexperience and he believes Chandler will be an outstanding player for the program going forward.  Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning was belt to elaborate on this a little more.

“We didn’t play the zone read as good as we needed to a couple of times.” Koenning said, “The WILL linebacker has historically led the team in tackles in this system over the last couple of years so he should make a bunch of tackles.”

On an inexperienced defense like this one, young players need to step up and in his first career start, Chandler did exactly that, filling gaps in the run game and helping shut down a talented group of JMU pass catchers when dropping into coverage. Playing in a new defense for the first time has to be an unnerving experience for a true sophomore who has never been at the top of the depth chart but Josh Chandler went above and beyond expectations for the Mountaineers this afternoon.

David Long, Jr. is not a player that can be replaced overnight. That type of player who lives in the backfield and also stands out over the middle does not come around often. However, a player like Josh Chandler who plays the same position and is racking up similar statistical totals cannot be ignored. If there is a player to watch on the Mountaineer defense going forward, its Josh Chandler.