Mountaineers Hope Beanie Bishop’s Infectious Nature Rubs Off on Rest of Secondary

The WVU secondary hasn’t lived up to the hype, but that’s not stopping Beanie Bishop from being confident in their potential.

Bishop, who picked up his first interception as a Mountaineer in the win over Duquesne, is determined to help West Virginia accomplish big things this season. He’s also mot afraid to act as the mouthpiece for a group on the defense with pressure to perform.

“I told you we want to lead the nation in interceptions and I want to lead by example,” said Bishop while talking with the media as part of the program’s weekly press conferences on Monday afternoon.

Bishop has been open about his plans and goals for his final year in college ever since he arrived in Morgantown. “The Big 12 is more of a passing league and I wanted to be able to showcase my ability on defense and in the return game,” he said in August. Bishop felt WVU would provide him with more opportunities to get his hands on the ball and make plays than he had last season in the Big Ten at Minnesota.

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His natural ability and talent are what initially caught the attention of the West Virginia coaching staff, but Bishop’s personality and leadership qualities are a nice plus too. The hope is Bishop’s cockeyed optimism and enthusiasm will now rub off on the rest of the secondary.

Bishop knows what his team needs from the secondary goes far beyond just stopping the opposing offense. He knows that converting takeaways makes life easier on the Mountaineers as a whole. It’s all about swinging momentum. This is something Bishop talked about when he described what his pick meant to the game in the home opener.

“Every time you get an interception, it changes the game. Just being able to swing momentum, the crowd erupted. Making a play in front of the home fans was crazy.”

Bishop isn’t one to call out teammates. That’s not his type. He’s not about to say anything about Aubrey Burks’ game, or Jacolby Spells, or Anthony Wilson or anyone else. That’s the job of the coaches. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley made sure his players know where they stand after two subpar efforts.

“We got guys who gotta play better. They know what the consequences are,” Lesley said soon after had coach Neal Brown announced the secondary would be experiencing some “demotions and promotions” as a result of what’s happened through two games.

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Bishop can’t do it alone, but his attitude is one that could spark a change and get the Mountaineers the level of play it desperately needs from the secondary.