He is freshman K.J. Dillon and I want to tell you a brief story about him to set the scene. His first name is actually Kimlon and his mom was the last person to actually call him Kimlon — I don’t know exactly what that means, but I have an idea and I left it at that. So Kimlon Dillon, Jr. goes by K.J. and plays safety for the Mountaineers.

Karl Joseph has identical initials and is a freshman who plays safety for the Mountaineers.

“You call Karl Karl,” Dillon said. “I told him,  ‘You can not be called K.J.'”

And that was that. Naturally.

This is not to say Dillon is a brute or a bully. Quite the opposite, according to one lengthy conversation with him and testimonials from a few teammates and coaches.

It just turns out a lot of things come naturally to Dillon, be it bowling, table tennis, Spades, baseball, pretty much everything with one exception he is not ashamed to disclose. His fast success is remarkable, I promise you, but this is no longer about fast success. College football is almost like a career these days, but that’s appetizing for Dillon. When he invests his mind and time in something, he goes from natural to triumphant.

And K.J. Dillon has yet to fully invest his mind and time into football.

“Not really,” the 6-foot, 2-inch, 205-pound Dillon said. “I know I can still get better. I’ve got a lot of room for improvement. But now that I know I have this within me, I know it’s up to me to learn how to use it. It’s hard. The thing is I can’t think. I have to react. I have to know all the things so I’m not thinking.”

Dillon is already second string behind junior Darwin Cook at boundary safety. He’s being schooled to play nickel back and field safety, not merely because WVU has cornerbacks, nickel backs and safeties meet together, but because Dillon appears to be too good to store on the sideline.

“I’m capable of a lot of things,” he said. “I’m capable of hitting hard. I’m capable of running fast. I’m capable of covering guys. I’ve just got to unlock it. The day I do that, I’ll be a much better player.”

There is a wealth of excellence to support this theory, especially some of his high school exploits, and though I am not saying he’s perfect, I couldn’t wipe one idea from my mind.