Find me three scarier, more destructive, more avoidable defensive players than the Shawn Oakman, Eric Striker, Karl Joseph trio the Big 12 will flaunt this season. They’re uniquely intimidating.

Oakman is “a Transformer,” according to Striker, a 6-foot-9, 280-pound defensive end who is in your head before he’s in the backfield. Remember when we tried to comprehend Kevin White’s silly pre-WVU box jump?

Oakman did 36 inches while holding 70-pound dumb bells.

He’s a real-life meme.

The wonderfully named Striker is no less arresting, though he goes about his business in a much different style. He’s smaller, but he’s unstoppable coming off the edge. “He’s probably one of the best I’ve ever seen in terms of being able to rush up the field and get around the tackle very fast,” WVU center Tyler Orlosky said.

He compensates for his lack of size and he complements his speed with an utter lack of fear.

Media days feature a lot of player surveys. Best this. Favorite that. Someone asked Eric Striker who is ugliest player in college football.

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 22, 2015

Striker is apparently fearless and picked Shawn Oakman…and then told Oakman about his pick.

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 22, 2015

"He said, 'No. I'm good-looking.' I said, 'You're everything but good-looking. You've got everything, but that's one thing you're not.' "

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 22, 2015

Striker’s still walking and breathing, so I’m not certain I believe that, but then again, that’s Striker.

But if we’re discussing fear, let’s discuss Joseph.

There’s something singularly scary about him. Oakman and Striker worry you before and during a snap, but you know where they’re going to be. You can’t miss Oakman, and you know he’s on one end and he’ll be liberated either by his own effort or by the incredible inside duo he forms with Andrew Billings. Striker can play linebacker or rush end, but no matter where he starts, he knows where he’s going, and so do you.

Joseph does his thing all over the field. He’ll sneak up toward the line. He’ll slice into the backfield. He’ll drop back and cover. He’ll veer off his assignment to assist with another. No matter where he goes or what happens during a play, there as chance he comes in to end it with ill will. That’s fairly frightening.

But his reputation knows neither boundaries nor allies.

Teammate Wendell Smallwood had just arrived for spring football as a freshman in 2013. The running back was having a good day in one early practice, which meant Joseph was not.

That would not stand.

“I kept getting first downs and he was like, not crying, but he was yelling at me, ‘You get one more first down, I’m going to kill you,’ ” Smallwood remembered. “I’d just gotten to school. I’m like, ‘Oh, man. This kid’s’ crazy.’ Then we get off the field and he’s on the sideline next to me, like, ‘What’s up? What are you doing out there?’ ”

All of that recognition goes into what makes each player. It’s as quintessential as winter workouts, spring drills and fall performances. Their reputations are earned and exhibited without apology.

“I don’t mind it at all,” Joseph said. “It’s not something I’d say I care much about, but I like it. Anytime I can get in somebody’s head and make them game-plan differently or think about how they’re going to run the ball on my side, that’s a plus.”