By all indications, Shaq Petteway is in line for a solid season. He’s ultimately responsible for everything that follows — except for injuries, of course, and he’s been bitten before — but he’s put himself in this position by steering everything the right way before this. If he’s in the line for memories he’ll hang onto forever, understand it’s because he’s clinging to memories from the past.

Like, his surprising beef with former defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.

He was off to the side as Kwiatkoski and Barber, until his injury, flourished. The Mountaineers weren’t winning, though, and Petteway wasn’t happy. His frustrations mounted, and Petteway can point a finger at himself for some of what went wrong.

“I feel like I wasted some time, you know?” he said. “You can get complacent. Being young and when you’re struggling as a team, you fall into what everyone else is doing. If you’re struggling and you’re following guys who have bad habits, you pick up bad habits.”

That didn’t work with his superiors, and Petteway said he had a rough relationship with Keith Patterson, WVU’s linebackers coach in 2012-13 and the defensive coordinator in 2013.

“He tried to get me out of here,” Petteway said.

In their first year together, Petteway moved from safety to outside linebacker in Patterson’s 3-4. A year later, Petteway couldn’t play, and he said that continued a trend of things he could not do.

“I messed up at first, but then I felt like it was never good enough, that I was never going to get out of the hole with him,” Petteway said. “Once he left, you can see the progress I made. I’m a whole different person.”

Patterson left WVU for Arizona State after national signing day in 2014. He was replaced by Tony Gibson, who was on the staff in 2013 as the safeties coach. He promptly filled the linebackers vacancy. One of Gibson’s first and ultimately most significant maneuvers was to start over with Petteway.

“It motivated me,” Petteway said. “Honestly, when Gibby came to me, we had a 1-on-1 talk and he told me he believed in me. I took that to heart and played all out for him. I needed that.”