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Dravon Askew-Henry out for the season

August 12, 2016 by Mike Casazza

Once again, an ACL claims WVU’s best defensive player. And like Karl Joseph before him, Dravon Askew-Henry was the most-revered player on that side of the ball. This is going to stink away from the football field. He took to a leadership role in the offseason and apparently aced it, which I wrote about in today’s Gazette-Mail. Bigger than that? He was excited to revise a starring role.

“I feel like I play better in this role,” said Askew-Henry, a top recruit out of Aliquippa (Pa.) High School in the 2014 class who was first-team all-state as an athlete in 2013 and as a defensive back in 2012. “I was in the role my whole life. I pretty much can’t wait for the opportunity to come again.”

What now?

Well, you’re now replacing the entire secondary in a defense that rotates around its safeties and trusts the free safety, which is Askew-Henry’s position, to keep a lid on everything. Think about all the blitzing defensive coordinator Tony Gibson does. He feels free to do so because he’s got a guy like Askew-Henry on top.

So now you’re replacing a free safety, who runs the secondary, and putting in someone who’s not as experienced.

That said, if we’re being frank, it’s the least complicated of the three safety positions. It’s vital, don’t get me wrong, but you can survive with a green guy back there. Remember, Askew-Henry started every game in 2014, and we later learned he was hit-and-miss in most games.

WVU’s not lost here. I think last year, with the timing of the injury and the specter of Joseph, the defense was rocked for a while and really had to scramble to piece something together. WVU has time left in camp and then before the opener, and there are a couple of easy and a couple of obscure plans to consider.

Me? I have to think Jeremy Tyler is going back there now.

Technically, the backups are junior college transfer Toyous Avery and senior Khairi Sharif, who was the backup last season. Seems like a tall task for them. But Tyler and Jarrod Harper are both seniors who know all three safety positions. I think the coaches think a little more highly of Tyler at free — and I mean, a little — and that would also allow Harper to stay at bandit, where he’s been the starter since the fifth game last season. If solidarity matters, this is the route to travel.

The problem with that succession plan is it leaves the spur, which is the defense’s most important position, to someone new, and that’s a risk when Tyler is available to play that spot. Still, I think the plan was to put junior college transfer Kyzir White there, and he has all the credentials to do so.

But are you better off trusting someone else there — Iowa transfer Maurice Fleming, I’m told, can play spur, but I’m thinking Tyler or Harper, with the other one playing bandit — and going with Avery or Sharif or another name at free safety?

If you’re in need of a silver lining, consider this: You have two seniors who can play all three positions, and one will be bandit and one will be free, and you have a junior college stud who now has playing time and the impetus to impress at spur.