What you have to know and what has been misunderstood about the state of WVU’s defensive line during preseason camp is that Jaleel Fields and Xavier Pegues were not hurt during camp or even close to the start on Aug. 2. The Mountaineers knew about the injuries, the operations, the recovery time and the need for replacements in the spring.

So when defensive coordinator Tony Gibson calls the defensive line a bright spot, you don’t need to wince and wonder if you heard/read that right.

The Mountaineers are comfortable with six and maybe seven players, and defensive line coach Bruce Tall wants to use six in a game — no more, maybe one fewer. He’d like to have nine at his disposal on the sideline, so he’s two or three away from there.

But camp hasn’t been about replacing Fields or Pegues — and no offense to them, but Fields played only a little last season and Pegues didn’t play at all, so what is WVU replacing? Camp has instead been about continuing to develop players the Mountaineers identified long ago.

“Like anything else, all of a sudden you move up the depth chart before you’ve done anything and it’s like, ‘Well, now I’ve really got a chance,’ ” defensive line coach Bruce Tall said. “When you’re closer to being the No. 1 guy, you feel better about getting that chance to be that guy.”

WVU knew what it could anticipate from senior defensive ends Noble Nwachukwu and Christian Brown, who both started all 13 games last season, as well as nose guard Darrien Howard, who played extensively behind the departed Kyle Rose.

But the Mountaineers had an idea what redshirt freshmen Alec Shriner and Adam Shuler and true freshman Reese Donahue could do after observing them during spring practice, which was a first for all three. Each has lived up to the revised expectations.

“In all honesty, I’ve seen strides by all the young guys,” Tall said. “It’s amazing what I’ve seen — the guys who were here in the spring and to see them every practice — the development of them. I think as we’ve honed in in our meeting time and shown them how they can fix things, they’ve responded. They’ve done a great job taking coaching.”