WVU DC Jordan Lesley Made a Change and Will 'Never Go Back'

The Mountaineer defensive coordinator has found success in the last two weeks that can be pointed to a decision he made a few weeks back.

Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

In the first three games of the 2024 season, West Virginia's defense had a difficult time getting off the field, particularly when it came to defending the pass.

UAlbany quarterback Myles Burkett threw for over 300 yards on the Mountaineer secondary with many of his completions connecting deep down the field. The following week, Pitt's Eli Holstein did just about whatever he wanted, also throwing for 300 yards and three scores. That's not even mentioning the game Penn State's Drew Allar had in the season opener.

Heading into Big 12 play, something had to change. Defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley not only mixed things up with the personnel and coverages but with his role as well.

The week of the Kansas game he made the decision to call the defensive plays from the press box rather than down on the field. Now, yes, Kansas isn't a dangerous team when it comes to throwing the football, but they defended it much better than they had in previous weeks.

Last week against Oklahoma State, one of the Big 12's top passing units entering the game, WVU held Alan Bowman to just 116 yards and picked him off twice, the second of which led to his benching.

Neal Brown gave his thoughts on Lesley's move

“I think it’s helped. I think it’s been good for him because you can see better up there, it’s obvious. Anytime you’re up high, you can definitely see better than you can on the field. I think what it does when you’re in the press box, it takes the emotions out of the game because you’re so far away. It’s much calmer there. It’s more peaceful. You can do some more thinking. You can be more organized in between series because you’re sitting at a table. I think there’s some benefits to that.”

Moving to the box can be difficult for some coordinators because they like to feel a part of the game and want to look their players in the eyes to coach them up during the game. While Lesley will miss that aspect of it, he feels the benefit of moving up top with fewer distractions is more important.

Lesley's explanation for the change

“Honestly, the only reason I stayed down starting the year, I was trying to get a feel for the changes that we have in college football with the green dot and the iPad. Going into it there was more of trying to get a beat on operational things. Quite honestly, what made the decision for me was there really wasn’t a big difference in what it was. I really thought about going to the box last year. But now that I’m there, I’ll never go back.”

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