You couldn’t blame Tony Gibson if he had a laundry list of concerns about his defense after losing three players who earned All-Big 12 honors off last year’s unit.
West Virginia’s defensive coordinator has a bunch of talent to replace if he hopes to build a defense that is among the conference’s top units for the second straight season. Safety Karl Joseph was a favorite for Big 12 defensive player of the year before an October knee injury ended his season, fellow safety K.J. Dillon earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and four senior linebackers who started 91 combined games in a Mountaineers uniform are gone.