By Rick Starr
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 11, 2006

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After four days of walking and talking his way through West Virginia's complex defensive strategy, weakside linebacker Kevin McLee finally got to drill somebody Wednesday and Thursday, when full contact started at Milan Puskar Stadium.
"We hit who we need to hit; that's what we do," McLee said.

McLee, a 6-foot-1, 255-pound senior from Uniontown, tackles with the kind of explosive power that landed him on the All-Big East first team last season.

After finishing second on the Mountaineers with 78 tackles last season, McLee said he's prepared almost tirelessly during the offseason.

"I've been working as hard as I can to make this defense better, and with the big guys we have in front of us on the defensive line, this could be fun," he said. "It's going to be hard to stop us."

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez considers linebacker his deepest position and said McLee has emerged in a system that no longer switches outside linebackers from side to side.

"He's a very tough guy. And we blitz him sometimes and drop him in coverage, and he's got a good feel for that," Rodriguez said. "I'm excited for him. We thought he was one of the better linebackers in the league last year, and he looks like he's in great shape right now."

McLee received his share of preseason hype, being named to several All-Big East first teams and making the Nagurski and Bednarik award watch lists.

"I appreciate it, but it's not about the media or what you read in the magazines," McLee said. "We learned, a couple years ago, it's not about the individual, it's about the team."

Practice got off to a slow start in McLee's opinion.

"We've just got to get everything together, because, right now, we're making mistakes," he said. "Once we get back into it everyday, our defense should be right where we need it to be by next week."

McLee likes what he sees.

"Everybody's big," he said. "And our defensive line is big, fast and physical. So, I think this is the best defense since I've been here."

Although Rodriguez jokes that the linebacker played Uniontown's defense for his first few seasons at West Virginia, McLee rushed for 1,637 yards as a running back for Red Raiders coach John Fortugna.

In between offensive possessions, McLee also led Uniontown in tackles.

"I played mostly tailback at Uniontown, so coming here to play defense was a totally different aspect of the game," McLee said. "Now, I'm finally at the point where I can just play, and that's what really helped me out."


Getting defensive
Here are West Virginia linebacker Kevin McLee's career statistics:
Year G T Sac. Int. FF
2003 13 46 3 1 2
2004 12 44 2 1 0
2005 12 74 2 1 1


Rick Starr can be reached at rstarr@tribweb.com or (724) 226-4691.