MORGANTOWN — West Virginia safety JoVanni Stewart doesn’t believe in superstition, but even he knows something doesn’t sit right with the No. 16 on the Mountaineers’ defense.
“I kind of agree on the number having bad luck because I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that everyone is getting hurt that wears that number,” he said. “I’m glad he’s out that number.”
Stewart means the change from No. 16 to No. 3 for fellow bandit Toyous Avery. As a collective group, spear-headed by Avery himself, the defensive backs all thought it was best to ditch No. 16 after Avery’s misfortunes in 2017.
With his picture scaling the beams outside of Milan Puskar Stadium — wearing No. 16 — Avery got off to a good start last year. He was one of the best defenders on the team during the Virginia Tech and East Carolina games, recording a combined 10 tackles but a hand injury forced him out of the next two games.
Avery returned against Texas Tech, making another five tackles, but hurt his hand again against Baylor and missed the next three games.
All the while, Dravon Askew-Henry moved into Avery’s spot at bandit and Kenny Robinson flourished at free. When Avery returned for the final three games of the year, his spot in the safety rotation was limited.
Injuries problems were never an issue before for Avery, so he tried to pinpoint a reason last season was a rut in the road and found some help from defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
“Sixteen is bad luck,” Avery said matter-of-factly. “I just had to do something. Really, Gibby influenced me to get out of it. He kept telling me it was bad luck and I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’
“It was time for a change.”
No one on defense took No. 16, either. The only one donning it is William Crest at wide receiver.
“We might burn that jersey,” Avery said.
Now, with a clean bill of health and a fresh new jersey, Avery has solidified himself again as the top bandit while Robinson is at free and Askew-Henry moved over to spur.
Avery’s bounce back caught the eye of coach Dana Holgorsen.
“Toyous has been out there every day, so that’s a start,” he said. “He’s been one of my senior leader guys that I’m leaning on a little bit. He’s in a leadership role, he knows that. When he played last year, he was one of our better defensive players. He just had the injury bug last year; there’s not a whole lot you can do with that. Eight practices into it, he’s had really good work, and I like where he’s at.”
That leadership quality trickled down to Stewart, who played significant snaps last season when Avery went down. Now a junior, Stewart is happy to have Avery on the practice field, even if it cuts into his playing time.
“Whenever I’ve got a question, I just go to Toyous,” Stewart said. “We work with each other and he helps me out a lot. We have a good relationship and I know I can count on him whenever I need something.”
