Lathan is making his way back into Mountaineer defense despite his injury setback from the previous year.
WEST HARTFORD, W.Va. Early in the fourth quarter of West Virginia’s 24-21 victory at TCU, Trey Lathan’s redshirt freshman season in 2023 was over faster than he could snap his fingers.
Lathan was just starting to come into his own at the time of his injury, which turned out to be a broken tibia and fibula requiring emergency surgery in a Fort Worth hospital. With 27 tackles, he was among the team leaders. He also recorded two pass breakups, a forced fumble, and seven quarterback hurries.
With seven fewer games played, Lathan’s seven quarterback rushes were one short of Lee Kpogba’s team record of eight.
“Trey stated that herealized his season was over the instant he
Lathan claimed that during the ambulance ride to the hospital, he tried to follow the game’s outcome while hearing his mother, Kankina, sob.
He admitted, “To be honest, I forgot I was even hurt.” “It seemed as though my team and I were out there.”
Only a few days after the surgery, he had removed his crutches and was walking on his surgically repaired leg when he returned to Morgantown later that week. The fastest route to recovery, according to the doctors, is for him to get back on his feet.
He said, “They got me going fast.” After just three days, I gave up using my crutches and began to walk. After that, they told me that I would return sooner if I returned to my normal walking pace.
I’m back in now that I completed the task.”
The resident of Goulds, Florida, said that before returning to work, he gave himself a week or so to feel sorry for himself.
“It taught me that life wasn’t over, but football is my life,” he continued. “In essence, it provided context. I need to focus on my life and get things on track because one day I’m going to be done with this, and that’s basically how it felt during those six months of recovery.”
This has resulted in a desire to eventually run his own trucking company, which he started dabbling in this offseason as part of West Virginia’s
“I took an economics class in high school, and with Covid and everything, the driver shortage and things getting stuck in ports for up to six months, it’s a billion-dollar industry, and the driver shortage piqued my interest because I enjoy driving,” the man stated.
For the time being, Lathan wants to return to his position as one of the team’s defensive leaders, which he held five weeks into the season. When he got hurt, the 6-foot-1, 226-pound player felt like he was really starting to click.
He said, “I feel like I was getting better every single week.” “Once I started playing more and receiving more snaps, a lot of things started to become apparent. I’m simply accepting that and
taking it by storm.”
Lathan claimed to be back to his pre-injury level this spring.
“I basically told myself that this year would be very different from last year and that things would only get better. That’s kind of my current mindset, where I can just go get anything I want,” he said.
Lathan expects the defense this year to be more physically strong and hungry than what Mountaineer supporters witnessed the previous campaign. He thinks that both the newcomers and the returning players are already having an impact on the field.
He declared, “It’s the best defense we’ve had.” This year, we have a different kind of mindset. Every player gets to the ball on every play, so we don’t need to coach guys sprinting to the ball.
“Our offense is the team we play against, so we just try to beat them every day,” he continued. “I think what’s keeping us going is our intense competition.”
Among the new players Lathan is keeping an eye on is 242-pound inside linebacker Josiah Trotter, who is one of the most highly anticipated recruits Neal Brown has signed. Due to a knee injury, the Philadelphia resident missed the entire previous season.
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