Bruce Irvin, Defensive End – Jersey No. 11 (2010-2011)
Bruce Irvin was a question mark when he arrived at WVU’s campus, but hard work and some direction was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Irvin was a 4-star outside linebacker (Rivals.com) coming out of Mt. San Antonio Community College. Once he got an opportunity at WVU, he never looked back.
In his first season on campus, Irvin recorded a team-high 14 sacks. It wasn’t until the third game of the season that he reached the quarterback, though. Against Maryland, Irvin went off, recording what would be a career-high three sacks.
The next year, team’s knew that doubling Irvin was the only way to slow him down, and this caused dips in his sack production. He only recorded 8.5 sacks, but this was still good enough to land him fourth all-time in the Mountaineer record books with 22.5 career sacks. And he did it in only two years!
Irvin was drafted 15th overall by the Seattle Seahawks in 2012 and currently plays for the Oakland Raiders.
Anytime he plays in prime-time and gets to introduce himself, he always reminds people where he’s from.
Oakland Raiders on #SNFonNBC featuring: Bruce Irvin - Almost Heaven, West Virginia U. & Karl Joseph - West Virginia pic.twitter.com/l7YhdDS6MW
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 7, 2016
Before signing a 4 year, $37 million dollar deal with the Oakland Raiders, Irvin helped propel the Seattle Seahawks to two consecutive Super Bowls. He had 22 sacks and forced two fumbles in his four years with the NFL franchise.