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.

Yet the cornerback position could be the biggest concern with the spring game looming on Saturday.

“Right now, we are working on depth and experience,” Gibson said. “The guy with the most snaps in his career so far would be Nana (Kyeremeh). It might not even be a hundred (total snaps) yet. That is the crucial spot.”

Al-Rasheed Benton is among the defenders who have emerged to make linebacker less of a worry while Jeremy Tyler, Marvin Gross and Dravon Askew-Henry have played enough games to make safety a position that could end up being a strength.

At cornerback, Daryl Worley’s decision to leave one year early left West Virginia with five cornerbacks on the roster competing in spring drills with one start in a Mountaineers uniform among them. Kyeremeh, a redshirt senior, has the only start while Rasul Douglas and Miami transfer Antonio Crawford also are in the mix to start.

Before spring drills began coach Dana Holgorsen detailed the merits of the three senior cornerbacks:

• "Nana Kyeremeh is a guy. He has game experience here. He is extremely smart. He’s kind of steady Eddie. He played for us last year, some at corner. He’s been a special teams player for the last three years. He’s extremely intelligent. He knows the ins and outs of the defense."

• "Rasul Douglas is a guy that came in right before the season and really progressed as the season went on. If you look at, whether it be in the bowl game or later in the year, he really improved as far as technique and playing with the schemes of the defense. Athletically, he can do whatever he wants."

• "Antonio Crawford is going to be another one. He’s the graduate transfer from Miami. He’s not as big as some of the other guys that we have, but his agility, his quickness and his explosiveness is fantastic."

Those three seniors will be counted on to be contributors with Mike Daniels, Elijah Battle, Jake Long and Sean Mahone expected to arrive before preseason camp to amp up the competition. Add the Adams brothers, Jordan and Jacquez, and West Virginia has plenty of options but plenty of inexperience at the position.

“I like the guys that I have,” new cornerbacks coach Blue Adams said. “I’m excited for the new guys who are coming in, only because it gives me more options to work with. As far as the guys who are on campus right now, I’m enjoying them. They’re doing a really good job and working every day, day in and day out. We’re going to continue to search for the ceiling.”

In Gibson’s aggressive, blitz-heavy defense, finding a solution at cornerback before the season rolls around is a must.

“We have to have guys that can cover because I like to blitz,” Gibson said.

A year ago, West Virginia had one of the Big 12’s best cornerback duos in Worley and Terrell Chestnut. Any hope of a Big 12 title run could rest on the shoulders of Adams and the cornerbacks in his meeting room to make sure there’s no major drop-off in 2016.

“I think we’re going to get better the longer we play together,” Adams said. “I think every guy, as long as they come in and get better on a day-in-and-day-out basis, I think we’ll be fine.”