Dante Stills heads into the NFL Draft confidently

After finishing his workout on Pro Day at WVU, he could take a deep breath. All that remained before Draft Day were a few interview sessions where they pick his brain and see what makes him tick.

“All the football stuff is pretty much done,” he said. “Now it’s a waiting game to see when I get picked up, where and when.”

Awaiting the draft is as close a man can come to feeling what a woman feels while awaiting the birth of her first child.

The anticipation grows with each passing day.

He saw how it went with his brother, Darius, who somehow was passed over in the draft in an excruciating few days of waiting, the good of it coming in Darius’ ability to advise his brother what it will be like each step of the way.

“It is a stressful time. The unknown, it stresses you out,” he said. “This is probably the longest two weeks I’ve had in this process, but overall, I’m having a good time. I’m excited. This was a great opportunity to show them me moving around. I had a great day today. I did well in my bench today.”

That was important to him. For while he stunned those holding the stopwatches with his 40 time, which was third among all defensive linemen, he wasn’t pleased with his bench press and wanted to show he could do better.

“I hit the rack on my way up and it kind of upset my rhythm at the Combine,” he said.

Now he has put a new number on display for the NFL general managers to evaluate, something to go along with the 40 time that was so good he didn’t bother to run it on Monday.

Stills heads into the draft confidently.

“I think about it a lot. I feel like I’m capable of playing at the next level and being a high draft pick. But it’s not up to me. It’s out of my hands now,” he said.

He’s been pointing toward this his whole life. It comes in increments .... 14, enter high school .... 18, enter college .... now, 23, enter the NFL draft.

Always pushing upward, always being tested.

“It’s more of a business now,” he said. “At 14 years old, I’m just enjoying my time. But what you have here is me trying to take someone else’s job who has a lot of experience in the league. The whole mindset is different. My body is different.

“I have to prepare a certain way to have major success at the next level.”

He’s ready for it. He leaves WVU as the all-time leader in tackles for loss and is among the leaders in career sacks.

If there is a lasting image which he projects, it is of him breaking through behind the line of scrimmage, chasing a running back or quarterback and catching them from behind, making a diving tackle as he reaches for their ankles.

When Coach Neal Brown thinks of him, he thinks of his versatility, of his ability to play in a three- or four-point stance, to play standing up like a linebacker or with his hand in the ground.

“He can do both, and he has video to show them of that,” Brown said. “He has changed his body since January and improved his mental approach.”

He leaves WVU knowing he was part of a golden age of athletics in his hometown of Fairmont, being there as he and his brother, Zach Frazier (a football center) and basketball’s Jalen Bridges led to a string of state championships in football, wrestling and basketball.

It’s just a little town down the road from Morgantown, but they all have etched their name into its history.

“We want to set a good example for the guys coming up in Fairmont,” Stills said. “We want to show them that, no matter what, you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.”