FRISCO, TEXAS — Playing in the trenches, especially in the run game, often comes down to a battle of wills. Who wants it more?
For Indiana defensive tackle CJ West (6005, 314), run defense is all about a mindset. He would know, considering he was one of the best run defenders in college football the last two years, according to Pro Football Focus.
Though the game of football at all levels seems to be more centered on throwing the football and spreading things out, there’s a slow, but consistent shift back toward the running game, which makes running the football and stopping the run all the more important.
To do that, you have to have the big guys up front who are physical, and West checks those boxes. When it comes to defending the run for the former Kent State standout who transferred to Indiana for one season, that mindset about defending the run? Well, West takes it personally.
“I feel like it starts off with a mindset. Like, winning the line of scrimmage in the run game is honestly where you’re gonna win. Whoever can stop the run, whoever can develop the run more, they’re gonna win the game. Because you don’t have to risk turning the ball over as much by running. It just starts with a mindset,” West told Steelers Depot at the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas. “It’s just like, if you can destroy the guy in front of you, physically abuse him and tackle their running back before they can get any yard, it’s a mindset. It’s a mantra.
“And I stand by it. I’m like, ‘It’s me versus you and I’m not gonna let you stop me from making this play or letting this get to our second line of defense. I’m not gonna let that happen.'”
During his time at both Kent State and Indiana, that was the case with West when it came to defending the run.
In four seasons at Kent State, West started 35 games, appearing in 39. Though he was consistent throughout his first three years with the Golden Flashes, West put it all together in 2023. He earned third-team All-MAC honors, in large part due to his run defense, which had him as one of the best in the country at stopping the run.
West led all Kent State defenders in 2023 in Pro Football Focus’ defensive grade (85.9) and run-defense grade (84.5). Based on those grades from PFF, among all FBS defensive linemen West found himself ranked eighth in PFF’s defensive grade and 11th in run defense in 2023.
His play as that stout, physical run defender in the middle of the defense put him on the map as he entered the transfer portal. That led him to Bloomington, where he played under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti and helped play a key part in Indiana’s historic season, the Hoosiers earning a spot in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
West credits Cignetti for helping make him a better run defender from an understanding aspect, learning offensive schemes, what could be coming based on formations and things like that.
Adding that to his arsenal as a run defender helped take his game to another level. In his lone season with the Hoosiers, West earned honorable mention All-Big 10 honors behind the likes of Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, Michigan’s Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, and Ohio State’s Tyliek Williams.
But it all comes back to the mentality he has as a run defender, taking it personally when teams try to run on him. That’s what is going to help him succeed at the next level, wherever he gets his shot.
“Nobody really sees it. Nobody really appreciate[s] it outside of the team, outside of people who really care about football,” West said of the pride he takes in run defense. “But honestly it started at Kent State. My Kent State defense line coach Colin Ferrell (now at Rutgers), that was his mantra. Like, if you stopped the run, everything else comes easy for you. If you stop the run, you earn the chance to get the pass rush.
“And I really live by it. I’m not, no matter what it does, like I’m not gonna let you run the ball. It really is like a personal attack than when a team can run the ball. I would rather a team throw for 300 yards than run for 150, 200 yards, you know what I’m saying? I despise it. It’s just like, it’s embarrassing. That’s the feeling.”
That desperation to stop the run and impose his will shows up time and time again on tape. That alone makes West one of the more intriguing run defenders in a rather deep defensive line class in the 2025 NFL Draft.
