Joseph drafted by Raiders 14th overall

MORGANTOWN — In January of 1900 President Theodore Roosevelt sent a letter to Harry L. Sprague in which he offered the foreign policy philosophy of “speak softly and carry and big stick. You will go far.”

West Virginia safety Karl Joseph apparently got the message.

Soft spoken and seemingly mild mannered off the football field, Joseph unleashed his big stick when dressed in a West Virginia uniform and used it to get all the way to the NFL, having become the 12th first-round selection out of WVU in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

The Raiders felt they needed defensive secondary help because of the retirement of future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson and Joseph will be given a chance to move into his place.

Joseph overcame huge odds to earn the right to be selected by the Oakland Raiders with the 14th pick of the draft, thus becoming the second consecutive first-round pick to come out of Morgantown and the fourth first-round pick in the last five years.

A year ago, the Chicago Bears took wide receiver Kevin White with the seventh pick in the draft and in 2013 another wide receiver, Tavon Austin, was the top selection of the St. Louis Rams, who used the eighth pick on him, while in 2012 defensive end Bruce Irvin was the 15th pick by the Seattle Seahawks.

Irvin was recently signed by Oakland and will be reunited with Joseph this season.

Joseph’s selection in the first round capped an amazing run for him. A year ago, as a junior, he considered leaving for the NFL and asked for an evaluation.

They told him they expected him to go anywhere from the second to the seventh round, leading him to decide to come back and hone his game even further in hopes of becoming a first-round pick.

Completely dedicated to that proposition, he came out on fire. In the opening game he had three interceptions and continued such play through the first four games, owning five interceptions to lead the nation in that department and go with his normal allotment of teeth-rattling tackles.

Now NFL scouts were drooling and so was his coach Dana Holgorsen, who had visions of riding a spectacular defense to new heights, but Joseph went down with a severe knee injury in a non-contact drill before game the fifth game of the year, losing him for the season.

The injury came after what probably was his best game of the injury-shortened season, considering the opponent was Oklahoma, and it featured a spectacular hit on 235-pound Sooner running back Samje Perrine.

Perrine, who had gained 242 yards against WVU the previous season, had broken open into the secondary when Joseph met him head-on and sent over backward — while being blocked by a Sooner wide receiver.

The injury was a crushing blow to the team, that not only lost the heart of its defense, but it’s soul, a player who commanded the respect of his teammates.

West Virginia lost its next three games. It might have had a lot to do with them being against No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Baylor and No. 5 TCU, but it had a lot to do with Joseph being a spectator from the sideline.

It could have been a crushing blow to him, too, but he had his surgery and as he had his whole life, attacked rehabilitation, so much so that despite the injury that cost him the final nine games of the year he was the first Big 12 player taken in the draft.

Joseph finished his career with 209 tackles in 42 games — all starts — with 15.5 of them for losses. He added eight interceptions, 12 pass breakups and two sacks and untold numbers of mind-blowing hits that wound up on YouTube.

A native of Haiti, he had come to the United States and lived in Orlando, Fla., building himself into a physical specimen despite being just 5-foot-9 or 5-10, a height many consider too short to be a first-round draft pick.

Joseph is one of five West Virginia players expected to be selected in this year’s draft. Others are linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, defensive back Daryl Worley, safety KJ Dillon and running back Wendell Smallwood.

Joseph actually may wind up playing his career in Las Vegas as the Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis, is trying to get approval to him his team there, putting up $500 million to build a stadium.