Vince Sanford’s out-of-nowhere rise at outside linebacker for Air Force has taken even him by surprise.

Sanford was a record-breaker in high school, but at receiver. It wasn’t until his time with the Falcons that he shifted full-time to defense to play the Falcons’ hybrid outside linebacker/defensive back position. And it wasn’t until an injury to Lakota Wills in the season opener that he moved to a pass-rushing role that has helped him catapult into perhaps the most disruptive defender in the Mountain West.

“I never envisioned myself as a pass rusher,” Sanford said. “When they put me in the position I just tried to do my best and do what I can do.”

Sanford now leads the Falcons and conference with 6.5 sacks. He’s tied for the Mountain West lead with three forced fumbles, his eight tackles for loss are tied for third-best in the league and his 31 tackles are tops for Air Force.

On Monday he was named Mountain West defensive player of the week following a 24-14 victory over Wyoming in which he made six tackles (including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss), forced two fumbles (one of which he recovered) and had a pass breakup.

“He has good quickness,” coach Troy Calhoun said. “He just has so much savvy in the way that he plays. The good part is he can get stronger, too.”

The quickness probably should have been expected, given his background. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior from Hamilton, Ohio, set his high school’s record for receiving yards in a career. He also played safety, starred in basketball and ran track.

As a recruit, he listed himself as a wide receiver and his coach told the local paper, the Butler County Journal News, that he dubbed Sanford “Mr. Consistency” for the reliability in the passing game that helped him haul in more than 100 career catches.

Sanford, who was the only two-way player on his high school team, told the Journal News he had a clear preference when it came to offense vs. defense.

“The feeling of scoring touchdowns … it just feels like an immediate effect on the game more than on defense,” Sanford said.

But here he is now, sitting just 2.5 sacks from cracking Air Force’s all-time single-season top 10 list with six games remaining (seven if the Falcons grab one more victory and gain bowl eligibility).

It’s not where he thought he’d end up, but he’s enjoying it all the same.

“It’s been very fun,” Sanford said. “I’m just going out there, doing what the team needs and trying to do my job and when the play comes to me I try to do my best to make it. But it’s very fun. It’s football. I love football.”