MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Those three practices Jovon Durante missed last week awaiting NCAA clearance? They won’t make or break his chances of playing as a West Virginia freshman.
The four-star receiver was a quick learner during summer 7-on-7s. He’s quick in almost every fashion.
“He’s a blur,” said West Virginia assistant JaJuan Seider, who spent more than three years recruiting Durante at a couple of South Florida high schools.
After only a few first-hand interactions on Mountaineer Field, Seider sounded reassured it was recruiting time wisely invested: “He could be that next big thing here.”
In 2011 Durante was a ninth-grader primarily interested in basketball when Seider—then a Marshall assistant—visited Dr. Krop High School, intent on landing Durante’s all-state older brother Johnnie, who eventually signed with Florida International.
“(Jovon) was a big-time basketball player. He was an AAU kid. He was just starting to gravitate to football,” recalled Seider, who saw a clip and immediately offered a scholarship.
Durante committed to WVU the summer before his junior season, and by the time he transferred to Miramar High as a senior, he was a top-200 national prospect with offers from the likes of Florida State, Auburn and LSU. In April 2014 came media reports Durante had flipped to Alabama after visiting Tuscaloosa, but the player squashed those rumors within 24 hours.
He never seriously waivered from West Virginia, became the Mountaineers’ highest-rated signee in the 2015 class and enrolled in early June.
“He’s starting to pick things up well,” Seider said. “Summer was huge for that kid, being up here in June and July to get the basics of the offense down. Even though he was gone (for three days of practice), he was able to jump right in.”
“He’s a blur. He could be that next big thing here.” — WVU assistant JaJuan Seider on freshman Jovon Durante
At 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Durante’s a burner who can play outside receiver or in the slot. He’s among a crew of talented newcomers at receiver that includes freshmen Gary Jennings and Jordan Adams and sophomore Ka’Raun White.
All of them are trying to crack a starting rotation headed by Dakiel Shorts, Shelton Gibson and Jordan Thompson, though receivers coach Lonnie Galloway emphasized, “We’re not scared to play new kids. Hopefully one of them will catch 100 balls.”
After watching Durante for only a few practices, Galloway wasn’t touting or refuting the next-big-thing campaign.
“You can tell he’s a gifted athlete. It’s easy when you’re out there with a shirt and no pads, but you can see he’s quick-footed, has instincts and can get open and run routes. But we’re glad that we have him.”
As Durante looked natural fielding punts and kickoffs at his first practice last week, his springy bounce and explosive burst stood out.
“He was running around in the green jersey the first couple of days and you’re like, ‘Dang, who’s that kid?’” Seider said. “I knew it because I recruited the kid, but (other coaches) are starting to see what I saw and why everybody wanted the kid.”