- MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia closed national signing day with all 21 commitments on board, essentially landing every player it anticipated. Now comes the push to augment a class Rivals ranks No. 50th in the nation.
“We aren’t done yet,” coach Dana Holgorsen said Wednesday.
With junior college prospects still planning visits and the graduate transfer market shaking out, the Mountaineers could add up to ad additional five players.
While a dip from WVU’s previous four classes that ranked between 27th and 40th, coaches hope the current group yields undervalued contributors like the 2012 class, which also ranked 50th. That year brought Karl Joseph, Mark Glowinski, KJ Dillon, Tyler Orlosky, Noble Nwachukwu, Christian Brown, Adam Pankey, Jarrod Harper and Jordan Thompson.
“I get such a kick out of all these recruiting services, recruiting rankings and who’s got the top class,” Holgorsen said. “They think this kid is better than that kid but it’s nothing but someone’s opinion. We don’t pay attention to recruiting rankings and quite honestly, that’s for fans.”
The class ranks eighth in the Big 12 — ahead of only Kansas and K-State — with much of the groundwork laid before West Virginia surprisingly won 10 games last season.
With nearly half its class already enrolled and participating in winter conditioning, a drama-free signing day featured no surprises. Though West Virginia held out hope of landing four-star receiver Danny Davis, the top-100 prospect chose Wisconsin.
Among the early enrollees was WVU’s only four-star signee, South Charleston safety Derrek Pitts, who originally committed to Penn State.
“It was kind of a roller coaster wth him as far as the Penn State deal, but I knew all along where he’d end up,” said defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. “Everybody was panicking but we weren’t as a coaching staff. We knew where his heart was. He was never going to leave the state.”
Likewise, there was excitement over three-star Kenny Robinson of Pittsburgh, a 6-foot-3 defender who committed in October over offers from Pitt and Louisville
“He can play corner, he can play safety and he can probably grow into a linebacker at some point,” Gibson said. “He’s a freak athlete. He’s playing basketball right now and if you follow him on Twitter you’ll see a dunk a night.”
Multiple defensive staffers fawned over the thumping ability of three-star defensive back Eugene Brown from Stone Mountain, Ga.
“He’s a guy who can generate impact in short space,” said cornerbacks coach Blue Adams. “With every collision, you can tell this a young man who relishes the physical side of it.”
Brown’s high school video drew comparisons to that of Joseph, an infamous striker who’s coming off a standout rookie season for the Oakland Raiders.
“That’s exactly who it reminded me of,” Gibson said. “He’ll fit very well into what we do in our league, how we get our safeties down in the box and ask them to set the edge on screens.”
Receivers coach Tyron Carrier cited Reggie Roberson of Mesquite, Texas, as a newcomer who’s “in position to come in and play now.” The Mountaineers made a push for Roberson during the past month after four-star Mike Harley of Fort Lauderdale began hedging on his commitment.
Roberson was a one-time Kansas commit who also held offers from Illinois, Indiana, Utah and Washington State.
“He’s one of those kids who has a chip on his shoulder because he sort of missed out on the Texas market a little bit,” Carrier said. “He was more than willing to come to West Virginia and tear that Texas market up.”
The 6-foot Roberson adds a catch-and-run dynamic to WVU’s two junior-college enrollees — 6-4 David Sills and 6-5 Dominique Maiden.
“We’ve got great bodies at receiver and we’ve got different ways we can work things,” Carrier said.
West Virginia signed two running backs, including 5-foot-6 Tevin Bush of New Orleans, who scored 29 touchdowns as a senior while leading Landry-Walker High to the Louisiana 5A state championship.
“People get caught up in how small he is and the measurements, but we don’t have anybody like this kid in our program,” said running backs coach JaJuan Seider. “The first tackler never touches him.”
“He’s got vision, almost like an X-ray, because he sees things before it happens. The kid had more than 1,000 yards rushing and receiving. We’re going to find different ways to use him.”
No hat games, please
Holgorsen on: “From a media point of view, you want as many hat shows as you can get. I think that’s where it’s headed because of the different signing days that are going to be proposed. The anxiety levels that exists with hat shows and stuff are made for TV, ESPN all that good stuff, right? I can assure you there are no coaches support in that.
No QBs in class, yet
Holgorsen said WVU has the remainder of spring semester to decide on signing a quarterback this cycle.
“We aren’t done yet. We have three that can play. We have three that are eligible that are going to take a lot of reps in the spring. Three that are going to compete. We are good there, but you have to keep adding to that room. … What we did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, some of those days we missed out on a couple of kids, and I just went and slammed my door and buried my head in my desk and was PO’d all day long. I know how to put together a class moving forward throughout the whole spring. We will keep our eyes and ears open for what we need.”
Breaking down the group
The class features 13 high school players and eight from the junior college ranks. They were spread across 13 states, including four from Pennsylvania and three each from West Virginia and Georgia.
Nine are projected as offensive players with 12 on defense.