BECKLEY, W.Va. — West Virginia four-star signee Derek Culver, dogged by eligibility questions since being dismissed from his Ohio high school basketball team midseason, said “everything is fine” with the NCAA Clearinghouse and he plans to enroll in June, according to a report from BlueGoldNews.com of the Scout network.
“My academics were fine. The reason I was off my team was me and my mom’s decision with something that was going on,” Culver told Kevin Kinder of Blue Gold News in a story posted late Saturday. “Everyone thought it was my academics — the reason I wasn’t playing — but that wasn’t it at all. I’ve been there three or four years and never had an academic problem.
“The Clearinghouse, I am good. NCAA Clearinghouse, I am fine. Everything is fine. I will be in Morgantown in June.”
The 6-foot-10 Culver, a consensus top-80 national prospect by the major recruiting services, made his comments at the Scott Brown Classic.
Culver is the highest-ranked of West Virginia’s five recruits in the 2017 class. He held offers from Arizona, Florida, Purdue, Indiana, Cincinnati, UConn and Xavier.
Warren Harding High School coach Andy Vlajkovich revealed in January that Culver had been dismissed from the team, declining to specify the reason.
A West Virginia program source recently told MetroNews that Culver’s addition “would be a decision for Bob Huggins.”
During an appearance last week on MetroNews “Sportsline,” Huggins spoke optimistically about Culver and all the newcomers filling roles next season.
“Derek gives us a big guy with a lot of length, and he’s a guy who can may be able to play at the top of the press,” Huggins said. “I think those guys are going to come in and help us.”
If all five recruits enroll, the Mountaineers would be one over the scholarship limit for next season.