MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Derek Culver, the four-star forward whose enrollment status at West Virginia had been murky, will spend the upcoming season at prep school in New Hampshire.
Brewster Academy coach Jason Smith welcomed Culver in a weekend tweet:
Pleased to welcome Derek Culver (6’10, 235) to the Brewster Academy family. Culver’s committed to West Virginia #WVU https://t.co/DB29kpovYj pic.twitter.com/M3x2zMGL3v
— Jason Smith (@BrewsterHoops) August 26, 2017
Culver, an Ohio power forward ranked by Rivals as the No. 81 prospect in the Class of 2017, was dismissed from his Warren-Harding High School team midseason because of academics.
In May, a program source told MetroNews that Culver was retaking a standardized test in hopes of meeting NCAA qualifying guidelines.
Culver held offers from 18 Division I programs including Kansas, Indiana, Florida, Xavier, Cincinnati, UConn and Iowa.
He was the highest rated prospect in West Virginia’s five-member recruiting class that includes junior college forwards Wes Harris and D’Angelo Hunter. Among the freshman newcomers, guard Brandon Knapper spent last season at a Hargrave Military prep and small forward Teddy Allen was a boarding student at Boys Town High in Omaha, Neb.
With forward Elijah Macon forgoing his senior season, Culver’s absence leaves the Mountaineers with an open scholarship, one that could go to 6-11 sophomore center Logan Routt of Cameron, W.Va.