MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Cincinnati Moeller’s Miles McBride, a junior with the skills to play point guard and quarterback in college, became West Virginia’s first 2019 basketball commitment.
The 6-foot-1 son of former Xavier player Walt McBride recently visited West Virginia and Ohio State. He has been sidelined this basketball season by a foot injury lingering from a September football game. McBride had thrown for 17 touchdowns in his first five games and was attracting interest from FBS recruiters.
For now, he seems intent on chasing basketball dreams at the next level.
A recent offer from Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins surprised McBride, who assumed coaches would take a wait-and-see approach. He is projected to return to the court in March for the No. 3-ranked ranked in Ohio Division I.
“I’m just really excited to heal up quick,” McBride told Cincinnati.com. “The loyalty is amazing. To see a kid injured and still believe he has the talent to play at that level is amazing to me. I just thought it was time.”
McBride emerged as a sophomore starter last season when Moeller went 28-1 and lost in the state final. He averaged 10.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and shot 56 percent.
Projected as a top-200 recruit in 2109, he has offers from Dayton, Akron, Duquesne, Ohio and Toledo.
McBride also visited Ohio State in the past month, but Huggins has made a concerted effort to recruit the area where he came to prominence coaching the Bearcats a quarter-century ago. The Mountaineers’ roster contains two Ohio natives — Esa Ahmad and Lamont West — with a third, Derek Culver, signing in the 2018 class. Beetle Bolden of nearby Covington, Ky., would be a senior the year McBride enrolls.
“Talking to the West Virginia coaching staff, Miles fits their system very well,” Moeller coach Carl Kremer told Cincinnati.com. “They’re looking for a guard for that class. He fits in all styles of their game in leadership and how he plays the game hard. That’s what West Virginia is all about.”