MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s first commitment in its 2021 recruiting class won’t be getting there via country roads.
Viktor Wikstrom, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound tight end from Stockholm, Sweden, became the first player from the Class of 2021 to commit to the Mountaineers. Wikstrom is entering his junior year of high school in Sweden.
Wikstrom participated in one of West Virginia’s camps this June as a part of an American tour of college football camps. He also earned offers from Georgia Tech and Eastern Michigan after camping at those campuses.
COMMITTED!!! @CoachTTrickett @NealBrown_WVU @WVUfootball pic.twitter.com/UMAkaKhNv3
— victor wikström (@victor_wikstrom) July 11, 2019
Wikstrom won’t enroll at WVU until January 2021, which is an eternity in the world of recruiting. One of the upsides of a European prospect, however, is the degree of difficulty for other schools to get him on campus for visits in an attempt to flip his commitment.
Wikstrom is the second European player to commit to Neal Brown at WVU. Jairo Faverus, a cornerback from Bristol, England, is a member of the 2020 recruiting class.
As WVU recruiting coordinator Brian Bennett told Sports Illustrated in June, “When you’re in a state of 1.8 million people, you have to get creative.”
West Virginia is one of 30 schools to have received verbal commitments from a 2021 recruit.