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Published Oct 15, 2021
A look at the recruiting areas for the West Virginia assistants
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Keenan Cummings  •  WVSports
Managing Editor
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@rivalskeenan

West Virginia has a plan for recruiting when it comes to areas, but which assistant is responsible for each?

We examine where each of the Mountaineers assistant coaches are recruiting and the areas that are specifically assigned to them when it comes to the process.

Keep in mind that there will be some overlap and each of these recruits are heavily involved with recruiting their own position rooms even if it is outside of the region listed above. This is essentially an outline of the areas that these coaches are primarily responsible for when it comes to area recruiting.

And with coaches on the road this week due to the bye it's the perfect time to revisit it. Coaches hit the road Monday and are back out Thursday, Friday and Saturday in order to see players in person.

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As far as the coordinators, on the defensive side of the ball Jordan Lesley is charged with mining the Cincinnati tri-state, East Atlanta and the Mississippi junior college system. Lesley has been with the coaching staff since 2019 and has moved from the defensive line to bandits after taking over as the full-time coordinator after splitting the duties last season.

On offense, coordinator Gerad Parker recruits the Charleston and Huntington areas in West Virginia as well as Eastern Kentucky and the Indianapolis area. The Kentucky native joined the staff in 2020.

As for the rest of the assistant coaches on the offensive side co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Chad Scott, who’s been on staff since 2019, handles Philadelphia (Pa.), Southern New Jersey and Central Florida as well as running back recruiting.

Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Matt Moore is charged with both the Morgantown and Fairmont areas in West Virginia along with Bluefield. He then steps into Southeast Ohio, Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee to rebound out his recruiting territories. Like Scott, he has been on staff with the Mountaineers since the initial coaching staff was brought on in 2019.

Quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan, who again was an original staff member, recruits Central Pennsylvania, Illinois with an emphasis on the Chicago area and Alabama with an emphasis on both the Huntsville and Birmingham areas of the state.

The final offensive coach is tight ends coach Travis Trickett and he works mining the talent rich areas of South Florida, Central Ohio and the Savannah, Georgia region. He has been on staff since 2019.

Co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach ShaDon Brown is over top of several areas with the talent rich DMV stretching from Baltimore to Northern Washington, D.C., along with North Florida, South Georgia with an emphasis on Charlton, Camden and Lowndes and Louisville, Kentucky. Additionally, when it comes to in-state assignments he is overtop the Martinsburg area.

Safeties coach Dontae Wright joined the staff in February 2020 where he started overtop the outside linebackers but transitioned to the backend. He is personally in charge of recruiting Detroit (Mi.), Toledo (Oh.), Fort Wayne (In.), Western Pennsylvania, Saint Louis (Mo.) and Charlotte (N.C.).

Inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz handles Northeast Ohio, West Atlanta, the West Virginia Panhandle and finally the Kansas junior colleges. He has been on staff since 2020.

Finally, the last remaining member of the staff who was added this past off-season is defensive line coach Andrew Jackson. He is responsible for recruiting Northeast Pennsylvania, the Washington, D.C. and Richmond areas, Northern New Jersey and finally New York City.

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