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A look at the recruiting areas for the West Virginia assistants

A look at where all the West Virginia Mountaineers assistant coaches primarily recruit.
A look at where all the West Virginia Mountaineers assistant coaches primarily recruit.

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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.

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 during the 2020 season.

On offense, coordinator Graham Harrell will essentially be tasked with recruiting the quarterback position where he also serves as the position coach. The new assistant was hired earlier this year and when targeting the position Harrell admits that stature isn't as important instead somebody that can accurately deliver the football as well as being equipped with a natural throwing motion.

Outside of the quarterbacks, Harrell will recruit west Tennessee, Nashville and Memphis as well as Indianapolis.

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.

Tight ends coach Sean Reagan, who again was an original staff member but used to handle quarterbacks, 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.

Wide receivers coach Tony Washington who is the newest addition to the staff will take over for Travis Trickett in South Florida for the Mountaineers while also recruiting his home state of North Carolina and parts of South Carolina.

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. He also will assist Washington in South Carolina. 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 during the 2021 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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