For as long as I can remember, one of the staples of recruiting at West Virginia has always been if you get them to campus you have a chance. But does the data back that up? How has the West Virginia Mountaineers football program done when it comes to success with official visits during the course of the Neal Brown era?
In the 2021 class, all of those opportunities were shelved due to the safety concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But with things back to normal, we examine how have the Mountaineers done with getting players on campus.
What has been the success rate of players that West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and staff have had on campus for official visits during his brief tenure?
Brown took over mid-way through the 2019 class, so those numbers will be skewed both in the aspect of time to recruit players as well as the number of those they were pursuing. With the largest bulk of the class already in place, which Brown had to re-host and secure without losing any they did host an additional eight players on official visits down that stretch run.
Of those eight, West Virginia was able to sign safety Tae Mayo, defensive lineman Jordan Jefferson, safety Rashean Lynn, offensive lineman John Hughes and safety Noah Guzman. However, wide receiver Darren Wilson (Iowa State), offensive lineman Willie Tyler (Texas) and offensive lineman Darnell Wright (Tennessee) all choose to sign elsewhere.
If you consider the 14 players that were already committed to the program that the Mountaineers were able to get back in the fold with an additional visit due to the coaching change with Dana Holgorsen heading to Houston and the program signed a total of 19 of the 22 they had on campus.
But for the sake of this we will only count those new players, so the Mountaineers signed five of the eight.
The class of 2020 was a more accurate depiction of what a typical official visit schedule could look like as the Mountaineers hosted 33 total players for official visits. That included the first sampling of early official visits as the coaches hosted 13 players in the summer over two days from June 14-16.
During that early window, the Mountaineers eventually signed six of those players including defensive end Akheem Mesidor. However, seven elected to go elsewhere with defensive end Quentin Williams (Miami), cornerback Tarheeb Still (Maryland), linebacker Tirek Austin-Cave (Miami), wide receiver Bryce Gowdy (Georgia Tech), defensive end Aaron Lewis (Michigan), wide receiver Kris Draine (Missouri) and offensive lineman Samuel Rengert (Iowa State).
Now, those visits are conducted earlier and there is more risk attached but even hitting on half, especially with you considering Lewis initially committed to West Virginia before flipping later, is a good turnout at the early stages of the process.
Of the 20 other prospects that West Virginia hosted for official visits over the rest of the process, the Mountaineers landed a total of 14 of those. The only exceptions were defensive end Simeon Barrow (Michigan State), defensive end Wesley Bailey (Rutgers), cornerback Lakevias Daniel (Mississippi), defensive end Yaya Diaby (Louisville), defensive end Justin Jackson (Colorado), and safety Charles Bell (Marshall). And out of that list, some of those decisions were ultimately made by West Virginia.
During the 2021 class, there were no official visits permitted, but the Mountaineers did continue to show their success when they were able to get players on campus. Out of the 16 commitments, a total of 12 of them visited for some type of junior day or activity during their recruitment.
In the 2022 class, the numbers again were impressive with the Mountaineers hosting 46 prospects visiting with a total of 21 of those committing to the program.
And in 2023, West Virginia hosted 36 players and 19 of those committed. The 2024 group hosted 47 official visitors and has landed 23 of those.
Overall, the data shows that only 84 of the 184 non-transfer players who have taken official visits to West Virginia since Brown has been atop the program have elected to go elsewhere.
That’s hitting on 54-percent of the players that the program has hosted, and that total doesn’t even include the ones that West Virginia elected to pass on for whatever reason that was ultimately their decision and not the players.
Getting players to campus has certainly been a weapon for the coaches and the data backs it up.
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