WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll breakdown three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.

Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.

3 things I learned:

1—The early signing period in the books. West Virginia didn’t have a lot of numbers in this 2021 recruiting class with only 16 prospects signing with the program, but it certainly made up for it with quality. The Mountaineers reeled in a group that finished at 3.25 with the average star ranking of each commitment in the class. That is a cumulative average of the quality of the class as opposed to using the classic ranking formula which considers the overall numbers in the group as well. That 3.25 mark is the highest for West Virginia since the start of the Rivals.com ranking system in 2002, signifying a very talented group when you dig a little deeper into what the Mountaineers did on the recruiting trail.

The class finished No. 43 nationally overall, but when considering the quality of the group the 2021 commitments come in at No. 21 nationally. That’s an impressive feat overall and even more so when you realize that 41 of the teams ahead of them in the actual rankings have more commitments which is going to give them a higher score overall. The numbers hurt them in terms of overall class, but there are a lot of reasons to be thrilled with this group that the coaches put together.

An even deeper dive into things shows you that this is the first class since 2009 to feature three players in the Rivals250, the top 250 players in the nation. The first class since 2018 to have four players that are four-star prospects and is only one of three classes in the nation to have a pair of four-star running backs along with Clemson and Ohio State. That’s pretty good company, eh?