West Virginia has landed another major piece to the 2021 recruiting class puzzle with a commitment from Dublin (Oh.) Coffman defensive end Hammond Russell.

Russell, 6-foot-3, 235-pounds, selected the Mountaineers over a number of other offers including Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Illinois and several others.

The Rivals.com three-star prospect made multiple visits to Morgantown and developed a close bond with the coaches led by tight ends coach Travis Trickett.

"I made my decision and I’m sticking with it. I love West Virginia," he said.

The Ohio native was most recently on campus for the March 7 junior day prior to the start of the mandated NCAA dead period and developed a strong connection with Trickett as well as defensive line coach Jordan Lesley who will serve as his position coach in Morgantown.

Russell has the ability to fill several slots on the defensive line and is a major pickup to help address the needs for the Big 12 Conference program up front. Russell is slated to begin his career at defensive end.

"The reason I chose West Virginia is because of the team and the support," he said. "Everything about them feels like home. You always want to go to a place that feels like home and they were always honest with me. They told me, ‘we’re not guaranteeing you anything, but we will make you a better player and make you a better man.’"

The Ohio native is the sixth commitment for West Virginia overall and the first pledge that is slotted to play the defensive line in the current class.

WVSports.com will have more with Russell in the near future.

----------

• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.

• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.

• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel

• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @PatrickKotnik

•Like us on Facebook