Recruiting efforts in-state paying off for West Virginia
Under head coach Neal Brown, West Virginia has been known for keeping the state’s best at home and on the field and it has started to pay dividends.
There are a few exceptions since inheriting the football program in January 2019 but for the most part, the program has been able to follow through on the promise he made when he was hired.
“Keeping the best players in the state at home is a top priority,” he said.
Since 2020, Brown has been able to sign Bluefield defensive end Sean Martin and Fairmont offensive center Zach Frazier, Spring Valley offensive lineman Wyatt Milum, Spring Valley tight end Corbin Page, University athlete Noah Braham, Jefferson wide receiver Keyshawn Robinson, Cabell Midland linebacker Curtis Jones and Princeton athlete Dom Collins.
Even one of those that got away in South Charleston pass rusher Zeiqui Lawton ended up transferring from Cincinnati to West Virginia within a semester.
Looking at that list those players had options from the power five level with Milum being a national recruit with other offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Penn State, LSU, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida State and Miami just to name a few of his lengthy collection.
“I think it’s very important for us in a state that has a low population, maybe not as many power five prospects as some other places that we go to keep those guys within our state,” Brown said.
Now, it hasn’t been a perfect run but if you look at that list of signees almost all of them have developed into key players for West Virginia during their time with the program. That speaks to the importance of keeping the best home.
Frazier was an all-conference center, Milum an all-conference offensive tackle and Martin is one of the leaders for West Virginia on the defensive side of the ball this year. Out of that list that has signed only Page left the program through the transfer portal without ever making an impact.
That doesn't even include walk-ons such as Hudson Clement, Nick Malone, Preston Fox, Caden Biser and others who have made their mark on the program, too.
Just like the results of the players that West Virginia has landed; the recruiting efforts haven’t been perfect either. The Mountaineers have landed the bulk of the players that they have targeted but several have slipped through the cracks over that time.
Others who have ended up at other Power Five schools include Layth Ghannam (Virginia Tech) and Hurricane linebacker Mondrell Dean (Purdue) in the 2023 class. While during this cycle players such as Huntington offensive lineman Robby Martin (N.C. State) and Cabell Midland linebacker Cannon Lewis (N.C. State) have elected to leave the state and former Wheeling Park wide receiver Jerrae Hawkins ended up transferring to IMG in Florida prior to his senior year and selected the Gators.
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Not all of those players held an offer from West Virginia, but there have certainly been some misses from that list, namely Hawkins.
Now, like all aspects of recruiting you can’t force a player to pick a school and many different reasons go into it. Some of it comes down to opportunity, others their fit both on and off the field and some players simply just want to get away for college. But this list doesn't even include walk-ons which have played a key role and some have developed into scholarship options after a few years.
"If there is going to be 2-4 scholarship players each year you need to get almost every one of them and we need to continue to do a great job with our walk-on program because several of those guys will turn into scholarship players and they usually have a little more patience than some of the scholarship. That was our vision early on, it’s started to come into fruition," Brown said.
There is certainly some accountability in some instances just because of the limited power five options that the state provides but overall, those players that the program has kept home have paid off on the field. That is encouraging and a testament to why it has been important to hit this area all along.
"I think over the course of our five years here we’ve had a high percentage if not almost all of them that have potential," Brown said.
Obviously, it hasn't been perfect, but West Virginia continues to prioritize the Mountain State for good reason.
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