West Virginia cultivates strategies, momentum in recruiting
It’s safe to say that West Virginia currently has momentum on the recruiting trail.
The Mountaineers have added 13 commitments since the start of June with the 2025 recruiting class currently perched inside the top 20 according to the Rivals.com national rankings. And while that can change in a flash, the work done to even get to that point doesn’t happen overnight.
No, it’s a lot of investment all the way around according to head coach Neal Brown.
“We’re on guys earlier and that’s a credit to our recruiting department,” he said. “We’ve grown that over the last three years and we’re on guys earlier.”
As part of that, West Virginia has done a better job of getting younger prospects to campus. That is evident when looking at the commitment list and how many of those names have been to Morgantown multiple times over the past few years long before they came to any sort of decision-making part of their recruitments.
That starts early on and has to continue throughout which shows the multi-year nature of the recruiting process for the bulk of targets on the list.
Brown also credits the on-campus recruiting staff for the series of June official visits which have been significant in the process with how the program is presented.
The Mountaineers coaching staff also now have a much better understanding of the picture of what works in Morgantown in terms of fit and the type of players that will have success. That isn’t something that necessarily comes easy as the more time you spend at a place, the more self-aware coaches become on what type of people fit in the program and in the city.
“We recruit really hard, but we’ve got to get the selection right,” he said.
That involves an evaluation piece that ranges from athletics to academics, to finally character. That last piece takes the most time and a prospect has to be a fit in each area for the Mountaineers. For Brown, it often comes down to two simple questions when sorting through options.
“I always go back to do they love football and are they a good teammate? And the more time around them, the more you can figure out the questions,” he said.
Part of that process is simply being able to say no to some prospects if they don’t fit that criteria. Sometimes there are prospects that check some boxes, but when it comes to decision time it might not be the right fit.
Now, the work isn’t done, and Brown wants to get through the next few weeks to see where the program stands heading into the summer but with the changes to the recruiting calendar securing the majority of the class by the end of the summer is critical.
“The way it works now with signing day the first Wednesday in December you don’t have that December official visits so once Sunday hits you either got in-season visits or it’s not happening,” Brown said. “So, you need to have most of your class done by the time you get going in the fall so you can focus on what you’re really paid to do which is coach football.”
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