West Virginia currently sits at No. 28 in the Rivals.com recruiting rankings.

That might not seem like much when considering that there are 27 teams ahead of them but in the grand scale of what has unfolded with the program on the recruiting trail it’s an impressive feat.

Why? Well, it’s only the fifth time since 2002 that the Mountaineers have fallen inside the top 30 and the first since the 2013 class, the highest under former coach Dana Holgorsen.

The highest class ever inked according to the Rivals.com rankings was the 2007 group at No. 24 but that featured 28 signees, some of which did not qualify that inflated the totals. Obviously that isn’t a luxury anymore under the new rules which place a hard-cap of 25 signees per class so you can’t take nearly as many, if any, risks when it comes to signing a prospect and then waiting to see if he can make it.

The group consists of a pair of four-star prospects and 19 three-stars, each of which holding multiple offers from power five programs showing the strength from top to bottom.The average star ranking at 3.10 is the second best finish in the Rivals era.

The Mountaineers signed 20 prospects for the 2020 group with one commitment still hanging in the balance in Iowa Western C.C. offensive tackle Jacob Gamble. Whether or not his signature comes into the Puskar Center will largely depend on if his academic situation is in order after not being able to enroll in January was originally planned to finish up coursework.

But give that some thought. A total of 20 commitments coming off a 5-7 season where the coaches did not have the benefit of a full recruiting cycle under their belt and the program is inside the top 30.

That last part is especially important because while other schools were hitting the ground running on the 2020 efforts last January, this staff was trying to keep the 2019 group together after Holgorsen’s departure. The first true junior day for the 2020 group wasn’t even held until Feb. 16 last year, with the Mountaineers already holding five between December and January for the 2021 class.

Not too shabby for the first full recruiting season for Neal Brown’s coaching staff but it took a lot of effort and relationship building in a short period of time to reach that mark.

The class is perched at No. 3 in the Big 12 Conference which is exactly where you want to be most years with how proficient national brands Texas and Oklahoma are at pulling in prospects. That gives you a chance when it comes to competing in the long term.

That previously mentioned 2013 class finished at No. 27 in the rankings, the highest outside the 2007 class, but also featured 26 commitments that year.

The first full class under Brown featured plenty of highlights such as going head-to-head with a number of schools and winning those battles without the benefit of the last visit, along with keeping the state’s best at home for the first time in several years.

But there is optimism with what this class represents considering the deck was stacked against them in several areas, that things can get better. Already the Mountaineers have hosted 70+ offered prospects, many of the four-star or high three-star variety, between those five junior day events.

That figure doesn’t even count those that made it to campus over the summer or during the football season as juniors, which wasn't a liberty that this staff had with the 2020 cycle due to simply timing.

It starts with getting prospects to campus and the seeds are being sewn in order to possibly surpass this No. 28 finish as soon as next December/February.

Regardless, Brown and his staff are showing that perhaps many of the beliefs about attracting top talent to Morgantown was just that all along – a belief. Now, they’re looking to change that one class at a time.

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