Neal Brown wanted to be careful with how he allotted scholarships toward graduate transfers.

The Mountaineers are currently looking to replenish overall scholarship numbers in the football program and while graduate transfers have their benefits, they don’t do much for the long term goal of approaching the 85-man limit and balancing that across classes.

It’s a process that Brown roughly estimates could take several classes to reach that total with the 25-man limit per class so the focus was to take players that had multiple seasons of eligibility remaining.

“If you take a bunch of grads, you’re never really filling a spot,” Brown said. “You’re never getting closer to 85. We’re trying to build quality.”

In fact, all but three of the eight additions made after signing day will have multiple seasons remaining and one of those in Alonzo Addae will redshirt this season before stepping into a cornerback position that will need experience with multiple seniors set to exhaust their eligibility.

So what was the difference when it came to taking George Campbell, a wide receiver from Florida State, and Reuben Jones, a defensive end from Michigan, as graduate transfers this off-season?

For one both of those positions needed an older influence added to the mix as the wide receiver spot didn’t sport a single senior and defensive line had only a lone senior in Reese Donahue. Both players come from successful programs and could serve as leaders in their respective units.

“They add depth. We needed another body that could play so we don’t have to push these young freshmen on the defensive line. At receiver, we weren’t good enough all spring,” Brown admitted.

Both graduate transfer additions have taken similar paths to Morgantown as each were highly recruited prospects out of Florida that never quite lived up to their billing at their first schools.

For Campbell, two-season ending injuries derailed his career and looking for a fresh start he originally attempted to settle in at Penn State before an admissions issue prevented that. The West Virginia coaches had the opportunity to get to know him thanks to a connection through Travis Trickett and quickly realized he could help in more ways than one.

Campbell was looking to rewrite his story but from a personality standpoint is a fit for the wide receiver room in large part because of the energy he brings on a daily basis.

“When you look at our receiver room outside of T.J. Simmons we didn’t have anybody with a lot of energy,” Brown said.

Same can be said for Jones, who was limited in his playing time with the Wolverines but was productive when he was given opportunities on a crowded defensive line. In Morgantown, he could end up at defensive end or on the interior and is also hoping to make the most of his final year.

Perhaps even more important than that desire was just how hard he played when he was on the field and he too is one of those ‘juice players’. Named appropriately after the practice period devoted to hyping up the team with all of them in a circle jumping up and down.

By that Brown refers to those type of guys that show up smiling on a daily basis and are the first in the weight room and generally set the tone with their energy level.

“It’s something quite frankly we look at in recruiting,” he said.

Both are hungry for a final shot and bring the type of energy level to a young room that Brown wants to have in his program regardless of the situation. That’s what recruiting is all about.

“They add something to our locker room,” he said.

West Virginia fans we're offering our best promo to get all the coverage you need!

Sign up for a new annual subscription to WVSports.com at 25-percent off the normal cost and you'll get a $75 eCard to the Adidas Store and we'll throw in THREE EXTRA MONTHS FREE! rvls.co/2GIpcqX

----------

• 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