The West Virginia Mountaineers football program has landed a key commitment on the defensive front in Nashville (Tn.) Lipscomb Academy 2025 defensive lineman Amir Leonard-Jean Charles.
Leonard-Jean Charles, 6-foot-3, 299-pounds, selected the Mountaineers over a long list of scholarship offers which included Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Louisville, among a number of others.
The Rivals.com four-star prospect has held an offer from West Virginia since August 2023 and the talented prospect had ties to the program considered his mother attended school in Morgantown.
Defensive line coach AJ Jackson was the lead recruiter for Leonard-Jean Charles and played a key role in securing the commitment from the talented defensive lineman.
Leonard-Jean Charles is coming off an official visit to West Virginia over the June 7-9 weekend and while it wasn’t his first time seeing the football program it proved to be the most critical to date.
He is being targeted as a defensive lineman and is an impressive prospect considering his skill set and what he brings to the table with his length and ability to maintain leverage.
Leonard-Jean Charles becomes the second four-star prospect to commit to West Virginia in the 2025 class behind Delray Beach (Fla.) Atlantic Community running back Deandre Desinor.
He represents the second defensive lineman to commit to West Virginia in the 2025 class behind Upper Marlboro (Md.) Wise 2025 defensive end Taylor Brown. Leonard-Jean Charles is the 16th commitment overall for the Mountaineers.
WVSports.com breaks down the commitment of Leonard-Jean Charles and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
Skill set:
Leonard-Jean Charles is a powerful lineman who has impressive length. He is able to use that strength to go through the opposition at times in order to close running lanes and bring ball carriers to the ground.
He possesses excellent size and is a prospect who is likely destined for the interior but is athletic enough to move around to different spots on the front if need be. Leonard Jean-Charles plays to the whistle and is a problem for opposing offensive linemen with his size and skill set.
Has solid feet for a big lineman and uses his hands well not only when rushing the passer but getting them up in the passing lane to deflect balls at the line of scrimmage.
The highly recruited lineman is a plus add for the Mountaineers and as he continues to develop in a college weight program has massive potential given what he brings to the table.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia has been searching for talented defensive linemen who not only standout on the field but from a size perspective and Leonard-Jean Charles certainly checks both of those boxes. The Mountaineers have been involved here for quite some time and were able to get him on campus for an official which helped to close the door in his recruitment giving the program a major addition to the class.
Leonard-Jean Charles has family ties to the program which helped in this recruitment, but the bulk of the progress made was the work put in by the coaching staff. He will step into a role where there will be some interior options already on the roster but given his size and skill set could have a chance to make a dent. The Mountaineers will have three interior linemen on the roster heading into next season, so the opportunity is there for the high school senior if he proves capable of handling it.
West Virginia hasn’t had a ton of success in the state of Tennessee over the years, but has landed some players from the state and this could serve as a catalyst for those efforts being increased in the future.
Recruiting the position:
Even with Leonard-Jean Charles and Brown in the fold expect the Mountaineers to still take two to three more defensive linemen in the 2025 recruiting class. And the coaching staff has been busy bringing those prospects to campus for official visits over the past several weeks.
West Virginia is actively targeting a number of other options across the various spots on the defensive line with some of those being Cleveland Heights (Oh.) 2025 defensive lineman Brandon Caesar and Dandridge (Tn.) Jefferson County 2025 defensive lineman Nic Moore, Owings Mills (Md.) McDonogh 2025 defensive end Elijah Crawford and a number of others.
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