West Virginia has landed yet another major piece to the puzzle in the 2023 recruiting class with a commitment from Covington (Ga.) Newton defensive tackle Justin Benton.

Benton, 6-foot-2, 275-pounds, selected the Mountaineers over a long list of scholarship offers that included Georgia, USC, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Oregon, Penn State, Nebraska, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Kentucky and LSU, among others.

The Rivals.com three-star prospect did play at IMG Academy before moving back to Georgia and the Mountaineers have been active in his recruitment for quite some time.

Benton had previously narrowed his list of schools down to a top eight which included West Virginia, Penn State, Georgia, Nebraska, Duke, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Houston.

The Mountaineers received the first official visit for the talented big man and that was enough to seal the deal on his commitment to the football program. The visit, which was first reported by WVSports.com, came as somewhat of a surprise but behind the scenes things had been moving.

Benton is being recruited as a versatile defensive lineman that could fill several roles but seems primed to start his career on the interior of the front.

The impressive defensive lineman developed a strong relationship with multiple coaches on the West Virginia staff including head coach Neal Brown and defensive line coach AJ Jackson.

Overall, Benton becomes the 11th commitment in the 2023 class for West Virginia and represents the third true defensive lineman for the program in this cycle.

WVSports.com will have more with Benton in the near future.

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