West Virginia TE coach Stewart finding his comfort zone in recruiting
Tight ends coach Blaine Stewart had a lot to learn after jumping into college coaching.
After four years of NFL experience with the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of those biggest adjustments came in the realm of recruiting. That obviously isn’t a necessity at the professional level but Stewart learned one valuable lesson quickly once he settled into the position last year.
“Recruiting is not a passive game,” he said.
That meant finding a way to never take no for an answer when it came to selling the Mountaineers football program and making every effort possible to get prospects on campus. That required him to flip his mindset a bit and look at ways outside the box to be more aggressive.
“If a kid can’t come this weekend do I need to press a little bit more and try to go through the coach or trainer in the area and really find a way to push myself in recruiting,” he said.
And while Stewart can't comment on specific recruits, one example of this played out with a recent commitment in the 2025 class in De Forest (Wi.) 2025 tight end Jackson Accuardi. The key target was initially set to visit Penn State the first weekend of February but Stewart offered him the opportunity to visit Morgantown instead.
Accuardi ended up flipping his plans and after two more visits committed to the Mountaineers giving the program a major pull at the position.
"It was an eye-opener. If I would have stuck with Penn State and never went to West Virginia, I probably wouldn’t be in the position I'm in today so it was a good decision," Accuardi said of the decision.
Stewart admittedly is more comfortable when it comes to time management as well as just being out on the road and handling all the responsibilities that come with recruiting compared to a year ago. And he is excited to get after it during the evaluation period in May to test what he’s learned.
“I’ve got a lot of plans with the recruiting staff lined up for our May general area recruiting, tight end recruiting trying to get things set up for official visits,” he said.
At the heart of the process is people and it simply comes down to relationships. That is something that Stewart feels well-equipped to handle and he is comfortable talking not only to players but their coaches. That part of it came easy for him as he made the adjustment last winter.
One thing that has been rewarding is the connections that he has made and how those come in handy when it comes to settling into new recruiting areas. Stewart recalled one instance where he was visiting a rural high school in North Carolina and one of the assistants at the school showed him a letter that his late father Bill wrote to him back in 2009.
And he’s found that things have played out similarly in his other areas where he is responsible such as Virginia and Western Maryland, Western Pennsylvania, upstate New York and Indianapolis.
“The relationships I have tried to build and cultivate over the last year have been good and I’m thankful for those opportunities to have those connections with a big network,” he said.
The goal is to get your foot in the door and once that happens the real fun begins.
“Get a kid on campus and show them once they’re here West Virginia is a heck of a place to be, and you can achieve anything in these walls,” he said.
Stewart is responsible not only for his area but recruiting the tight end position and it’s one that requires a lot of development and projection given the fact few are ready to play when they first arrive on campus. That means sorting out the options into tiers that fit what West Virginia needs.
“It all comes back to the vision of what you’re trying to get in the class,” he said.
It’s been a little over a year on the job for Stewart but he has found his niche when it comes to recruiting and all it takes to be successful.
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