By Keenan Cummings
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia didn’t sign any scholarship players on the first day of the late signing period Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean the program didn’t make some impressive additions.
The Mountaineers entered the day with 17 scholarship players in the 2021 class, when you include Virginia Tech transfer Doug Nester, and left the day with that many. But Neal Brown and company were active in adding some high-quality preferred walk-on options.
WVU once again struck at Spring Valley High School with the addition of in-state offensive lineman Bryce Biggs. The 6-foot-6, 285-pounder, had collected scholarships from Marshall, Western Kentucky, Youngstown State, Akron, Southern Mississippi, Arkansas State, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Central Michigan and a handful of others before initially pledging to the Herd.
But with the coaching change in Huntington the two elected to part ways, which allowed the Mountaineers to add him to their class as a walk-on option. Biggs, who moved to offensive line after playing quarterback, was one of the MVPs of the Mountaineers big man camp in June 2019.
Massillon (Ohio) Washington athlete Martavien Johnson continued the trend of players with scholarship offers that picked the Mountaineers. Johnson, 5-foot-8, 157-pounds, held offers from Louisville, Kentucky, Maryland, Miami (Oh.) and others, but selected WVU.
The two-way athlete could play cornerback or wide receiver in college and comes from the same program as cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp, who signed with the Mountaineers in December.
“This kid is a ball player, no doubt, it’s just his size that held him back from more and bigger offers. He could play either slot or cornerback, and is an asset on special teams in the return game. Plenty of speed, but also the ball skills that separate good players from great players,” said Josh Helmholdt, the Rivals.com Mid-West Analyst.
Those weren’t the only additions, either, as the Mountaineers added Nitro (W.Va.) tight end Joseph Udoh to the fold. A 6-foot-9 tight end option, Udoh had multiple walk-on opportunities at places such as Virginia, as well as an official offer from Charleston.
It wasn’t a major day in terms of addressing the five remaining scholarships, but the program definitely got better by adding quality players to the roster for the future.
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