MORGANTOWN — There was clear intention present in West Virginia’s 2024 recruiting class that signed with the Mountaineers on National Signing Day Wednesday morning. In the 22-man class, four signees are wide receivers, five are defensive backs and two are linebackers.
It is no coincidence that those signings match up with WVU’s weakest position groups.
Head coach Neal Brown was previously deliberate in building up the offensive and defensive lines and with those positions now in a good spot, he has turned his attention elsewhere.
“To get to where we’re at offensive line-wise, we had to be really intentional with high school recruiting and being really specific with the transfers we added to there,” Brown said. “We did the same from a defensive line standpoint. We really had very few transfers, that was all high school and banking on the developmental process.”
Wanting to follow a similar plan for other positions, Brown began the reconstruction of the wide receiver room last year.
“It’s been a process that we’re been remaking this receiver room since we underperformed in that bowl game two years ago in Arizona,” he said. “It wasn’t a great room, the comradery wasn’t great, the chemistry wasn’t great.”
Last year, WVU added two freshmen who played large roles this season, Rodney Gallagher and Traylon Ray, and a couple of veteran transfers, Devin Carter and EJ Horton.
The key signee Wednesday was four-star receiver Ric’Darious “Day Day” Farmer from Melbourne, Fl. Farmer originally committed to Pitt before flipping to UCF in August. Wednesday, he flipped again, signing with the Mountaineers.
“A lot of credit to (assistant coaches) Chad (Scott) and Bilal (Marshall), they just kept on him,’ Brown said. “He’s got to gain weight, but he’ll play early for us.”
The other receivers signed Wednesday were Brandon Rehmann (Philadelphia, Pa.), Keyshawn Robinson (Ranson, W.Va.) and Dom Collins (Princeton, W.Va.).
The team has also added Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Bray.
With this year’s crop of receivers, Brown feels like the room is close to where he envisions it.
“It’s been a process to get that room to where they work, they have a really good attitude, there’s energy in there and they’re great teammates,” he said. “We’ve got a mix of different types of players, we’ve got veteran leadership in there and we’ve got some guys that are role players. I don’t think the makeover is complete just yet, but I really like where we’re going with that room.”
Linebacker was another spot where the Mountaineers were reliant on true freshmen this season. Josiah Trotter was in line to be a starter at the beginning of the season but suffered an injury in camp. Trey Lathan then stepped in as a starter but sustained a season-ending injury himself at TCU. That opened the door for Ben Cutter to close out the year as a starter. All three had just signed with the Mountaineers as part of the 2023 class.
In this class, WVU added inside linebacker Rickey Williams (Akron, Oh.) and outside linebacker Obinna Onwuka (Upper Marlboro, Md.). Former Ohio State Buckeye Reid Carrico also announced his intent to transfer to WVU on Tuesday.
“With this class, portal wise and with this, we’ve got our linebacker room where we want it,” Brown said. “It took some building there.”
Feeling good about receiver and linebacker, Brown has now turned his focus to the secondary, the team’s thinnest position group by far.
“Now, we’re on to defensive backs,” Brown said. “We’ve got to get more quality depth and more quality players there. We’re going to have to address that.”
The five defensive backs signed Wednesday are Isreal Boyce (Douglasville, Ga.), Jason Cross Jr. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Christopher Henry (Dunnellon, Fl.), Zae Jennings (Cincinnati, Oh.) and Keyon Washington (Waldorf, Md.).
The team has also already added three players from the transfer portal with TJ Crandall (Colorado State), Josh Minkins (Louisville) and Ayden Garnes (Duquesne).
“We did it in high school, we got five, and we’re in the process of doing that in the portal,” Brown said. “We probably need to add one or two more.”
While addressing needs was a priority in this recruiting class, it’s not like the Mountaineers sat on their laurels elsewhere. The team signed three offensive linemen, three defensive linemen and two running backs, despite already being deep at those positions.
“You’ve got to be intentional,” Brown said. “The way I’m thinking about it is rooms. We’ve got to get the rooms right.”
In-State Products
In Brown’s five seasons at WVU, signing West Virginia’s in-state talent has always been a priority. That continued for the 2024 class as the team added Collins (Princeton), Robinson (Jefferson) and Cabell Midland linebacker Curtis Jones Jr.
“I’ve always felt like if you could have 20-25 of your scholarship players as West Virginia products, that meant that a little over a quarter of your roster understood what the program means to your state,” Brown said. “They could not only set the standard but communicate how important it is to our state and who we represent.
“Because of our population — not because of the level of players or coaching — we’re not going to have as many (scholarship players) as some other states. You have to identify them early and then you have to recruit them.”
Five West Virginia natives signed with Power Five teams on Wednesday. WVU got three of them, but Robby Martin (Hungtington) and Cannon Lewis (Cabell Midland) both signed with NC State.
“We didn’t get every one of them, there’s at least one, maybe two, that could have played for us in the state this year that we didn’t get.,” Brown said. “It’s going to happen sometimes, but over the course of our five years here, we’ve got a high percentage, if not almost all of them, that have the potential (to play).”
Early Enrollees
Of the 22-player class, seven are slated to enroll early at WVU next semester. Those include Boyce, Jennings, Onwuka, defensive linemen Nate Gabriel (Auburndale, Fl.) and Elijah Kinsler (Oradell, N.J.), tight end Jack Sammarco (Cincinnati, Oh.) and quarterback Khalil Wilkins (Upper Marlboro, Md.).
