MORGANTOWN — West Virginia has added another piece to the first full recruiting class under head coach Darian DeVries with a commitment from Castaic (Ca.) Southern California Academy 2025 forward Trent MacLean.
MacLean, 6-foot-9, 205-pounds, had narrowed his choices down to the Mountaineers and St. Mary’s after taking official visits to both programs but ultimately selected the Big 12 Conference program.
That decision was in large part due to the plan that the coaching staff laid out for him as well as his time on campus where he was able to get a good feel for everything the school had to offer.
“I was pretty blown away by the facilities because just everything they have and everything I’ll have access to. There’s no way I won’t get better, and I have everything there to develop my game,” he said.
The versatile four-man saw his recruitment take off after making the move over the summer from Thousand Oaks High School to SoCal Academy picking up scholarship offers from his two finalists along with Arizona State, Rutgers, St. Mary’s, Colorado State and St. Bonaventure.
Assistant Tom Ostrom had already been recruiting SoCal Academy 2025 guard Kelvin Odih and in the process identified MacLean and things only built from that point forward leading to his official visit Nov. 3-5.
“Once I got there, I was blown away by everything, the town, the people. The people are super nice and how big the fan base really is,” he said. “… It was just great being out there.”
As a big that’s a skilled shooter, MacLean believes that he is a natural fit in the fast-paced system used by DeVries and his skill set translates well into what the Mountaineers do on both ends. A versatile option, MacLean has the ability to defend bigger bodies in the post and create mismatches on the other end.
“Just being that four man spot and coming off flares and ghosts and doing all that stuff,” he said.
There is plenty of upside here as well as MacLean not only has continued to improve but has good bloodlines as the son of former UCLA great Don MacLean. He is coming off a season where he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game and now will have the chance to see how he fares against stiffer competition at SoCal.
MacLean becomes the third commitment for West Virginia in the 2025 class joining his teammate at SoCal Academy 2025 guard Kelvin Odih, as well as Huntington Prep wing Braydon Hawthorne. All three commitments are expected to sign their letters of intent in the coming days during the early period.
The Mountaineers currently have four open scholarships remaining to fill if there is no additional attrition outside the seven departing players on the roster.
One player that also has taken an official visit to Morgantown is Boston (Ma.) Cats Academy 2025 center Fridrik Leo Curtis. The Iceland native is a 7-foot-0, 220-pounder, that is another skilled shooter at his size.
There are some key additions in the bag for West Virginia but still more work left to do.
— Story by Keenan Cummings, Rivals.com
