By Keenan Cummings
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Since the start of the recruiting dead period in mid-March, the West Virginia football program acted under an unofficial policy when it comes to accepting commitments from high school prospects.
But it seems that could be changing moving forward.
That policy was the Mountaineers would not accept a commitment from a high school prospect unless they had been on campus and developed a strong connection with the coaching staff. That had been the case for all 11 pledges currently in the WVU class and was how coach Neal Brown and the rest of the staff had planned to weather the storm during the current visit-ban due to COVID-19.
Things have gotten trickier, however, due to that ban now being extended through August and currently no planned end to it in sight even if the season is played on time in September.
“I think that policy was good but now the longer this is stretched out, we may have to reassess that,” Brown said.
That’s because without the benefit of in-person visits and time ticking toward the start of the season, filling needs in a class takes more priority and that is going to have to potentially happen without that pre-requisite.
With 12 commitments, the Mountaineers are ahead of pace for this time of the year in a normal cycle, but with no camp dates it makes that task trickier the more time that passes.
“Not knowing exactly when prospects can get on campus, probably moving back a little bit from that. I just don’t know how practical it’s going to be,” Brown said.
That has made the usage of virtual visits, which have been the standard across the college football landscape, all the more important. That is an area where WVU has become more efficient and gotten better with showing prospects what Morgantown has to offer without bringing them to campus.
For the time being, that is the only weapon coaches have in their arsenal when it comes to visits and the Mountaineers have already hosted many of their top targets on the virtual platform.
This is an unprecedented time and that means adjustments all around, including a policy which has been one of the standards for the WVU coaches during this unique period.
