MORGANTOWN — West Virginia signed 22 players at the end of the early signing period but the work is far from done.
That’s because unlike most years where teams are allotted 25 scholarships to fill, this cycle will allow the Mountaineers to utilize seven additional tenders. The decision was made to help college football programs backfill losses to the transfer portal and you can expect that WVU won’t be leaving any vacant.
“We’ll use 32. We want to probably be in that ballpark 25 range for high school student athletes and add some transfers,” head coach Neal Brown said.
The current breakdown of the class involves 17 high school prospects, three junior college players and three traditional transfers. So by doing the very basic math, that tells you that as long as Brown is true to his word and there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t be, WVU has nine spots left to fill.
So where do those go?
Well, on the offensive side it seems apparent that another wide receiver is going to be on the radar and that will likely come from that transfer bank. The Mountaineers did solve tight end by adding Colorado State transfer Brian Polendey.
The program will add at least one more offensive lineman and that position is expected to be a tackle. It remains to be seen if that will be a high school or transfer option but one junior college player on the board that could be in line to visit is Ephraim (Utah) Snow College offensive tackle Lisala Tai.
On the defensive side, expect at least two more high school defensive linemen and two names that have emerged there are Lawrenceville (N.J.) Notre Dame defensive end Jayson Jenkins and Miami (Fla.) Edison defensive end Francois Nolton. Jenkins already has an official visit set for Jan. 14 and Nolton is currently discussing a date on when he’ll come to campus with the coaching staff.
A transfer also could be in play here depending on what else unfolds.
Expect that linebacker is another position that could be targeted to be filled with transfer options as the Mountaineers could need to replace some experienced players at that spot.
The bulk of the scholarships will be used in the secondary however as the coaches look to fill needs at both safety and cornerback, likely with experienced players from the transfer portal. West Virginia has already hosted Louisiana-Monroe cornerback Josh Newton on an official visit and has been linked to others.
More names will emerge in the coming weeks but for now there is a lot of heavy lifting to do when it comes to the finished product of this class and what next year’s roster will look like.
By KEENAN CUMMINGS
