Recruiting Takes: West Virginia
The Air Raid warning sirens have been reverberating through Morgantown’s mountains since Rodriguez’s final spring game in the ‘Old Gold and Blue’ colors and gained strength and frequency under OC Jeff Mullen. Warnings don’t necessarily translate to action as has been witnessed in the Mountain State, but the 2010 Recruiting Class for the West Virginia Football Mountaineers could change the attack.
Bill Stewart and staff took two highly competitive and very athletic Elite 11 quarterbacks in Jeremy Johnson and Barry Brunetti. In addition to slugging it out against each other, the touted twosome will be competing with Eugene Smith, another Elite 11 quarterback from 2009, that is already been thrown to the wolves and come out with a new fur coat and fang necklace.
West Virginia pursued the wide receivers on the big board with a vengeance for the second season in a row. Deon Long committed to West Virginia last year, but was forced to take the prep school route. All indications point to Long being a freshman contributor. Ivan McCartney overlooked Florida, Georgia, Miami, Oregon, and Tennessee and headed to the hills of Morgantown. McCartney provides that lethal go-to receiver potential. Both Long and McCartney will be pushed by a corps of three other wide receiver recruits including 6’3” Quantavius Leslie out of Hogansville, GA.
Defensively, the Mountaineers bolstered a struggling pack of linebackers with good size, solid speed, and animalistic instincts. Stewart missed out on Alabama MLB John Propst who decided to hit the Rocky Top, but the Old Gold and Blue nabbed three LOIs that should compete and see the football field in 2010. The verdict is still out on ESPN 150 and Army All-American recruit Latwan Anderson. He gave his verbal to the Mountaineers during the Army All-American game, but is leaving his options open between USC and West Virginia. Anderson’s speed coupled with 6’5” Robert Sands explosiveness would be a toxic combination in the Mountaineer secondary.
Best Prospect: Quinton Spain, OT. West Virginia’s offensive line sometimes appeared to be like chicken wire trying to hold back flood waters of blitzers. Spain is big (6’5”, 320 lbs.), extremely powerful for his age, and is very athletic for his size. If Spain busts butt in fall camp and hones in his techniques, he could not only be a contributor, but a monster for the Mountaineer offense.
Most Puzzling Prospect: Avery Williams, WR. Williams was a Utah commit and seemed poised to head west, but made a surprise decision signing an LOI with the Mountaineers. He stated in early January that New Mexico was appealing but had too many athletes ahead of him in the roster, thus Utah was the front runner. Williams picked West Virginia despite the two big WR classes in 2009 and 2010 and his desire to get far from home (Washington DC).
Prospect to Make 2010 Splash: Bruce Irvin, DE. Irvin has the tools to dismantle opposing offenses limb by limb faster than a quarterback can say audible. He’s extremely rangy at 6’4” and has safety speed with the ability to run down QBs and RBs from behind. He bounced from commits to Tennessee and Arizona State finally landing with the Mountaineers. Irvin’s presence is desperately needed along a three-man defensive line that consistently fails to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Prospect with Rocky Road Ahead: Wes Tonkery, CB. Staying true to the Mountain State, Stewart selected at least one West Virginia native for a scholarship. Tonkery is tough kid, but doesn’t have the speed to play CB in the 3-3 Stack and lacks the size to switch positions. Needless to say, the West Virginia natives have consistently been the hardest workers on and off the field for the Mountaineers over the years. There is pride at stake and Tonkery could be the next name on the list of West Virginia’s overachievers.
The ” Mad Bomber ” of West Virginia….now that would be a great nickname for your quarterback to have…..