The calendar says it is the last day of June.
If you are like the thousands of other Mountaineer fans out there (myself included), looking for those names that will make up the 2011 recruiting class for the West Virginia football program, you are probably beginning to suffer from some drastic withdrawal symptoms.
Fans have become accustomed to seeing a list of 10 to 15 names of incoming high school seniors who already have decided that Morgantown will become their home.
That won't be the case this summer or any other summer in the foreseeable future if third-year head coach Bill Stewart has his way.
Following a series of last-minute defections from the Class of 2010, the Mountaineers' boss has elected to keep the names of prospective recruits private until the player-and his family-have made an actual visit to the school's campus and talked directly to the head coach.
"I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm tired of finding these blue chip guys out there, or they turn out to be blue chip, and in comes these elite, "glitter", schools and a kid says, "I can see myself in a certain city in Florida rather than in Morgantown", after he had already committed to us," Stewart explained during a recent visit to Parkersburg,
That explains why fans looking at the list of commitments for WVU's Class of 2011 will find only one name-tight end Cody Clay of George Washington High School in Charleston.
Before the old gold and blue faithful race off to their closest bridge and take a leap, there is another side to this recruiting story.
Yes, only the 6-foot, 4-inch, 225-pound Clay has officially committed to become a Mountaineer, but that doesn't mean that there haven't been other players throw in their lot with the old gold and blue. In fact, depending on what internet site you visit, as many as a dozen already have told a member of the staff they plan to continue their football career in Morgantown.
Those names, however, will not be released by WVU?until the above visit by family members has been accomplished.
The good news is that Stewart and his assistants have singled out 221 players as potential prospects. Out of that group, more than half (128) have been officially offered scholarships, according to Scout.com.
One of those is Clay, who received and accepted his offer during the Rising Seniors Camp earlier this month. To think that WVU will come away empty on the other 127 offers it has made is simply ludicrous.
"It's a big country out there," said Stewart. "We are going to take 20 guys, maybe."
Those 20 will be the ones with whom Stewart and his staff believe they can win.
I enjoy looking up the list and seeing how many stars this player has and what rank that player has and comparing how WVU ranks nationally with the "glitter" teams against whom it must compete.
With this new policy, that's not going to happen, but as I've said before, the only recruiting news that counts is what takes place on letter-of-intent day.
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
