After taking a recent gander at West Virginia University's prospect list for the upcoming Class of 2013 that will sign their National Letters of Intent on the first Wednesday in February, I came to this conclusion-head football coach Dana Holgorsen and his staff have been a busy bunch of beavers since spring drills ended.
The commitment of Klein Collins High School (Klein, Texas) senior-to-be Tyler Tezeno was the Mountaineers' sixth verbal heading into the summer, but what many fans may not know (except for the fanatics that live their lives on the Internet) is that WVU has offered scholarships to 252 players as of last Friday.
Another 106 players have made it known that they would like to play for the old gold and blue, but Holgorsen and his assistants have not elected to add their names to the growing list of prospective Mountaineers.
Among that group are 13 that will be competing on the junior college level next fall and every position, except punter and long snapper, has at least one potential recruit.
The two positions on offense that contain the most prospects (and these are the obvious ones) involve wide receivers (51) and running backs (37). The list contains as many as 29 signal-callers who have shown an interest in coming to Morgantown, but only nine have received offers from WVU's coaching staff, including Monessen Senior High School's Chavas Rawlins, who already has committed to becoming a Mountaineer.
Topping WVU's present "wish list" are 5-star-according to Scout.com-wide receivers Robert Foster of Central Valley High School in Monaca, Pa., and James Quick of Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky., outside linebacker Matthew Thomas from Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Fla., and defensive tackle Justin Manning of Justin F. Kimball High School in Dallas, Texas.
All four have received offers from a dozen schools or more, but Foster and Manning have at least shown more than a passing fancy at becoming Mountaineers.
Skill players on offense aren't the only ones receiving attention from WVU's second-year head coach as the list includes 18 guards, 26 tackles and six centers. The list also contains the names of four potential tight ends and one fullback that could be wearing the old gold and blue in 2013.
Defensively, new coordinator Joe DeForest and co-coordinator Keith Patterson have their eyes upon a number of potential members to the Class of 2013. Topping the list are the names of 43 outside linebackers while cornerbacks (37), tackles (32), and safeties (31) are close behind.
The defensive list also includes 25 ends and 17 middle linebackers.
At present only one kicker-Berkeley Springs' Zach Wise-can be found on the lengthy list.
Wise isn't the only in-state product looking to become a Mountaineer as the list also includes Spring Valley's Elijah Wellman and George Washington's Dustin Crouser at middle linebacker, South Charleston's Travond Reese and Winfield's David Gaydosz at running back, and GW's Ryan Switzer at wide receiver-a verbal commitment to North Carolina.
With only 25 scholarships to give, Holgorsen and his staff will have plenty of names from which to choose, but also a lot of hard decisions to be made over the next several months.
And as if that were not enough, those decisions might have to take a back seat when WVU opens training camp in August and begins preparations for the season opener against Marshall University in the Friends of Coal Bowl as well as the Mountaineers' inaugural season in the Big 12.
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
