Ross Hodge Can’t Hide His Excitement About These Two Freshmen at WVU

For the second straight year, West Virginia had to rebuild its entire roster due to a coaching change. Unlike Darian DeVries, who brought in just two freshmen a year ago, Ross Hodge found a way to land four, which is a pretty healthy number when you consider the circumstances.

It's still early in the year, but so far, he loves what he's seeing from that group, specifically in two of them who have been turning heads since the day they got on campus.

“They’re willing learners. Mentally, they’re mature. Amir. (Jenkins), DJ (Thomas), Jayden (Forsythe), and Evans (Barning). But Amir and DJ specifically, their ability to process information, take coaching, not take it personal, learn from it, and improve has been good. They’re obviously learning the physicality and the speed, but both those guys have really high IQs and are extremely coachable.”

This isn't the first time he's mentioned those two, doing so in his last press conference, pretty much echoing the same thing about their level of maturity. Having success in year one is key, but having a young, strong nucleus to build into the future with is something DeVries didn't have a year ago. High school recruiting is an important ingredient for West Virginia's success, and for Hodge, it's the main ingredient.

"We’re going to be flexible. I still think it is important to have carryover from year to year, so your freshmen are still going to be very important. If you look at a lot of the teams that have had success, specifically in this league, like Houston, they have retained their players and have established a culture. I think it’s important to add a couple of freshmen to each class, hopefully you can retain them so you’re not having to start completely over from a culture standpoint year in, year out.”

Hodge has already locked up a pair of four-star commitments in the 2026 class with guard Kingston Whitty and center Aliou Dioum. Top 25 prospect (guard) Miles Sadler has a visit scheduled two weeks from now, and landing him would be a massive get for this first-year staff.

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