Neal Brown Compares 2022 Signee to Akheem Mesidor
As you were going through all of the recruits that signed with West Virginia on Wednesday, there was probably one guy stumbled upon and asked, "Why the heck did they go after this guy?” I'd be willing to bet that the recruit was edge rusher, Asani Redwood.
Redwood was one of the few prospects that the Mountaineers went after that received very little interest from other Division I schools. In fact, the only other D-I offers he held were East Tennessee State, Elon, Vanderbilt, and Western Kentucky. So, how did he pop up on West Virginia's radar? Well for starters, he recorded 19.5 sacks against some very good competition in the state of Georgia's highest classification, 7A.
One of the main reasons he didn't gain much traction on the recruiting trail stems from only playing the game for a short period of time. With minimal tape on him, schools didn't feel comfortable pursuing him, let alone comfortable enough to offer him. WVU had eyes on him throughout the past year and a half and watched him blossom into the player he has become. Head coach Neal Brown talked about his story and how he reminds him of another player currently on the roster.
"It's a great story because less than 18 months ago, the kid weighed about 185 pounds and he's 265 now. He's only played two years of football and it's not this deal like he played backyard football, watch it, or anything. When he grew up he played soccer. He played at a great program, Collins Hill just won the 7A state championship in the state of Georgia. They're going to play in a national championship game in Las Vegas on Saturday and the kid broke the single-season sack record. He had 19.5 sacks. I mean, that's a lot of sacks because eventually you figure out I better slide my protection to him, right? And that means he's still winning. He's a guy that is just now scratching the surface, he still has so much to learn. He reminds me some of Akheem [Mesidor] in a lot of different ways. A lot of the same qualities that we saw in Akheem, I see those in Asani as well."
Redwood was born in Jamaica and as Neal mentioned, played soccer most of his life. Adjusting to the speed and physicality of the game at the collegiate level may be a bit more challenging to him than it was for Mesidor. Once he gets into strength coach Mike Joseph's hands, he will develop into a complete three down player instead of just someone who can get after the quarterback.
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