Notre Dame? West Virginia? 2022 ATH Jackson Carver Discusses Recruitment, Decision Timeline

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West Virginia recently entered the picture for class of 2022 tight end/defensive end Jackson Carver (6'6", 220 lbs) of The Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana. Currently, Carver is committed to Notre Dame to play lacrosse and after playing one year of football, the Fighting Irish are now interested in him playing football as well.

Learning the nuts and bolts of football isn't the easiest thing in the world to do but Carver picked it up fairly quickly thanks to his dad, Jim, who was an assistant strength coach with the Kansas City Chiefs through the late 90s, and oh yeah, videogames helped out too.

"We were given our playbook over the summer so I got used to our schemes through that, and my Dad also has coaching experience all the way up to the NFL and he walked me through it. But the main way that I picked up on a lot of technical aspects of the game was - as funny as it sounds- through Madden 21 on my PlayStation. I would go through the training camps in order to learn more about the game of football and I found it really beneficial."

Recruits who pick up football late in their high school career are typically projects at the next level that usually have to sit and develop for a few years before seeing the field. That doesn't appear to be the case with Carver. He's got great hands, runs crisp routes, and knows how to find the open areas of the field. What jumps off the tape most is his physicality. He doesn't shy away from absorbing hits and sheds blocks with ease on the defensive side of the ball. Carver tells Mountaineer Maven that the WVU coaching staff has not told him what position he would play at WVU. "They want to see how my body develops in the next year, so they're undecided on where they want me right now."

Shortly after receiving the offer from the Mountaineer coaching staff, Carver was able to make a trip with his family to Morgantown last weekend for an official visit ahead of next week's signing day.

"I experienced everything from the way the football program is run to hanging out with the players. Some of the notable takeaways were the knowledge that everyone on the coaching and support staff had, and the way they welcomed my parents and I to campus, as well as the improvements that the program has made since Coach Brown took over, not just regarding football, but also with the academic support that is offered to the players."

Great weekend in Morgantown on my OV with @WVUfootball. Thank you for the hospitality @NealBrown_WVU @CoachTTrickett @CoachJaxDL @TyMurphy #countryroads 🏔 pic.twitter.com/ceMmwqHXXk
— Jackson Carver (@JacksonCarver11) December 5, 2021

"I’ve been in contact with Coach Brown, and Coach Gasper (Director of Recruiting), and I have a great relationship with both of them, they are always honest and super helpful with this whole process, since having only played one year of football, it’s pretty new to me."

As of this moment, there is no timetable for a decision. However, Carver says that right now, it's between Notre Dame and West Virginia. He will not be signing next week and instead will sign his national letter of intent in February.

"I would hate to rush my decision so I am just waiting until I know the right move to make for certain. That said, I really like the direction that the program has made, and as I mentioned before, the progress they have made in the past few years. An additional benefit is all of the updated equipment that they have in their weight room and for rest and recovery. I can’t say much about the history of the program, because I don’t have that knowledge, but the upward trend is good to see."

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