West Virginia Locks in Visit with Top Penn State Commit, Coveted 2026 Recruit

Rich Rodriguez and the West Virginia coaching staff are looking to take advantage of the head coach openings across the country, specifically with the one at Penn State.

Since the firing of James Franklin, the Mountaineers have offered a handful of the Nittany Lions' commits and have scheduled visits with athlete David Davis, defensive lineman Isaac Chuckwura, and now their top pledge, safety Matt Sieg.

According to Tom Loy of CBS Sports, Sieg will take an official visit to Morgantown later this month and will also consider Indiana, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Pitt. Sieg also holds offers from Alabama, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, USC, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, and several others.

The McDonald, PA product has played all over the field, including time at quarterback and running back, in addition to his role in the secondary at Fort Cherry High School. The Mountaineers, as well as the others in the mix, are recruiting him for the defensive side of the ball.

"Oh, no question," Rodriguez said when asked about pursuing commits of programs that have fired their coach. "When the job comes open, the first thing our recruiting staff does is look at who is committed to them and let's watch those guys. I mean, why not, right? They don't sign until the first week of December, so yeah, anybody that was committed to some of these other teams, everybody, I'm sure is jumping all over them, and you have to. It's always been that way, but it's even more so now that the early signing period is in December."

The early signing period begins on December 3rd, and the expectation is that Sieg will make his decision and sign, as opposed to waiting until February.

Israel Boyce, Jason Cross Jr., Chris Fileppo, Kaleb Gray, Julien Horton, Zae Jennings, and Nick Taylor are all safeties currently on the WVU roster who have eligibility beyond this season. Emory Snyder, Rickey Giles, and Jayden Ballard are 2026 recruits who are committed to the program. With how many players WVU is set to lose to graduation, they'll have to bring in a decent-sized group to replenish the depth of the back end.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI