West Virginia's Signing Day Grades
The early signing period has now come and gone and the West Virginia coaching staff has a lot to be excited about. The Mountaineers signed 16 recruits last Wednesday and put together one of the best recruiting classes in school history. Check out below how the coaching staff did with the 2021 class.
Addressed needs?
The Mountaineers will be losing Darius Stills and Jeffery Pooler Jr. off the defensive line following the bowl game and there's not a whole lot of depth behind the starting unit. There are some promising youngsters already in the program, but for West Virginia to be taken seriously as a Big 12 contender, they need to stockpile defensive linemen.
The coaching staff knew what it had to do and signed three d-linemen. There is still work to be done and Brown stated during his signing day press conference that they will still be looking to add to that position between now and February. Hammond Russell and Brayden Dudley are both tough, physical players and will likely play a role in the Mountaineer defense sooner than later. Edward Vesterinen of Finland has some promise but will likely need a couple of years to develop.
On the offensive line, West Virginia signed Tomas Rimac and the top player in the state of West Virginia, and one of the top players in the country, Wyatt Milum. Rimac is a bit of a hidden gem and is someone that was overlooked throughout his recruitment. I'm projecting both of these guys to be multi-year starters during their time in Morgantown.
The offensive line, linebacking unit, and secondary are all areas that still need some attention.
Grade: C (Work-in-progress. Final grade will be more accurate.)
Improved depth?
As previously mentioned, the Mountaineers' coaching staff addressed the defensive line, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this class. Only having 16 signees in December does not assure that the depth has been improved. Very few of these kids are going to play as true freshmen, so the more scholarships they can fill in February, the better.
Grade: C (Work-in-progress. Final grade will be more accurate.)
Add elite talent?
This is arguably the best class from top to bottom that the WVU football program has ever seen. Wide receiver Kaden Prather, offensive lineman Wyatt Milum, and running backs Jaylen Anderson and Justin Johnson Jr. are all guys that have the ability to play in either their true freshman season or in year two. I would also throw in quarterback Will "Goose" Crowder in the mix here too. I'm not exactly sure when he'll get his chance to be "the guy" in Morgantown but he has tremendous upside.
Grade: A
Loyalty?
There's a whole lot of it. West Virginia has 16 commits heading into the early signing period and all 16 signed their National Letter of Intent to officially become a Mountaineer. This speaks to the trust that the recruits have in Brown and his staff for the culture they are building. After the Mountaineers lost 42-6 to Iowa State in its last outing, some of the commits could've started to question the future of the program, but it was quite the opposite.
Grade: A+
Overall grade: B
I really like what this staff did in this recruiting cycle and they left themselves a little room to add on to the class via the transfer market or more high school guys. The ability to tap back into the state of Ohio was huge for many reasons. Historically, some of West Virginia's best teams have several Ohioans on the roster, and re-establishing a pipeline in a talent-rich state will be big for the program moving forward. As John Garcia Jr. of SI All-American stated, this group is on the fringe of being a top 25 recruiting class and I'd have to agree with him. Once this class fills out, there's an excellent chance we could see the Mountaineers leap into the top 25 of Sports Illustrated's recruiting rankings.
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the page's top righthand corner. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook - @WVUonSI
Twitter - @SI_WVU and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.