What to Expect on National Signing Day

The early signing period is officially one day away.

West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown is set to welcome in new members of the program as the early signing period will begin on Wednesday for the 2022 recruiting class. To help brush you up on where things stand heading into signing day, we answered a lot of frequently asked questions.

How many spots are left?

WVU can take 32 players in this class and with 20 already committed plus the two transfers, they would have 12 spots remaining. Due to the high number of transfers, WVU has several spots to fill. Look for a 2-3 more high school recruits to sign in February and maybe 1-2 more JUCO guys. After that, Neal Brown and his staff will be heavily concentrated on the transfer portal. My guess is they don't quite get to 32 and instead, will get to about the 25-27 range.

Are there any current commits that could flip away from WVU?

According to a source close to the program, it is believed that WVU is expected to sign all 17 of their commits plus the two transfers, RB Lyn-J Dixon and DE Zeiqui Lawton. This should be a sigh of relief for Mountaineer fans who saw the decommitments of WR Kevin Thomas and RB Justin Williams in a one-hour span a few weeks back. At the time, there was some concern that the 2022 class would fall apart due to the team's lack of success but that hasn't really been the case.

Will any commits flip to WVU?

Two names to keep an eye on are defensive lineman Rashaud Pernell and running back Ramon Brown. Both, coincidentally, are committed to Virginia Tech but have expressed interest in WVU over the last few weeks. The Hokies fired Justin Fuente and have hired Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry as the team's new head coach. When coaching changes occur, recruits are up for grabs.

 From what I'm gathering, it seems like Pernell is likely going to stay with VT. He seems to have bought into what the new staff is selling, so I'd be shocked if he flips to WVU or anywhere else for that matter. 

As for Brown, well, I think anything is in play. Over the last week, he had in-home visits with South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. Once again, I'd say VT is still the favorite but West Virginia has made a serious push for Brown since losing the commitment of Justin Williams. 

One other name that could be a possibility is Florida State WR commit Devaughn Mortimer who took an official visit to WVU on December 3rd.

How many are expected to enroll early?

Last year, WVU had a fair amount of early enrollees. That won't be the story of this recruiting cycle. From what I have been able to confirm, QB Nicco Marchiol, WR Jarel Williams, DE Aric Burton, S Mumu Bin-Wahad are set to enroll early. I am told that there are likely a couple of others as well but I do not have the names at the time. 

Some names to watch

DL Trevon McAlpine, WR Jeremiah Aaron, TE De'Carlo Donaldson, RB Ramon Brown, WR Devaughn Mortimer.

Full list of WVU 2022 commits

QB Nicco Marchiol, RB Lyn-J Dixon (Clemson transfer), WR Jarel Williams, TE Corbin Page, OL Sullivan Weidman, OL Charlie Katarincic, OL Landen Livingston, OL Maurice Hamilton, DE Aric Burton, DE Zeiqui Lawton (Cincinnati transfer), LB Lee Kpogba, LB Raleigh Collins III, LB Travious Lathan, CB Jacolby Spells, ATH Christion Stokes, S Mumu Bin-Wahad, S Tyrin Woodby, S Marques "Hershey" McLaurin, P Oliver Straw.

The early signing period runs from Wednesday, December 15th-Friday, December 17th.

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