NCAAF Team Report – West Virginia – INSIDE SLANT
While Coach Dana Holgorsen was willing to admit that recruiting is the lifeblood of any program, he was faced with such an urgent need for immediate help that much emphasis was placed upon recruiting from junior colleges.
In all, WVU brought in nine junior college recruits, players expected to fit in right away and help rebuild an offense that was hit hard by graduation and a defense that was the worst in school history a year ago.
“Identifying these guys is not easy. You have to spend a lot of time making phone calls and going to see them to see if they are your type of guys,” Holgorsen said. “One thing that I have seen change in college football is the amount of guys from junior college that are being recruited. In my years at Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State, it wouldn’t be strange to have a class without any junior college players.
“This year, a lot of schools are going after junior college guys. We were able to land nine of them. I don’t think anyone would have been happy to add 25 of them, so you have to identify guys that you have needs for.”
To find the players he needed, Holgorsen had to search near and far.
“The thing about this class that stands out to me is that we went to 15 different states to get these guys,” Holgorsen noted.
This year they brought in four players from Pennsylvania, three from Ohio, New Jersey and Georgia, two from Florida and then one from states such as California and Mississippi and South Carolina, states normally bypassed by WVU.
“That is a lot of travel time. It is not easy to get anywhere,” Holgorsen said, stating the obvious to anyone who does a lot of traveling. “These coaches have been doing a good job. We would get back from recruiting weekends, and then hit the road.
“When you get a kid like D’Vante Henry (a pass-rushing junior college linebacker), who is from Oklahoma and played in Arizona, that is a lot of traveling to do. It takes a lot of time and money to get those kids. We appreciate the support we have from our administration and our boosters, because it takes a lot of money to get to these places.”
They looked mainly for speedy pass rushers to help the defense like Brandon Golson, Henry and Dontrill Hyman, junior college players with a history of sacking the quarterback.
Losing quarterback Geno Smith and wide receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey took away the Mountaineer’s quick-strike ability, so the recruiters went out looking for playmakers.
“Probably our biggest need on offense was to add playmakers,” Holgorsen said. “When you lose Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and J.D. Woods, you better go out and add some guys that have that ability.”
Again they went to the junior colleges to help out.
“We have three junior college players coming in. Kevin White is already on campus, and he is a grown man. Daikiel Shorts is a grown man that is adjusting to college quickly. The new guys are all 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 guys that have that quick twitch ability.
“Mario Alford is a guy that can just flat-out run. Ronald Carswell can run away from people. The last guy that we ended up adding was Shelton Gibson. When you watch him on tape, he is extremely, extremely talented. He is also hard to tackle.”
TOP OF THE CLASS
WR Shelton Gibson (Cleveland Height (Ohio) High) — With WRs Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey gone, WVU had a need for a playmaking wideout and Gibson fits that mold. He had 11 touchdowns as a senior along with 700 yards in receptions and scored TDs as a receiver, rusher, kickoff returner, punt returner and threw for a TD. Has great speed, was a member of one of the fastest 4×200 relay teams in the nation.
DE Dontrill Hyman (Hinds Community College) — Originally committed to East Carolina but when ECU defensive coordinator Brian Mitchell left and came to West Virginia, this hard-nosed pass-rusher followed.
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NCAAF Team Report – West Virginia – NOTES, QUOTES
–WVU had a coaching shakeup in the off-season as LB coach Keith Patterson replaced Joe DeForest as defensive coordinator, DeForest staying on as an assistant. Former WVU assistant Tony Gibson rejoined the staff as safeties coach after working at Michigan, Pitt and Arizona and brought with him a top prospect in WR Mario Alford, and Brian Mitchell came from East Carolina to coach the corners and turned junior college prospect DE Dontrill Hyman to WVU.
–Seven of WVU’s recruits were January enrollees, meaning they will be available for spring football. The group in includes LB Hodari Christian, S Malik Greaves, QB Chavas Rawlins, WR Daikiel Shorts, RB Wendell Smallwood, RB Dreamius Smith, WR Kevin White.
SPRING SNAPSHOT
Practice priorities: Offensively WVU has to decide on a replacement for QB Geno Smith to run the show. His backup last year was Paul Millard and he would be the leading candidate but redshirt freshman Ford Childress is expected to compete for the job. High school recruit Chavas Rawlins, a highly sought after commodity, comes in early for the spring and will be playing catch up. The Mountaineers also lost their top three receivers, two of them among the nation’s best, so working finding replacements will be key, although the likes of freshman Shelton Gibson and Mario Alford, who will not arrive until the fall, are expected to be big-play receivers by the time the season comes around. Defensively WVU needs to improve dramatically and went out and got a number of tall, speedy pass rushers. Finding cornerbacks, however, is a spring priority. They are counting on a Miami transfer, Vernon Davis, who sat out last year, to move in and take one spot. There were no true corners in the recruiting class.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “The hardest 48 hours are the two days prior to signing day. There is nothing you can do. You think you have your numbers hit. We did a heck of a job. We identified the guys that wanted to be here. We put together a staff of 18 people that we thought would sign, and all 18 signed today. There is some relief and satisfaction to it.” — Coach Dana Holgorsen
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NCAAF Team Report – West Virginia – STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
KEY LOSSES: QB Geno Smith, WR Tavon Austin, WR Stedman Bailey, C Joe Madsen, OG Jeff Braun, RB Shawne Alston, LB Josh Francis, LB Terence Garvin
PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2013:
–S Karl Joseph is just a true sophomore but he showed himself to be the hardest hitter on the team as a true freshman. He led in tackles with 104.
–DE Will Clarke is an imposing sight at 6-foot-7 and 271 pounds but he needs to improve his production this season along with his pass rushing. He should be helped if the rush ends that were brought in from junior college and high school develop into the pass rushers they expect.
–LT Quinton Spain is a 335-pound man-child who will be counted on to anchor an inexperienced offense line.
–RB Dustin Garrison will be coming back from knee surgery after being used sparingly through last season. If he can regain his freshman promise he will make a huge difference but WVU did bring in a couple of junior college running backs who will add depth.
PLAYER NOTES
–WVU went all the way to California to get a punter in Nick O’Toole out of Fullerton College and they gave him a scholarship to come and try to solve what was one of the most difficult of problems they had last year with their special teams.
–Quietly RB Andrew Buie, who was never a top option in the Holgorsen offense, rushed for 851 yards last season and teaming this year with a healthy Dustin Garrison and some junior college recruits should give WVU a running game that may wind up being featured with as much inexperience as there is at quarterback and wide receivers.
