FL recruits are always a concern, until signing day. With the pressure Manny Diaz is under at Miami right now, and the word on the vine was they had a private work-out for Lathan. While he seems to be a strong WVU lean, multiple sites all have multiple picks in for him to WVU, that dont mean anything when it comes to a FL recruit, and Im sure Miami could break out a nice cuban chain for a 4 star LB..
While I like to think the connection Trickett develops with these recruits and the longstanding relationship his family/name/reputation has in the state with HS coaches, that may help to some degree, but never count out a desperate Miami program to offer some "new" NIL partnership with a Miami jewelry designer and a recruit who never held real gold before in his life.
Im also hoping the current staff pursue players who have the character, critical thinking, & moral compass to apply a weight to factors other then short money...
That said, we should land another 4 star today with Justin Williams... This class is shaping up nicely, as long as it holds true till signing day. Mangham, Stokes, Lathan, Bissainthe(maybe), Omar Cooper, Peter K, Kevin Thomas, etc..
We really need a quality LB in this class, hoping for two, but def need at least 1. Hunter seems like a perfect fit for Bandit...
Just hoping our DL & OL recruits pan out... Im not as familiar with some of them as I am the skillset positions we are heavily pursuing, as we def lost out on some of the initial DL targets.. We also lost out on Torren Wright, which when he committed to NC State, was a bit of a surprise..
There are a couple that I think are under-rated... Raleigh Collins(Massive CB), DeAnte Hunter, & Steven Sannieniola... I like the fact we seem to be adding some length to the backend.. Mangham, Collins, & Steven are all lengthy types that should help us match up well vs TE's & the taller WR's OU & Texas typically pursue.
I was hoping we would get a visit from Horace Lockett, a massive DL, but it seems we have some serious competition there that came on a little late.. If we land the majority of the targeted skillset positions, we still need another DL & OL... and we need a APB(Shifty Speedster type), which I think is why they are pursuing Demond Claiborne.
With Tyrin Woodby reclassifying into the 2021 class, this opens up another spot for us to fill.. Curious how many HS recruits we will take/allowed in this class, if Brown will keep a few in his pocket for JUCO..
The one thing I like about the players Brown pursues is even the lower rated recruits all seem to be under-rated types. Meaning when you watch their film, you dont say/think " yeah their rating is fair", its usually a bit difficult to identify differences in their game compared to a 4 star. Similar to Ryland Gandy...
If there is a theme with future classes, I hope its speed. The era in which WVU had an edge, that was our edge. People could not match our team speed & hard nosed attitudes. Honestly, speed is the one trait thats very difficult to scheme against. So I hope that continues to be a priority for all positions, even OL & DL.. It would def allow us to run more non-traditional blocking schemes, which has beenmy one major critisism with our offense, as the blocking concepts seem to be somewhat predictable, in the first two years, but that could be a result of talent/skillset limitations. So we shall see how the offense evolves and becomes less predictable over the next few years as Brown gets the players he needs/wants..
