MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Never mind the fact Quinton Spain is 6-foot-4 and 335 pounds and that everything he does is big. What the former West Virginia offensive lineman did Saturday was especially significant, and not merely because he signed an undrafted rookie free agent contract that puts his future in his 9 3/4-inch hands.
Spain was the last remnant of WVU’s 2010 recruiting class, the one hailed at the time as the greatest in the program’s history. Rivals.com wrote on Feb. 3, 2010, the day it deemed WVU’s class to be the best in the Big East and No. 19 in the country, that there was “no question this was a special class with lots of skill position athletes for the Mountaineers.”
Well, of the 19 players who signed that day, Spain is the second to make it to the NFL. Neither played a skill position. Spain’s the only one of 18 high school players to get a foot in the door, and the only player from that class to be drafted was Bruce Irvin, a junior college transfer who was a 2012 draft pick and the program’s ninth first-round pick.
They’re as different as can be, but they were a part of that 2010 class. Scout.com and 247Sports.com ranked WVU No. 29. The head coach, Bill Stewart, called signing day “a good day for recruiting here at West Virginia University. We feel like we have a special class of not just athletes, but neat, fine young men.”
He had a point. Spain was one of three signees who played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He had two teammates on the East roster who’d become teammates at WVU. Receiver Ivan McCartney was the only player rated higher than Spain, and quarterback Barry Brunetti was a Parade Magazine All-American and a coup for a team in need of a quarterback.
There was also defensive back Latwan Anderson, who Rivals.com saw as a five-star prospect rated No. 15 overall. He committed to WVU during the game and became a case study for how unpredictable and dangerous recruiting and projecting can be. Still, Stewart was right to say that group of all-America players was “pretty well ahead of the curve right now.”
But later? McCartney was inconsistent. His freshman season was wasted and his sophomore season was promising, but he totaled 21 catches for 272 yards his final two seasons and toyed with the idea of transferring at least once.
Brunetti threw nine passes as the backup in 2010 before transferring to Ole Miss. He cited family needs to gain immediate eligibility, and he threw 112 passes with the Rebels. Anderson accepted a track scholarship at Miami and spent a couple months there before going to two junior colleges and signing in February at Notre Dame College, a Division II school in Ohio.
Irvin was a flash and a force on defense and Spain was an anchor on the offensive line. Apart from them, linebacker Wes Tonkery might have had the best college career. Maybe linebacker Doug Rigg or cornerback Ishmael Banks?
Twelve players signed and either didn’t make it or didn’t last. Not coincidentally, that was the year Stewart famously said WVU needed “16 to 18 scholarships each year and two to three scholarships at each position max.” The risky quality-over-quantity plan set successor Dana Holgorsen back a few years as he tried to load and reload the roster.
Doing so required recruiting junior college players and college transfers, which is where this story takes a turn. Part of the healing process was the 2012-14 recruiting classes, the first three Holgorsen had a full year to work on with his staff. WVU signed 16 junior college players and two one-year college transfers those years.
Junior college players Kevin White (Chicago Bears), Mark Glowinski (Seattle Seahawks) and Mario Alford (Cincinnati Bengals) and Shaq Riddick (Arizona Cardinals), a 2014 transfer from Gardner-Webb, were drafted last weekend. Junior college transfer Dreamius Smith (San Diego Chargers) signed an undrafted rookie contract.
The Mountaineers happen to believe linebacker Brandon Golson and defensive end Dontrill Hyman, both junior college transfers, might have joined them if not for senior seasons undone by injuries. Six other junior college players not only remain in the program, but are or should be in WVU’s two-deep depth chart next season.
It’s a major development for the Mountaineers, who will continue to bless themselves with high school talent from south Florida, but who must also compete with Big 12 opponents and fill roster needs by nabbing junior college players and the occasional one-year transfer (for as long as that’s allowed). A lot of that is based on a player trusting a program, and WVU is proving itself.
Riddick, who was an FCS all-American, gambled on WVU and was rewarded. The Mountaineers took calculated chances on their junior college haul and, with rare exceptions (Ronald Carswell, d’Vante Henry, Keishawn Richardson), were redeemed.
The Mountaineers have a system in place, one that can prove a talent like White, and perhaps soon Skyler Howard. But it’s also one that prepares players like Glowinski, who redshirted his first year with WVU, and possibly Sylvester Townes, an offensive tackle who redshirted last season.
Recruiting is just like coaching and playing, and each is driven by results. In the end, these stories aren’t written by star systems, but by star players who take to coaching and to development. WVU may have had its best class in 2010, but it has been better about producing pro prospects since then.
Spain was the last remnant of WVU’s 2010 recruiting class, the one hailed at the time as the greatest in the program’s history. Rivals.com wrote on Feb. 3, 2010, the day it deemed WVU’s class to be the best in the Big East and No. 19 in the country, that there was “no question this was a special class with lots of skill position athletes for the Mountaineers.”
Well, of the 19 players who signed that day, Spain is the second to make it to the NFL. Neither played a skill position. Spain’s the only one of 18 high school players to get a foot in the door, and the only player from that class to be drafted was Bruce Irvin, a junior college transfer who was a 2012 draft pick and the program’s ninth first-round pick.
They’re as different as can be, but they were a part of that 2010 class. Scout.com and 247Sports.com ranked WVU No. 29. The head coach, Bill Stewart, called signing day “a good day for recruiting here at West Virginia University. We feel like we have a special class of not just athletes, but neat, fine young men.”
He had a point. Spain was one of three signees who played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He had two teammates on the East roster who’d become teammates at WVU. Receiver Ivan McCartney was the only player rated higher than Spain, and quarterback Barry Brunetti was a Parade Magazine All-American and a coup for a team in need of a quarterback.
There was also defensive back Latwan Anderson, who Rivals.com saw as a five-star prospect rated No. 15 overall. He committed to WVU during the game and became a case study for how unpredictable and dangerous recruiting and projecting can be. Still, Stewart was right to say that group of all-America players was “pretty well ahead of the curve right now.”
But later? McCartney was inconsistent. His freshman season was wasted and his sophomore season was promising, but he totaled 21 catches for 272 yards his final two seasons and toyed with the idea of transferring at least once.
Brunetti threw nine passes as the backup in 2010 before transferring to Ole Miss. He cited family needs to gain immediate eligibility, and he threw 112 passes with the Rebels. Anderson accepted a track scholarship at Miami and spent a couple months there before going to two junior colleges and signing in February at Notre Dame College, a Division II school in Ohio.
Irvin was a flash and a force on defense and Spain was an anchor on the offensive line. Apart from them, linebacker Wes Tonkery might have had the best college career. Maybe linebacker Doug Rigg or cornerback Ishmael Banks?
Twelve players signed and either didn’t make it or didn’t last. Not coincidentally, that was the year Stewart famously said WVU needed “16 to 18 scholarships each year and two to three scholarships at each position max.” The risky quality-over-quantity plan set successor Dana Holgorsen back a few years as he tried to load and reload the roster.
Doing so required recruiting junior college players and college transfers, which is where this story takes a turn. Part of the healing process was the 2012-14 recruiting classes, the first three Holgorsen had a full year to work on with his staff. WVU signed 16 junior college players and two one-year college transfers those years.
Junior college players Kevin White (Chicago Bears), Mark Glowinski (Seattle Seahawks) and Mario Alford (Cincinnati Bengals) and Shaq Riddick (Arizona Cardinals), a 2014 transfer from Gardner-Webb, were drafted last weekend. Junior college transfer Dreamius Smith (San Diego Chargers) signed an undrafted rookie contract.
The Mountaineers happen to believe linebacker Brandon Golson and defensive end Dontrill Hyman, both junior college transfers, might have joined them if not for senior seasons undone by injuries. Six other junior college players not only remain in the program, but are or should be in WVU’s two-deep depth chart next season.
It’s a major development for the Mountaineers, who will continue to bless themselves with high school talent from south Florida, but who must also compete with Big 12 opponents and fill roster needs by nabbing junior college players and the occasional one-year transfer (for as long as that’s allowed). A lot of that is based on a player trusting a program, and WVU is proving itself.
Riddick, who was an FCS all-American, gambled on WVU and was rewarded. The Mountaineers took calculated chances on their junior college haul and, with rare exceptions (Ronald Carswell, d’Vante Henry, Keishawn Richardson), were redeemed.
The Mountaineers have a system in place, one that can prove a talent like White, and perhaps soon Skyler Howard. But it’s also one that prepares players like Glowinski, who redshirted his first year with WVU, and possibly Sylvester Townes, an offensive tackle who redshirted last season.
Recruiting is just like coaching and playing, and each is driven by results. In the end, these stories aren’t written by star systems, but by star players who take to coaching and to development. WVU may have had its best class in 2010, but it has been better about producing pro prospects since then.
