--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown offers his condolences to Mike Leach and how he's had a lot of connections to him.
--This has always been a very exciting day. This is an earned opportunity and there are a ton of sacrifices to get to this point. This is the culmination of the high school career and the start of the college career. It's the conclusion of a two to three year process and there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes in terms of recruiting, scouting and creative. Through all the turmoil they've had two decommitments and they stuck together. It will definitely get up to 18 today and maybe 19. They signed five in Pennsylvania. Pass rushing was a theme in this and they wanted versatility out of their running backs and tight ends. They want some tight ends that can catch the ball down the field vertically and some running back versatility. They needed downhill box linebackers.
--Sean Boyle flew under the radar and has a chance to grow. His mom is a Morgantown native and WVU grad and he grew up a West Virginia fan. Two-time state champion. Early grad.
--Noah Braham is a legacy and has a great story. His dad played 13 years in the NFL and he will give them a ton of versatility. They will start him at h-back.
--Ben Cutter was under recruited for a while but as he continued to play he got more and more popular. Early grad and Brown thinks he'll be a factor next year.
--Oryend Fisher he has known his coach for a long time and he has a ton of potential on the edge.
--Rodney Gallagher was probably as integral of a recruit as they've had since he's been here. They treated him like a local player and the exit Brown gets off at his house it says Uniontown. He's the highest recruited guy in the local area as any with the exception of maybe Wyatt Milum.
--James Heard is an early graduate and had 18 sacks in 9 games this past year. He is an elite pass rusher with ball get off and no wasted movement. He will play from the first game.
--Josiah Jackson will be here in January. He is first-team all-Ohio and they saw him live two years ago and he had the length and versatility. Jordan Jackson has his best football ahead of him as a defensive back. Played running back in high school.
--TJ Johnson is an early graduate and his dad Tory played here. His mom went to school here and he's a two-time state champion and to watch him grow over the last three years. He has a chance to be a premier tight end.
--Zachariah Keith will remind you a lot of Sean Martin a lot of upside.
--Nick Krahe will be a multiple year starter here.
--DJ Oliver played for Tanner Jones, a quarterback at Troy. He's from Port St. Joe in the panhandle in an area they know well. He is 240-pounds and is a state finalist in shot put, the 100 meters and weight lifting.
--Traylon Ray plays all three sports. Also a really good kickoff and punt returner.
--Josiah Trotter is the defensive leader in this class. An early graduate and his family handled this recruiting process well. His dad was a great player for the Eagles.
--Jahiem White earned a scholarship with a strong camp performance and he has almost 6,000 career rushing yards. Averages over 10 yards per carry and is an early grad.
--Johnny Williams filled up the whole door frame of his house. He is an early graduate. A four year starter in high school.
--Cooper Young is in an area that turns out a ton of really good offensive line prospects. They had him in camp and he was one of the top interior linemen in the country.
--The roster building does not stop. You get 85 scholarships and sometimes you're creating space and sometimes trying to hold onto guys you want to hold onto. They always felt like they'd be in that 16-20 range and they didn't want to go outside that. They've still got work to do. 8-12 transfers.
--There's always a concern until Brown gets the text until they're signed but the family with Gallagher did a great job. They were in a time frame before Wren Baker was hired with everything going on. The family was open about visiting Penn State. They took some trips but were open. Everybody here had options and they beat a lot of good people. You look at it in recruiting who did you beat? And they beat a lot of really good people.
--Heard and Trotter, Brown can't say enough about both of them. They played together at St. Joe's Prep as juniors and split up this year. Trotter's family did a really good job and asked great questions with a process. They went through it before with their older son at Clemson. They were very up front what they were looking for. Once Josiah made a decision he never wavered. James saw an opportunity to play early with how he would be used.
--One thing to note on Gallagher is he's been in the public for a long time. Recruiting attention didn't phase him. There is a huge support system with the family. It was huge for them to get him early.
--Could take maybe one or two high school players. From how they're operating if a kid was committed and has taken an official visit he will sign today or they won't hold until February. That's where they were at in this class. A couple areas transfer wise they can't take everybody in the portal. Areas of need as they go through that wide receiver, a pass receiving tight end, never turn down an offensive lineman or defensive lineman, secondary and may add another specialist.
--Primary area always want to be in a six area radius when it comes to recruiting. They can get to the campus more frequently and there is not the draw to go home. You have to fight to keep players outside that area such as Florida and Georgia, but they've been good to them.
--It's tempting to take more transfers and fewer high school players but the best chance to be successful is to be a developmental program. There's moments you might develop a guy and lose him, but those few occurrences should not deter them from their objective of developing guys. They have to be able to bring in transfers and had some really successful transfers and that's something they've done a nice job of but they've had some misses, too.
--If you look at the two local programs both Morgantown and University have been really good to this program. Braham got a scholarship because in two back to back years in 7-on-7 he was one of the best players here and his versatility. He could play an h-back, mike linebacker or a bandit. There is growth there.
--Two spots on offense that they will look to fill when it comes to coaching.
--Brown will not be signing a transfer quarterback. They're going with the two guys they have and want to develop them.
--Brown anticipates one, maybe two more today.
--Brown says Danny King he likes his progression. He will compete and they could add in the portal.
--This wasn't how Brown ordered it up and so much of the recruiting is done early and a lot of the commitments came in the summer. Multiple junior days and practices. Staff did a good job staying in communication and Wren Baker has been part of the process too by talking to recruits.
--West Virginia wants to have more versatility in their tight ends and running backs. Going to have multiple pieces at running back and want to have more than one on the field. DJ Oliver is a big power back that can run and Brown saw him do a backfield at 240-pounds. Jahiem White went and lined up at slot receiver at camp and they would have signed him there.
--Oliver moved around a little bit and he's a hunter and a fisherman. He had cammo on his whole trip. He wasn't real active in the process and didn't do a ton of unofficial visits and went down to a camp at Central Florida and impressed and garnered the attention of those schools. You watch his film and he has good contact balance.
--This has always been a very exciting day. This is an earned opportunity and there are a ton of sacrifices to get to this point. This is the culmination of the high school career and the start of the college career. It's the conclusion of a two to three year process and there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes in terms of recruiting, scouting and creative. Through all the turmoil they've had two decommitments and they stuck together. It will definitely get up to 18 today and maybe 19. They signed five in Pennsylvania. Pass rushing was a theme in this and they wanted versatility out of their running backs and tight ends. They want some tight ends that can catch the ball down the field vertically and some running back versatility. They needed downhill box linebackers.
--Sean Boyle flew under the radar and has a chance to grow. His mom is a Morgantown native and WVU grad and he grew up a West Virginia fan. Two-time state champion. Early grad.
--Noah Braham is a legacy and has a great story. His dad played 13 years in the NFL and he will give them a ton of versatility. They will start him at h-back.
--Ben Cutter was under recruited for a while but as he continued to play he got more and more popular. Early grad and Brown thinks he'll be a factor next year.
--Oryend Fisher he has known his coach for a long time and he has a ton of potential on the edge.
--Rodney Gallagher was probably as integral of a recruit as they've had since he's been here. They treated him like a local player and the exit Brown gets off at his house it says Uniontown. He's the highest recruited guy in the local area as any with the exception of maybe Wyatt Milum.
--James Heard is an early graduate and had 18 sacks in 9 games this past year. He is an elite pass rusher with ball get off and no wasted movement. He will play from the first game.
--Josiah Jackson will be here in January. He is first-team all-Ohio and they saw him live two years ago and he had the length and versatility. Jordan Jackson has his best football ahead of him as a defensive back. Played running back in high school.
--TJ Johnson is an early graduate and his dad Tory played here. His mom went to school here and he's a two-time state champion and to watch him grow over the last three years. He has a chance to be a premier tight end.
--Zachariah Keith will remind you a lot of Sean Martin a lot of upside.
--Nick Krahe will be a multiple year starter here.
--DJ Oliver played for Tanner Jones, a quarterback at Troy. He's from Port St. Joe in the panhandle in an area they know well. He is 240-pounds and is a state finalist in shot put, the 100 meters and weight lifting.
--Traylon Ray plays all three sports. Also a really good kickoff and punt returner.
--Josiah Trotter is the defensive leader in this class. An early graduate and his family handled this recruiting process well. His dad was a great player for the Eagles.
--Jahiem White earned a scholarship with a strong camp performance and he has almost 6,000 career rushing yards. Averages over 10 yards per carry and is an early grad.
--Johnny Williams filled up the whole door frame of his house. He is an early graduate. A four year starter in high school.
--Cooper Young is in an area that turns out a ton of really good offensive line prospects. They had him in camp and he was one of the top interior linemen in the country.
--The roster building does not stop. You get 85 scholarships and sometimes you're creating space and sometimes trying to hold onto guys you want to hold onto. They always felt like they'd be in that 16-20 range and they didn't want to go outside that. They've still got work to do. 8-12 transfers.
--There's always a concern until Brown gets the text until they're signed but the family with Gallagher did a great job. They were in a time frame before Wren Baker was hired with everything going on. The family was open about visiting Penn State. They took some trips but were open. Everybody here had options and they beat a lot of good people. You look at it in recruiting who did you beat? And they beat a lot of really good people.
--Heard and Trotter, Brown can't say enough about both of them. They played together at St. Joe's Prep as juniors and split up this year. Trotter's family did a really good job and asked great questions with a process. They went through it before with their older son at Clemson. They were very up front what they were looking for. Once Josiah made a decision he never wavered. James saw an opportunity to play early with how he would be used.
--One thing to note on Gallagher is he's been in the public for a long time. Recruiting attention didn't phase him. There is a huge support system with the family. It was huge for them to get him early.
--Could take maybe one or two high school players. From how they're operating if a kid was committed and has taken an official visit he will sign today or they won't hold until February. That's where they were at in this class. A couple areas transfer wise they can't take everybody in the portal. Areas of need as they go through that wide receiver, a pass receiving tight end, never turn down an offensive lineman or defensive lineman, secondary and may add another specialist.
--Primary area always want to be in a six area radius when it comes to recruiting. They can get to the campus more frequently and there is not the draw to go home. You have to fight to keep players outside that area such as Florida and Georgia, but they've been good to them.
--It's tempting to take more transfers and fewer high school players but the best chance to be successful is to be a developmental program. There's moments you might develop a guy and lose him, but those few occurrences should not deter them from their objective of developing guys. They have to be able to bring in transfers and had some really successful transfers and that's something they've done a nice job of but they've had some misses, too.
--If you look at the two local programs both Morgantown and University have been really good to this program. Braham got a scholarship because in two back to back years in 7-on-7 he was one of the best players here and his versatility. He could play an h-back, mike linebacker or a bandit. There is growth there.
--Two spots on offense that they will look to fill when it comes to coaching.
--Brown will not be signing a transfer quarterback. They're going with the two guys they have and want to develop them.
--Brown anticipates one, maybe two more today.
--Brown says Danny King he likes his progression. He will compete and they could add in the portal.
--This wasn't how Brown ordered it up and so much of the recruiting is done early and a lot of the commitments came in the summer. Multiple junior days and practices. Staff did a good job staying in communication and Wren Baker has been part of the process too by talking to recruits.
--West Virginia wants to have more versatility in their tight ends and running backs. Going to have multiple pieces at running back and want to have more than one on the field. DJ Oliver is a big power back that can run and Brown saw him do a backfield at 240-pounds. Jahiem White went and lined up at slot receiver at camp and they would have signed him there.
--Oliver moved around a little bit and he's a hunter and a fisherman. He had cammo on his whole trip. He wasn't real active in the process and didn't do a ton of unofficial visits and went down to a camp at Central Florida and impressed and garnered the attention of those schools. You watch his film and he has good contact balance.
