Less than one week until signing day and the Mountaineers now have 5 spots left to fill. We take a look at the latest news on who might fill those spots.
WVU’s 2013 recruiting class is continuing to take shape. Spots are filling up, but the prospects who may fill those spots are thinning out at an even greater rate. At this point, it’s hard to tell whether the Mountaineers will finish strong by landing some of the more talented prospects we have been on as of late, whether we will swing and miss on the remaining recruits, or, most likely, somewhere in between. Let’s take a look at where we stand:
The Tyler Boyd saga continues. Evidently, his mother doesn’t like WVU, the way Holgorsen and staff handled Tyler’s recruitment, or both. And she’s been very public about it, causing him to cancel the in-home visit he had set for tonight. He may even visit Tennessee this weekend. That’s not to say he won’t end up in Morgantown (18 year olds have been known to defy the wishes of their parents from time to time), but the chances seem slimmer than they did a week ago.
In other more recent news, Houstin Syvertson made a verbal pledge to enroll at WVU as a preferred walk-on. His chances of earning a scholarship are still in the air (do it, Holgo!), but at least we know he’ll be in the fold, both as a punter and as a TE/FB. Basically a Punter/Athlete. A P/ATH if you will. Welcome aboard, Houstin. Just let us know what number you’ll be so we can make sure to buy the jersey. Maybe number 5? We already have one of those, so that way we can save some money?
A little recap from earlier this week, OL Grant Lingafelter switched his verbal from the Miami (OH) to the Mountaineers. Lingafelter has good feet and quickness, and the frame to add significant weight. He’ll need to redshirt, but he could be a dandy down the road.
Zaire Williams flipped from WVU to Temple, presumably because of the logjam at running back in this class and the fact that the Mountaineers are still recruiting JoJo Kemp (though he is expected to land at either Pitt or Kentucky) and Mario Alford. Honestly, the flip makes me feel better about landing Alford, which is fine with me. Naturally, we wish Zaire well playing in front of hundreds of Philadelphians for the next four years.
As of last night, the Mountaineers have only two scheduled visitors for this weekend, but they could be good ones: ATH Marquion Lane and JUCO DL Dontrill Hyman. Lane is considered a heavy WVU lean and could play WR or CB. If I’m him, I try to play both given our depth at those positions. A one-time LSU target, Hyman is our last best chance to land a solid DL in this class, barring a De’Asian Richardson flip back from Louisville.
At this point, things have narrowed down enough to where we can maybe start to project a pecking order for who might fill those last 5 slots. As always, there could be surprises in all directions, and many of the recruits likely don’t know where they’re going to pick yet, so this is obviously an exercise in speculation, but let’s give it a shot. In order of most likely to commit to least likely:
1. Marquion Lane
2. Dontrill Hyman
3. Mario Alford
4. Poet Thomas
5. Brandon Golson
6. Jeremy Tyler
7. Tyler Boyd
8. Mackenro Alexander
9. Tanner McEvoy
10. De’Asian Richardson
11. Stacy Thomas
12. Tevita Finau
13. JoJo Kemp
