Ask Herb Hand
February 01, 2006 05:58 PM | General
February 1, 2006
 |
||
| Hand |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football recruiting coordinator was kind enough to sit down following the announcement of the Mountaineers’ 15-player recruiting class and answer a few of your emails. Here are his responses:
Mikevicksno1fan@aol.com: What is the most successful pitch to bring in recruits from out of state?
HH: The biggest thing we try to sell in our program whether it’s in-state or out of state is that people make a difference. You’re not going to find better people than the great people of the state of West Virginia.
Brian Deppe: Has there been any focus on the pass rush and recruiting some talent that can rush the passer? Also, are you recruiting some players with an eye on defensive backfield speed?
HH: One defensive end that is in our system right now is Johnny Dingle who is kind of an edge pressure guy. We feel like Marcus Broxie who we signed out of Tampa is the same-type of player Johnny Dingle is -- an edge pressure-type guy. As for defensive backfield, we have some good speed back there. I don’t see us having to do a whole lot more there.
Jim Bailey: I am curious if WVU coaches are getting more attention and respect from potential recruits and their high schools coaches since the team won the Sugar Bowl? Are the doors opening a little easier for our recruiting coaches?
HH: Winning the Sugar Bowl was great for our program and it was great for the visibility of our program. However, the effects on this year’s recruiting class were not as great as people would normally think. I think you will really see the residual effects when we go out and start talking to juniors coming off a Sugar Bowl win and a Top 5 finish.
Charles Devries: What is the reasoning for not offering the in-state players scholarships? It is really bad when you lose a good linebacker out of Morgantown High to Maryland.
HH: If we feel like there is a player in our state that, one, fits our needs in the program and, two, is good enough to help us win a Big East championship and help us compete for a national title then by all means we will recruit those players harder than anyone else in the country. However, this year there weren’t any players like that that our fit our needs or were of the talent level to compete on a national level.
Jim: With the class of 2006 wrapped up, what will be your priorities in next year’s class? How many scholarships will you have available?
HH: Next year we’ll sign at least a running back, maybe two, a tight end or maybe two, we’ll sign a few linebackers and a big defensive end. We’ll have to get a couple of interior offensive linemen to replace Dan Mozes and Jeremy Sheffey and then we’ll go after a big-time wide out. We’ll probably sign a quarterback in this class, too.
Gordon Allen: Which position was the biggest need in this year’s recruiting class and were we able to fill the position adequately?
HH: We had two needs with this year’s class. First was defensive back and particularly corner and we’re happy with the guys we signed there. The second need was offensive line and we have filled our need there with four really good offensive linemen.
JDP238@aol.com: How good do you feel about Wes Lyons’ abilities? Who well do you think he will fit into our offense?
HH: Wes Lyons is a big-play wide out. His immediate impact could be in our red zone offense with his height advantage going into the end zone. We think he has the ability to be an outstanding player for us. Typically wide receivers can get on the field earlier than other positions because of the learning curve or you can put together a plan specifically for that kid.
Rufus Shumate: Do you think any of our DB recruits have a chance to step up and make an impact as a freshman? If so, who do you look for it to be?
HH: Any of the defensive backs we signed are good enough to compete for playing time. I think Greg Davis, Boogie Allen and Ryan Brinson are probably the closest to challenging for playing time next year. Ryan is more of a corner where Greg and Boogie can also play safety.
Joel Jenkins: The Sugar Bowl was great; Georgia was great. Why are we not recruiting more in Georgia? We won the Sugar Bowl and the Atlanta Journal’s Super Southern 100 didn’t have one recruit even considering West Virginia.
HH: The Sugar Bowl gave us the opportunity to get back into Atlanta to recruit a little bit, especially with Pac-Man Jones being from Westlake High School in that area. We may be putting a little more emphasis into the Atlanta area in the future. I got a call from a coach from Westlake the other day and so now we can use that to help us some down there.
Mark Tedesco: How do you see to a so-called 4-or-5-star prospect that WVU is the place he should sign with when the entire roster is so young?
HH: We’re only young in certain positions. Obviously the kids that we were targeting were positions of need for us, particularly corner and offensive tackle. You want to try and recruit guys that want to compete so even though you may have a Steve Slaton or a Pat White on your roster, if we were recruiting we just want guys that want to come in and compete for a spot.
Howie Castillo: Which recruit that you have signed has you absolutely going crazy to see him put the pads on when August rolls around?
HH: Howie, good to hear from you. One guy that I’m really interested in seeing this fall is JT Thomas. He comes from great bloodlines and he’s a great looking prospect. We did a visit with him last week and he just gets better looking each time we see him from a physical standpoint. I’m interested to see what he can do with the pads on.
Mark Manning: What is the biggest obstacle in getting 4-star or other highly-ranked players to pick WVU over other football programs?
HH: The biggest obstacle we have to overcome is the negative perception of West Virginia; the national perception of our University. But once we get a guy to visit we’ve got a chance. That’s why we make a big push to get them here for our football camps and make a big push to get them here to visit so they can see what we have to offer.
David Porter: It seems like a number of recruits WVU was counting on went elsewhere this year. This was, perhaps surprising, considering the incredible success you guys had the last couple of years landing the guys that you really wanted. I understand the Sugar Bowl preparation got in the way of your recruiting efforts. How big a factor was this?
HH: There were two things that hindered us a little. One, was the rescheduling of the South Florida game which we lost a weekend of recruiting weekend to host visits. We also lost a whole week on the road and that is hard to overcome because everyone else was out on the road seeing guys face to face. But that happened early on in the process so you can overcome it but you don’t want to be put behind the eight ball. As for Sugar Bowl preparation, our practice schedule didn’t conflict so much with the recruiting schedule but you’re kind of immersed in doing game prep and it’s kind of hard to serve two masters, is how Bill Kirelawich puts it. That being said, it’s a good problem to have. It’s certainly better than the alternative.
Thanks everyone for your great questions and I look forward to doing this again next year.
