MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today to discuss the 2015 recruiting class.

 

Obviously, it’s been an interesting day as far as recruiting. I want to thank our staff for going out there and doing it. What goes into recruiting I can’t describe- the ups and downs, travel, conversations, phone calls, official visits, unofficial visits, home visits and school visits. It goes on and on. We have a staff full of guys who understand what it takes to be successful in recruiting.

 

I’m really excited about the guys that we got. We have 22 guys that are on board. We’re thrilled to get to that number. We’re happy that they’re part of the Mountaineer family. There’s a couple guys that I’m thrilled about not being a part of that family at this point. The reason I say that is we were very selective toward the end of this process. It’s the first time in five seasons that we were able to be selective. Signing 22 guys puts us above our 85 guy scholarship limit.

 

Whether we have a few academic casualties, whether we have guys graduate early, whether we have guys moving on, we can be selective getting to 85. Because our numbers were so high and so healthy, we were pretty selective toward the end.

 

Just a few minutes ago (wide receiver) Gary Jennings committed out of Virginia, which was kind of the last piece of the puzzle today. He’s been one of our top receiver targets. Coach (Lonnie) Galloway did a great job cultivating a relationship with him and his family. He was a high priority today. We were extremely excited to get him on board.

 

We have guys signing from eight states. I think a few years ago we had 12. We have 17 high school guys and two junior college guys, and also we have three transfers. Any time we can get some four-year transfers like (tight end/fullback) Michael Ferns and (offensive lineman) Kyle Bosch from Michigan they’re big time. They were big time recruits out of high school. They expressed interest in being here so we wanted to get them. More than likely they’ll have to sit out a year, but oh well.

 

Junior college wise, we fluctuate from a couple a year to nine or 10. We needed a pass rusher, so we got (defensive end) Larry Jefferson out of Itawamba Community College. He’s originally from Atlanta. He’s a long, lean pass-rushing guy that we need on the defensive side. I’ve said that in order to be successful in the Big 12, we had to get better on defense. We have, but we need to get to the quarterback. We didn’t have as many sacks as we needed last season.

 

Adding (cornerback) Rasul Douglas out of Nassau Community College is going to help us in the secondary. Coach Gibson has seen him on tape. He’s not afraid to cover on blitz.

 

(Wide receiver) Ka’Raun White is going to be a familiar face. Yes, he is Kevin (White)’s brother from Lackawanna Community College. He wasn’t really on our radar until December, because he stepped up in the classroom and will be able to graduate and be here in May. He’s 6’2”, 200 pounds and his tape looks a lot like Kevin’s did at Lackawanna. We’re thrilled to get him on campus.

 

We have 17 high school guys. We have five from Ohio, four from South Florida, three from Maryland, three from New Jersey, two from West Virginia, two from North Florida and two from Virginia.

 

Overall, we’re excited about where we’re at.

 

You always want to have variety in a class. We felt that we were at a pretty good spot at running back, and that we were at a pretty good place with linebackers. The numbers in those areas aren’t high. We have a variety in the rest of them. We’re finally in a spot where we have depth, and this is the first time that we’ve had more than two scholarship quarterbacks. For the previous four springs, we’ve been pretty limited.

 

Getting five offensive lineman is awesome. It’s going to put our scholarships up to 20. We needed some good wide-outs. We need a tight-end, so Stone (Wolfley) will help with that. We need defensive linemen and corners, and we got those. The needs were variety. We were able to get our numbers where we wanted them.

 

We can be selective now. Anyone else we take will be a bonus. We don’t need to get guys just to get the numbers, we need to do it for talent purposes.

 

Having 71 guys go through spring is more than we went through with fall camp in 2012. We’re able to line up with a bunch of quarterbacks, three full offensive lines and three full defensive lines. We don’t want to sign guys and replace guys with the same talent. We want to sign and replace guys with more talent.

 

We wouldn’t take guys that we thought would have an eligibility problem. We have studied where they’re at academically, and we think they’ll be fine.

 

We haven’t done any football-related activities with them at all. Spring football is pushed back this year, because Spring Break is. Up until this point, they’ve been strength and conditioning and focusing on academics. We will start our meetings with them next week. We will get into meetings, film room and weight room with them tomorrow.

 

The two young quarterbacks are eager and keep asking when they can meet with me. I tell them to leave me alone. Starting next week, they will get enough of me. ?

 

We wouldn’t take guys that we think would have an eligibility problem, and us studying each and every one of these guys academically we all feel like they are in a good spot to be eligible.

 

The strength staff has spent time with them, but we have not done any football related activities whatsoever, and we won’t for the remainder of this week. Spring football is pushed back this year and spring break is pushed back. We will have another meeting this year to discuss the dates and positions of players and coaches and all that stuff. Up until this point this is the fourth week that the players are in school. They have been conditioning and academics only. After signing day is over, I am going to let the coaches take a couple of days off, and we will start our meetings with players next week. We will start our early morning stuff Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we will get in the film room and be able to meet with them. We will start getting into the weight room with them and start the agility drills with them next week. Larry Jefferson is doing well. It seems like he is adjusting well. Kyle Bosch and (Michael) Ferns. At this point in time they are going to have to sit out a year. The two quarterback’s heads are spinning. They are eager and want to learn. They keep asking when we can meet and I go leave me alone because next week comes around they are going to get enough of me.

 

Believe it or not, in years past we haven’t had more than two quarterbacks on the roster. It’s taken up until this point in order to get to that spot. It’s all about competition. If you want guys to get better then they better have somebody to compete against. We have guys on the roster, and I think all five guys are going to be eager to compete, especially the young guys. The three freshmen. The future is good. We have a good balance with a couple of the older guys and some guys. We are excited to start pushing some buttons in the film room, and watch how they develop and get them into spring practice so we can watch what they can do football wise.

 

I’m sure there are. I can guess, and I’ll probably be wrong. If I would guess a couple of them based on everyone’s opinions or rankings and sites opinions then you guys would know who they are, but that is never the case. There is always going to be some highly rated guys that are going to disappoint you because they are not game ready or some lower rater guys that are ready physically, and they catch up mentally really quick. I do think that if there was a need to play freshmen than you do, but I don’t think we have a need to. I think we have a need at receiver and that is probably it, as far as freshmen coming into play right away. An offensive lineman may surprise us. A defensive lineman may surprise us, or a corner may surprise us. Even these quarterbacks might surprise us. I do think that because we can work with them in the summer it gives them a little bit better chance. When they show up here June 8th we will be able to spend three weeks with them, which is going to get them a little bit more game ready. Then again, if I guess, I would probably be wrong. You have to wait and see how they are going to adjust.

 

It seems like it. We always done the same thing. We identified guys, and we recruited them. We made decisions whether we give an offer to them or not based on information, which is height, weight, size, speed, film, camps and all that stuff. We done the same thing that we have been doing. It seems like there is a little bit more going on within the state than there has been. With this year’s class and the next couple of classes, it seems like there is much more going on than our previous three years. It’s not like there is more of an emphasis it’s just that there is a little bit more to choose from.

 

He’s got good size. We have to get him in here June 8th. It would be nice to have him show up every day and work out, but you can’t. He has to go graduate and be a high school kid. I’m sure he is looking forward to going to prom and all that. Once June 8th rolls around, we are going to get him in here and treat him like the rest of them. He is in a position, much like Cody Clay, where he has to get dirty. He has to get tougher. He has to mature in the weight room and get bigger, faster and stronger. He has to get meaner. He has to develop his skill sets. The tricky thing with tight ends is that it is a combination of what offensive lineman do and what full backs do, and then there is the skill aspect of it as well. He has good size and has a good frame. I am anxious to get him in here and teach him what to do.

 

Those guys just win ball games. How many games have they lost in the last couple of years? Not many. They won state championships, and they were a big part of that. Whether Jacquez plays quarterback or receiver or corner. Whether Jordan plays corner or receiver. Those guys can do a lot of different things. They probably been as much as a joy to recruit as anyone I ever recruited. They are all about West Virginia now, so they have been over here a ton. They are bright eye and happy. They are fun to be around, and they are good football players. Where they end up playing, I don’t know, but I am not concerned about it in the least.

 

It’s a start. I think that is one reason why Kevin (White) was successful because he could hold out the grind of the season. The Iowa State game was subpar because he got banged up, but those guys physically have to be ready to hold up. The have to be capable of holding up. That’s why Gary (Jennings) was so important to us because he physically is impressive. Having those guys that are big and have the ability to make plays is something that is pretty important.

 

Yes, it has. My background was the Southwest. It was Texas. I thought it was a good idea. Oliver (Luck) thought it was a good idea. Because of the conference that we are in and the kids that we were recruiting we were able to get guys like Jordan Thompson out of Katy High, which is a national powerhouse and Garrett Hope out of the The Woodlands, which is a national power. We were able to get Noble (Nwachukwu) out of Wylie, and it is a region power. Dustin Garrison out of Pearland is a national power. Those guys brought something to our team that I didn’t feel like existed at that point. Just a ton of structure and hardworking guys that were undersized and weren’t recruited by a lot of those Texas schools. I thought it served its purpose going into the Big 12. It’s just our philosophy that we can recruit a better kid more regionally and in the Northeast and up and down the East coast. We can sell the Big 12 brand. We can recruit against almost everybody and get a better kid than we can do in Texas right now.

 

I don’t know. That is something that is handled within our compliance department. They feel that there is an angle that we can play them. On my sheet they are red which means that they are going to redshirt.

 

Right now he can do anything. That is one reason why I liked him so much. He has great size, and he was highly recruited. He could play tight end. He could play fullback. He could play defense, and he could play linebacker. There is a variety of things that he could do, and the truth of the matter is that we have a year to figure it out. He can do a bunch of stuff, and we have some time to figure that out.

 

(Kyle) Bosch is huge - big and powerful. Matt Jones, he was pleasure to recruit as well. That kid never wavered. He was right up the road in Youngstown. He was down here all the time. He was fired up about being a Mountaineer. He had offers from other people that he didn't entertain, which is refreshing in today's day and time. He's a big kid. He's big. He's got great pad level. He's powerful. He needs to get in shape, and we'll do that for him. Colton McKivitz is a 6-7 basketball guy. He's a pretty decent basketball player. He's a project tackle. He needs to gain a bunch of weight, but he's got great feet. Jah'Shaun Seider has got great feet. He's a center and smart. Obviously, consider him kind of a coach's kid. He's been around it so much. He's got better size than I remembered. I saw him in the house which was a fun home visit. He's got great feet. He's got good size. He's a coach's kid. Rob Dowdy - we got him late. We worked hard on getting him. Shannon (Dawson) kind of got us in on that guy and then Ron (Crook) took him over and did a great job closing on him. He reminds me a lot of (Adam) Pankey. He's 6-6 and has good size. He's athletic. He likes to play basketball in his spare time which is cool. He's going to be big. The thing with offensive linemen is that if you're counting on o-linemen, whether they're JUCO or not, to come in and play right away, you're team is not in a good spot. Each of these guys I don't anticipate any of them coming in - we've got approximately 14 scholarship guys ahead of them to where we have plenty of depth. It will allow those guys to be able to develop.

 

I don't know. It seems like it's gaining more momentum. Going to these spring meetings, we talk about a variety of things. We go with the men's and women's basketball coaches, the Athletic Directors and football guys all go together. All these basketball guys, when we start talking about early signing days, they all look at us like we're crazy. They say 'don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. It's going to kill your summer. You're not going to have any down time whatsoever.' If you have a July or August signing day, I think that's right. I'm in favor in the December early signing day, which to me makes sense. Just like that JUCO signing period, whatever that is, somewhere around December 17 or 18, a lot of these high schools guys who have committed to us for one or two years and have already taken plenty of visits, there is no reason why you can't sign them. It would ease their mind or Christmas and January. It would save universities thousands and thousands of dollars. It probably would get rid of the signing day surprises that drives everybody crazy. I think there are a lot of positives to it. I think it's gaining momentum, and I think this spring is going to be huge when it comes to all these coaches going out and talking about it.

 

It's tough. December and January are the toughest two months. There is no question. December, you're coaching and you're getting ready for bowl games. You're out on the road. You're doing all this, doing all that. Then you've got a little bit of down time, which is basically vacation time and convention time. Then it is go time with recruiting, where you're hitting as many schools as you possibly can because it's crunch time and you're trying to hang on to guys. It seems like the closer you get the more squirrely kids get at times as well. You're trying to squeeze as much as you possibly can. When you've got guys from eight, nine different states, it takes time to jump around. It takes a lot of money. In my opinion, you're wasting a lot money because you're going to see guys who could be signed already. You fly back on the weekends, and you host a bunch of guys on weekends, which entails another six or eight meals that you get after. It's neat. There are some good parts to it as well. You get to go out there and meet a bunch of people and spend time with them and see some high school coaches and all that. There are some positives things to it no question. It is stressful, but it's our lively hood. It's what we do, and we're excited about it.

 

They're big. Out of Orlando, Alec Shriner is a big, thick nose tackle. This dude benches 600 pounds and weighs 300. He's big, strong and physical. He's a great fit for us at nose tackle. (Adam) Shuler is long. I forgot how long this guy was - 6-4, 6-5, 240 pounds or so. He's a pup that's just going to get huge. He's just an awesome looking defensive end. We're lucky to have those two.

 

I just liked his athleticism in camp. When he was here this summer, he played running back, he played inside receiver, he lined up at safety, and he ran well. He was long. He is a long strider - had good wingspan. He did a lot of stuff for Martinsburg. When we saw him in camp, we kind of went back and looked at his junior tape a little bit. It was impressive. The camp performance really impressed us with him. He followed it up with a great senior year. He made a lot of plays. He played a lot of different things.

 

Like I said earlier, he's a 6-2 cover guy. You can put him at corner or you could put him as a nickel guy. Anytime you have opportunities to have guys that can cover, you better jump on it. He was high priority. Coach (Brian) Mitchell did a great job getting in there and getting to know him. He went and saw him six or seven different times. He really did a good job getting to him. He trusts coach Mitchell. Brian is excited about coaching him. Brian is walking around here with a smile on his face. He's got virtually all of his corners coming back, and we added four pretty good ones as well.

 

We lost 90 percent of our outside receiver position. Two years ago, after 2012, we lost about 90 percent of our overall receiver production. Having Jordan Thompson and Daikiel Shorts coming back is going to be big. Those guys have been productive and understand how things work. They can bring younger guys along. The tricky part about two years ago is not only outside receivers being new, but inside receivers being new, running backs being new and the quarterback being new. That's what the problem was two years ago. We've got running backs back, we've got tight ends back, and we have inside receivers back. We just don't have the wide-outs back. We'll have six going through spring ball. We didn't have six going through spring ball two years ago. We've got six bodies. Which of these six is going to be able to mature and develop? I don't know. Then we're going to be able to bring three in this June to be able to push them as well.

 

It's always been good to us. You can go down there and get caught up with recruiting too many. Jajuan (Seider) did a great job of going down there and trying to hit some home runs on some guys. I thought we had too many at one point, too, so we parted ways with a few of them. Those four, have been pretty solid. We're not interested in getting guys who want to commit and take a bunch of trips and all that stuff. We shut some of that stuff down. The guys that were pretty loyal to us were those four (recruits from south Florida). Jovon (Durante) came to our camp in the summer. He was as fluid and twitchy as I've seen. I don't know if he's game ready yet, and I've told him this. He needs to get bigger and gain some weight - lift weights and all that stuff. Tyrek (Cole) is kind of the same way. He is a huge talent. He's got great feet and can cover. He can make plays. Is he game ready? I don't know. He's got a little ways to go. Kevin (Williams) is the same way as a safety. He's got to continue to develop. He's talented, and he's made some plays. Whether he's going to be game ready or not, we'll figure that out once he's here.

 

I think that kind of (pipeline) exists everywhere. If you have pictures of NFL guys like Geno (Smith) and Stedman (Bailey), then those young guys are going to kind of look at them. They're going to recognize the WV. They're going to recognize where they went to school. That helps. It helps you get in the door, but then you've got to recruit them. Having Damon (Cogdell) here, there is some familiarity with what we were doing. If you just add it all up, it's a good fit. Those two kids came here because of name recognition. They grew up watching West Virginia. They'll be the first to tell you that being able to play in the Big 12 for those kids is pretty important.

 

I'll cover all that in a few weeks. We're in recruiting mode right now. We're going to take a few days off. We're going to do a team meeting on Monday. I haven't talked to the team yet. We're going to do team meeting on Monday. We'll be able to spend five weeks with them. After we spend a few weeks with all that stuff, we'll get together again with you all. There are not going to be a whole lot of changes. This is different than in years past. There is going to be a lot of carry over. A lot of familiarity with the coaches, the players, the assignments. There will be a few changes. I will get with you all in a few weeks. Honestly, guys, there is not a whole lot of major stuff happening.

 

Lonnie (Gallaway) did a great job. He did a super job. He's been everywhere in the past. He's got guys from all over. Him getting over into Maryland and Virginia - he's going to continue to crack away at some North Carolina stuff. Virginia has been tough to crack, but him getting in there and pulling Gary (Jennings) is big. It's 100 percent his relationship with Gary and his family and getting Gary over here a lot and making Gary understand the need for a guy like him at receiver. I think it just played into our favor