Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Brown Works Smarter To Fill First Recruiting Class
February 07, 2019 12:01 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sometimes it's better to work smarter than it is to work harder.
Neal Brown did just that by supplementing the work Dana Holgorsen's staff had already done in December when it signed 16 prospects.
If all of them check out, why not start with those guys instead of starting from scratch and falling farther behind on 2020 and 2021 players?
All of them did check out to his liking, so Brown re-recruited them to make sure they were good with their situation.
He ended up going an impressive 16-for-16 to keep them all in the fold.
"It's a unique situation; I think it has only happened one other time at the Power 5 level," Brown said. "I think when Kevin Sumlin was hired at Arizona, he had a similar situation in the fact that a group of players signed in December under a previous coach (Rich Rodriguez), so what we did was we went about re-recruiting those guys."
What that entailed was either Brown or one of his assistant coaches visiting each player in person, and they were able to arrange a second official campus visit for the player to check out the new coaching staff.
Brown wanted to make sure those guys who signed in December were totally comfortable with his staff after they were already comfortable with West Virginia University.
"They just needed some reassurance," Brown noted. "I thought the previous staff did a really good job of identifying talent, not only on the playing field, but academically, and these are good kids."
Brown said he was actually pretty familiar with about a half dozen signed prospects from when he was at Troy.
He knew about defensive lineman Taijh Alston because he recruited Copiah-Lincoln Community College pretty hard.
"He was a really productive player there," Brown noted.
Brown also knew about Suwanee, Georgia, linebacker Jared Bartlett. His assistant coach Jordan Lesley watched him practice last spring and had him pegged as a mike linebacker or edge pass rusher.
Cedartown (Georgia) running back Tony Mathis was Brown's No. 1 running back target when he was at Troy. The logo switch helped Brown become Mathis' No. 1 coaching target.
"I laughed when I called Tony after getting this job. I said, 'Man, most of the time players come to the coaches.' This coach had to go to the player because Tony was our No. 1 running back guy at Troy forever," he said. "Of course, he got multiple Power 5 offers so we didn't have a whole lot of success getting him at Troy, but he's a guy that I love the way he ran, so we had a relationship with him."
Brown said he knew about four-star Eastern Arizona College cornerback Dreshun Miller from his high school days in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Pooler, Georgia, wide receiver Winston Wright participated in a couple of satellite camps Brown attended, so he already knew a lot about him.
Roswell, Georgia, cornerback Nicktroy Fortune was another player with whom Brown was very familiar.
"A lot of these guys we had relationships, either me personally or our assistant coaches had relationships with those guys, so that was definitely a positive," the coach said.
As for the guys he didn't know very well, Brown made it a point to get to know them as quickly as possible.
"It wasn't as much about assessing them," he noted. "I felt like our role was they'd already made decisions, and I tried to put myself in their shoes, honestly, and understand that their whole world just got shook up. A coaching change had happened, and they didn't ask for it.
"What we did was, it wasn't about us making a decision, it was about us investing in that relationship because they'd already made the decision," Brown continued. "Athletically, I think all of them fit with what we want to do. It was about making sure that they felt comfortable with the situation here. We weren't going to hold any of them hostage. We wanted them all to be here, but we wanted to make sure they wanted to be here."
By doing this it gave Brown a good base with which to begin. Then he added Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall last month to give him three scholarship quarterbacks for the spring.
That was a must.
"Probably need No. 1 is we needed to add a quarterback, and I thought we were fortunate to get a guy in Austin, who I feel like has been really well schooled," Brown admitted. "He played in a couple of different high school programs where the level of coaching is at a high level.
"He was with Lincoln (Riley) the last couple of years, and he sat in a room with two Heisman Trophy winners," Brown said. "He has a quick release, a really strong arm, and he can create plays with his feet. I think it's going to be a great (quarterback) competition as we move into spring and fall camp."
The three players Brown added on Wednesday were all guys he had prior relationships with while at Troy.
"If you look at (defensive lineman) Jordan Jefferson, he is from Navarre, Florida, which is about two hours away from Troy," Brown mentioned. "He's a kid that we've really known since he was a freshman."
Jefferson's stock skyrocketed as signing day neared. Florida State was one of the schools who contacted him late.
"If you look at his senior year, you'll understand why his recruiting really exploded like it did, especially the last six weeks," Brown said.
Leesburg, Georgia, cornerback Tavian "Tay" Mayo was a player West Virginia recruited heavily before the early signing period and the prior coaching staff actually wanted him to sign in December.
But Mayo chose to look around at North Carolina, Nebraska and Iowa State to make sure WVU was still the right fit for him.
Brown credited defensive coordinator Vic Koenning for cultivating that relationship.
"He recruited that school at Troy," Brown said. "We've known about Tay for a long time. I think he actually watched a couple of games of ours at Troy when he came to watch his friends. The logo switch was very effective so we were able to close late and that was an important pick up."
And 6-foot-5 Rashean Lynn Jr. from Cocoa, Florida, is a potential-packed safety prospect who Brown was excited to sign.
"He has as much upside as anybody in this class," Brown predicted. "He played a lot of receiver and (defensive back) in high school and we're going to start him off in the secondary as a safety."
Brown said he still has three scholarships remaining and wants to keep them in his back pocket to use once he gets better evaluations of his current players.
"I think the mistake that a lot of people make is when you take a job, when you make a transition and you're trying to do your first recruiting class, you really reach, or you sign guys that you don't know about," he reasoned. "So we were careful. I'm always looking for ways to improve our roster and I think it's important when you have some open spots where if something happens, you're able to add a critical piece."
Again, another example of Brown working smarter.
Neal Brown did just that by supplementing the work Dana Holgorsen's staff had already done in December when it signed 16 prospects.
If all of them check out, why not start with those guys instead of starting from scratch and falling farther behind on 2020 and 2021 players?
All of them did check out to his liking, so Brown re-recruited them to make sure they were good with their situation.
He ended up going an impressive 16-for-16 to keep them all in the fold.
"It's a unique situation; I think it has only happened one other time at the Power 5 level," Brown said. "I think when Kevin Sumlin was hired at Arizona, he had a similar situation in the fact that a group of players signed in December under a previous coach (Rich Rodriguez), so what we did was we went about re-recruiting those guys."
What that entailed was either Brown or one of his assistant coaches visiting each player in person, and they were able to arrange a second official campus visit for the player to check out the new coaching staff.
Brown wanted to make sure those guys who signed in December were totally comfortable with his staff after they were already comfortable with West Virginia University.
"They just needed some reassurance," Brown noted. "I thought the previous staff did a really good job of identifying talent, not only on the playing field, but academically, and these are good kids."
Brown said he was actually pretty familiar with about a half dozen signed prospects from when he was at Troy.
He knew about defensive lineman Taijh Alston because he recruited Copiah-Lincoln Community College pretty hard.
"He was a really productive player there," Brown noted.
Brown also knew about Suwanee, Georgia, linebacker Jared Bartlett. His assistant coach Jordan Lesley watched him practice last spring and had him pegged as a mike linebacker or edge pass rusher.
Cedartown (Georgia) running back Tony Mathis was Brown's No. 1 running back target when he was at Troy. The logo switch helped Brown become Mathis' No. 1 coaching target.
"I laughed when I called Tony after getting this job. I said, 'Man, most of the time players come to the coaches.' This coach had to go to the player because Tony was our No. 1 running back guy at Troy forever," he said. "Of course, he got multiple Power 5 offers so we didn't have a whole lot of success getting him at Troy, but he's a guy that I love the way he ran, so we had a relationship with him."
Brown said he knew about four-star Eastern Arizona College cornerback Dreshun Miller from his high school days in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Pooler, Georgia, wide receiver Winston Wright participated in a couple of satellite camps Brown attended, so he already knew a lot about him.
Roswell, Georgia, cornerback Nicktroy Fortune was another player with whom Brown was very familiar.
"A lot of these guys we had relationships, either me personally or our assistant coaches had relationships with those guys, so that was definitely a positive," the coach said.
As for the guys he didn't know very well, Brown made it a point to get to know them as quickly as possible.
"It wasn't as much about assessing them," he noted. "I felt like our role was they'd already made decisions, and I tried to put myself in their shoes, honestly, and understand that their whole world just got shook up. A coaching change had happened, and they didn't ask for it.
"What we did was, it wasn't about us making a decision, it was about us investing in that relationship because they'd already made the decision," Brown continued. "Athletically, I think all of them fit with what we want to do. It was about making sure that they felt comfortable with the situation here. We weren't going to hold any of them hostage. We wanted them all to be here, but we wanted to make sure they wanted to be here."
By doing this it gave Brown a good base with which to begin. Then he added Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall last month to give him three scholarship quarterbacks for the spring.
That was a must.
"Probably need No. 1 is we needed to add a quarterback, and I thought we were fortunate to get a guy in Austin, who I feel like has been really well schooled," Brown admitted. "He played in a couple of different high school programs where the level of coaching is at a high level.
"He was with Lincoln (Riley) the last couple of years, and he sat in a room with two Heisman Trophy winners," Brown said. "He has a quick release, a really strong arm, and he can create plays with his feet. I think it's going to be a great (quarterback) competition as we move into spring and fall camp."
The three players Brown added on Wednesday were all guys he had prior relationships with while at Troy.
"If you look at (defensive lineman) Jordan Jefferson, he is from Navarre, Florida, which is about two hours away from Troy," Brown mentioned. "He's a kid that we've really known since he was a freshman."
Jefferson's stock skyrocketed as signing day neared. Florida State was one of the schools who contacted him late.
"If you look at his senior year, you'll understand why his recruiting really exploded like it did, especially the last six weeks," Brown said.
Leesburg, Georgia, cornerback Tavian "Tay" Mayo was a player West Virginia recruited heavily before the early signing period and the prior coaching staff actually wanted him to sign in December.
But Mayo chose to look around at North Carolina, Nebraska and Iowa State to make sure WVU was still the right fit for him.
Brown credited defensive coordinator Vic Koenning for cultivating that relationship.
"He recruited that school at Troy," Brown said. "We've known about Tay for a long time. I think he actually watched a couple of games of ours at Troy when he came to watch his friends. The logo switch was very effective so we were able to close late and that was an important pick up."
And 6-foot-5 Rashean Lynn Jr. from Cocoa, Florida, is a potential-packed safety prospect who Brown was excited to sign.
"He has as much upside as anybody in this class," Brown predicted. "He played a lot of receiver and (defensive back) in high school and we're going to start him off in the secondary as a safety."
Brown said he still has three scholarships remaining and wants to keep them in his back pocket to use once he gets better evaluations of his current players.
"I think the mistake that a lot of people make is when you take a job, when you make a transition and you're trying to do your first recruiting class, you really reach, or you sign guys that you don't know about," he reasoned. "So we were careful. I'm always looking for ways to improve our roster and I think it's important when you have some open spots where if something happens, you're able to add a critical piece."
Again, another example of Brown working smarter.
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