The Signal Caller’s Six Signees to Watch in 2023
December 22, 2022 11:09 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – MSN football radio sideline reporter/analyst Jed Drenning has taken copious notes, devoured hours of video tape and worked the phones non-stop in preparation for this year's Signing Day Show, which aired yesterday morning.
Through this hard work and research, the Signal Caller has identified six players from Wednesday's signing class he believes could potentially help the Mountaineers as soon as this fall.
Prospects are listed in alphabetical order:
Ben Cutter, LB, 6-1, 215, Denver, N.C./East Lincoln H.S.
Jed says: "He's just a tackling machine. It's one of those deals where he's listed with 587 career tackles, and a lot of those are assisted tackles, but what you can tell when you watch him on tape is he's always around the ball. That's the instinctive part that can't be coached. He has an ability to sift through the mess and sift through blockers. He secures tackles, squares his shoulders and comes in violently. He's got great timing as a blitzer and closes fast when he's in coverage. There's a lot to like about him when you study his tape, and although he needs to develop in the weight room, he could steal some snaps because of his high football IQ and his situational value to the defense.
Rodney Gallagher III, WR, 5-11, 175, Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands H.S.
Jed says: "He's not an early enrollee, and he's going to be raw because he's never truly been a receiver, but his skillset is so dynamic. That's a position of need so it's a situation where West Virginia is going to need to find creative ways to get him involved and just find a way to get the football in his hands. That's never easy but look at Tavon Austin. He showed up as a freshman and ended up getting 15 catches, so you've got to find ways to get him the ball, including in the return game on special teams. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be one heck of a college football player, it's just a matter of how soon that happens."
James Heard, Jr., EDGE, 6-2, 225, Camden, N.J./Camden H.S.
Jed says: "He's a heck of an edge pass rusher, and he has played against some big-time football competition. He's really explosive with great timing and is instinctive off the edge. He has really good vision and when you watch him on tape, he has strong enough hands to engage and then shed as he reacts. He has a good tackling radius, he's well-coached and he understands leverage, and that's one of the things that I talked to his high school coach about. From a run-fit standpoint, you always see him lead with the right shoulder and that's kind of an advanced skill. These kinds of things put kids like him ahead of the curve and can help him take college-level coaching and understand the bigger picture of what they want to do defensively."
Zachariah Keith, DL, 6-5, 240, Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County H.S.
Jed says: "He is a talented edge rusher with the size to be able to play immediately but will benefit greatly from the time he spends with strength and conditioning coach Mike Joseph and his staff. He has the burst off the edge where he can help you right away. He's played against high-level football, and he comes in with the frame and the skillset, and it's not that demanding in terms getting him a dozen snaps or so situationally to rush the passer. Any time there are guys who can bring it off the edge or in the interior, there's going to be people coming and he's one of those guys that West Virginia had to fend off a late push to get his services."
Josiah Trotter, LB, 6-2, 230, Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Joseph's Prep
Jed says: "When you look at Trotter, the pedigree is there with his father and just his pure production. When you can rush the passer like he can from the interior gaps, to me he's a classic ball-hawk. He's going to play sideline-to-sideline, he's going to cover space for you, he has a high football IQ, he IDs route combinations and he's instinctive. In my opinion, he's capable of stealing some snaps and finding a way to get on the field next year from Will linebacker on over. He has the speed to play Will and the size to play Mike as well. He gives them some different options."
Jahiem White, RB, 5-9, 190, York, Pa./William Penn H.S.
Jed says: "He's an early enrollee, and he's been committed to West Virginia the longest. He's going to be excited to be here and be a Mountaineer, so he understands the program. Let's see what happens in the running back room, but White has the skillset to come in and help the team right away. He's sort of built like Steve Slaton was when he came in here as a freshman, and when you watch his style, that's kind of who he reminds me of. He's a strider kind of like Steve was, and he runs the football sort of like he's returning kickoffs.
Collectively, Drenning believes this class features some long and athletic defenders and lots of size up front.
"West Virginia signed some monster tackles," he said. "All those OL guys are raw, which is what you expect, but man, the size is there with their length, wingspan, athleticism and all that."
Drenning also likes the fact that most of the players signed in this year's class come from a six-hour radius of Morgantown.
In addition to these guys, what the coaching staff can come up with in the transfer portal in the coming weeks and months is going to play a critical role in who ends up filling areas of need for 2023, particularly at wide receiver and cornerback.
Drenning anticipates the staff pursuing a tight end who can attack the seam as well.
"I've tried to explain this to people. College Football 1.0 is done. It ended in April of 2021," Drenning explained. "Quit talking about Major Harris and Pat White. That's like talking about dinosaurs. That game is done. This is now College Football 2.0. We know that West Virginia football could thrive and overachieve in College Football 1.0, and now, the challenge is to figure out how to thrive and overachieve in this new climate."
Drenning continued, "When you look at how things shook out in the portal this year, the teams that don't necessarily succeed in the portal are the blue bloods. If you look at the 65 Power 5 teams and last year's portal activity, guess who finished 65 out of 65? Georgia.
"Guess who finished 63rd out of 65? Ohio State. Michigan finished 39th out of 65 and didn't really hurt or help themselves. Those three blue bloods made the playoffs, and they didn't do it through the portal because they didn't have to.
"Guess where TCU finished? Tenth. Well, TCU locked into a situation where they had a new coach in Sonny Dykes, and he was able to steal a bunch of his former players from SMU who knew his system and could come in and play immediately."
The transfer portal success story two years ago was Baylor, the Bears winning the Big 12 by plugging in a bunch of key transfers.
"If you're not a blue blood, you've got to win in the portal today. The blue bloods don't have to do it, but sometimes they do, too," Drenning concluded.
Through this hard work and research, the Signal Caller has identified six players from Wednesday's signing class he believes could potentially help the Mountaineers as soon as this fall.
Prospects are listed in alphabetical order:
Ben Cutter, LB, 6-1, 215, Denver, N.C./East Lincoln H.S.
Jed says: "He's just a tackling machine. It's one of those deals where he's listed with 587 career tackles, and a lot of those are assisted tackles, but what you can tell when you watch him on tape is he's always around the ball. That's the instinctive part that can't be coached. He has an ability to sift through the mess and sift through blockers. He secures tackles, squares his shoulders and comes in violently. He's got great timing as a blitzer and closes fast when he's in coverage. There's a lot to like about him when you study his tape, and although he needs to develop in the weight room, he could steal some snaps because of his high football IQ and his situational value to the defense.
Rodney Gallagher III, WR, 5-11, 175, Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands H.S.
Jed says: "He's not an early enrollee, and he's going to be raw because he's never truly been a receiver, but his skillset is so dynamic. That's a position of need so it's a situation where West Virginia is going to need to find creative ways to get him involved and just find a way to get the football in his hands. That's never easy but look at Tavon Austin. He showed up as a freshman and ended up getting 15 catches, so you've got to find ways to get him the ball, including in the return game on special teams. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be one heck of a college football player, it's just a matter of how soon that happens."
James Heard, Jr., EDGE, 6-2, 225, Camden, N.J./Camden H.S.
Jed says: "He's a heck of an edge pass rusher, and he has played against some big-time football competition. He's really explosive with great timing and is instinctive off the edge. He has really good vision and when you watch him on tape, he has strong enough hands to engage and then shed as he reacts. He has a good tackling radius, he's well-coached and he understands leverage, and that's one of the things that I talked to his high school coach about. From a run-fit standpoint, you always see him lead with the right shoulder and that's kind of an advanced skill. These kinds of things put kids like him ahead of the curve and can help him take college-level coaching and understand the bigger picture of what they want to do defensively."
Zachariah Keith, DL, 6-5, 240, Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County H.S.
Jed says: "He is a talented edge rusher with the size to be able to play immediately but will benefit greatly from the time he spends with strength and conditioning coach Mike Joseph and his staff. He has the burst off the edge where he can help you right away. He's played against high-level football, and he comes in with the frame and the skillset, and it's not that demanding in terms getting him a dozen snaps or so situationally to rush the passer. Any time there are guys who can bring it off the edge or in the interior, there's going to be people coming and he's one of those guys that West Virginia had to fend off a late push to get his services."
Josiah Trotter, LB, 6-2, 230, Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Joseph's Prep
Jed says: "When you look at Trotter, the pedigree is there with his father and just his pure production. When you can rush the passer like he can from the interior gaps, to me he's a classic ball-hawk. He's going to play sideline-to-sideline, he's going to cover space for you, he has a high football IQ, he IDs route combinations and he's instinctive. In my opinion, he's capable of stealing some snaps and finding a way to get on the field next year from Will linebacker on over. He has the speed to play Will and the size to play Mike as well. He gives them some different options."
Jahiem White, RB, 5-9, 190, York, Pa./William Penn H.S.
Jed says: "He's an early enrollee, and he's been committed to West Virginia the longest. He's going to be excited to be here and be a Mountaineer, so he understands the program. Let's see what happens in the running back room, but White has the skillset to come in and help the team right away. He's sort of built like Steve Slaton was when he came in here as a freshman, and when you watch his style, that's kind of who he reminds me of. He's a strider kind of like Steve was, and he runs the football sort of like he's returning kickoffs.
Collectively, Drenning believes this class features some long and athletic defenders and lots of size up front.
"West Virginia signed some monster tackles," he said. "All those OL guys are raw, which is what you expect, but man, the size is there with their length, wingspan, athleticism and all that."
Drenning also likes the fact that most of the players signed in this year's class come from a six-hour radius of Morgantown.
In addition to these guys, what the coaching staff can come up with in the transfer portal in the coming weeks and months is going to play a critical role in who ends up filling areas of need for 2023, particularly at wide receiver and cornerback.
Drenning anticipates the staff pursuing a tight end who can attack the seam as well.
"I've tried to explain this to people. College Football 1.0 is done. It ended in April of 2021," Drenning explained. "Quit talking about Major Harris and Pat White. That's like talking about dinosaurs. That game is done. This is now College Football 2.0. We know that West Virginia football could thrive and overachieve in College Football 1.0, and now, the challenge is to figure out how to thrive and overachieve in this new climate."
Drenning continued, "When you look at how things shook out in the portal this year, the teams that don't necessarily succeed in the portal are the blue bloods. If you look at the 65 Power 5 teams and last year's portal activity, guess who finished 65 out of 65? Georgia.
"Guess who finished 63rd out of 65? Ohio State. Michigan finished 39th out of 65 and didn't really hurt or help themselves. Those three blue bloods made the playoffs, and they didn't do it through the portal because they didn't have to.
"Guess where TCU finished? Tenth. Well, TCU locked into a situation where they had a new coach in Sonny Dykes, and he was able to steal a bunch of his former players from SMU who knew his system and could come in and play immediately."
The transfer portal success story two years ago was Baylor, the Bears winning the Big 12 by plugging in a bunch of key transfers.
"If you're not a blue blood, you've got to win in the portal today. The blue bloods don't have to do it, but sometimes they do, too," Drenning concluded.
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