MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Rich Rodriguez visited with Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney via Zoom late Wednesday afternoon for an interview that was posted on its website and YouTube channel.
 
Rodriguez's Mountaineer staff added seven more high school prospects on Wednesday, bringing the total number of announced signees to 57 so far.
 
The players revealed on Wednesday were cornerback ChaMarrus Bomar, from Spartanburg, South Carolina; offensive lineman Phillip Bowser, from Youngstown, Ohio; bandit Keenan Eck, from Apple Valley, California; bandit Marshon Oxley, from Los Angeles, California; defensive lineman Adam Tomczyk, from Long Beach, California; linebacker Cam Torbor, from Hoover, Alabama; and wide receiver Armoni Weaver, from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
 
West Virginia also announced 29 transfer portal additions and held on to 21 members of its December signing class, 11 of whom are already on campus and taking part in winter workouts.   
 
That has more than offset the departures that took place at the end of the season when coach Neal Brown was let go.
 
"We had a lot of good seniors that are finished playing, and there were a handful that got into the portal, which is the sign of the times, I guess," Rodriguez said. "We didn't have any type of particular formula of so many portal guys, so many (junior college) guys or high school guys. 
 
"I said, 'Let's get the best players we can get - guys we think we can win with and who understand our culture.' And that's what we did," he said. "We did get close to 30 in the portal. We've got another seven signed, and we will continue to do that."
 
Rodriguez said he will frequently monitor his roster.
 
"I think you are constantly looking at your roster," he explained. "We look at it every day, not just during recruiting time, to be prepared to bring the next guy in to win games and then coach them up."
 
The coach indicated the tools he has at his disposal, including facilities, have been extremely helpful in the pursuit of top prospects.
 
"The facilities are fantastic. It was always pretty good, but this is next-level stuff," he noted.
 
Now, he says it's a matter of learning the players he inherited and keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of college football.
 
"It seems like things change almost weekly, but it's been great," Rodriguez said. "I love being back home, and my first priority was getting a great staff together, and I think we did that. Now, we're doing some things to get our roster ready for the fall."
 
As far as his coaching philosophy, Rodriguez said his core principles haven't changed much from when he led West Virginia to a 32-5 record over his final three seasons here, ending in 2007.
 
"A lot of what we're doing is similar to what we did 17, 20 years ago, but there is a lot that's new and different, too, more refined, and I think a little bit better," he admitted. "We still hold our hat onto our tempo and playing with 11 and using our quarterback in a lot of different ways. I believe you still need to keep studying yourself and studying other people to see what you can do better."
 
He said his staff, personnel and players are going to put in the work required to be successful.
 
"I'm a little bit old-school, I'm sure, but I still think culture matters and people use that buzz word, but they don't really adhere to it each and every day," he said. "I truly believe our success at some of the other places, including my last school, Jacksonville State, is because we got really good players who wanted to be coached and wanted to be in the right culture.
 
"And we're going to coach our guys," he concluded.
 
Spring practice is slated to begin at the end of this month. An announcement on an exact date is forthcoming.