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Mountaineers Trying To Keep Best Players In State
By Rich Emert

Under Don Nehlen, West Virginia University's recruiting classes rarely ranked among the best in the country. But every three or four years Nehlen's Mountaineers would have an outstanding record and go to a bowl game.

The philosophy that made Nehlen a success in Morgantown appears to be continuing under second-year coach Rich Rodriguez. The Mountaineers goal is to keep the best players in the state of West Virginia at home.

"The problem with that is West Virginia doesn't have that many high schools so there are probably three to eight Division I players in the state," said Herb Hand, the Mountaineers' recruiting coordinator. "We want those individuals to come to West Virginia and we work hard at recruiting them. After that we go outside the state to Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey.

"We also go to Texas, California and Florida and this year we've gone more into the New Orleans area and Louisiana with Rich's connections down there."

Hand said the Mountaineers are looking for the best prospects but pointed out there are needs. This year, they wanted to fortify the receiving corps and the defense. Of the 20 oral commitments West Virginia had received by mid-January three were wide receivers – J.T. Perry, Andre Sumpter and Rayshawn Boldin – and two were tight ends – Jason Hardee and Adam Serena.

Eleven of those who have committed are defensive players. Only two were running backs and just two were offensive linemen.

"We go after the high-profile players but it is sometimes hard to land one of those," Hand said. "We're just looking for good, tough players especially on defense. One of our goals is to add speed to our defense, so we are looking for players who can do that, players who can run and will hit you."

This season, Hand has tried to sell high school athletes on the fact they could come in and contribute right away at West Virginia. That's the same approach Walt Harris took at Pitt his first couple of seasons and it paid off with bowl appearances the past two seasons.

Hand does not like the idea of bringing in a lot of junior college players. West Virginia has commitments from two junior college players so far.

"A JC guy can be a quick fix at a position if you think you've got a chance to be pretty good," Hand said. "But we're building for the future, although we think we have a pretty good team coming back.

"I'm for bringing in three, maybe four junior college players. If you bring in more than that then you get into that two-year cycle where you are always bringing in a lot of junior college players."

West Virginia has been hampered in its recruiting efforts in Western Pennsylvania because of the resurgence of Pitt's program. That doesn't bother Hand. He said a little friendly competition is good.

"It makes you work a little harder and I think we've done OK in that area," he said. "We have commitments from some players we're excited about."

Western Pennsylvania players who have committed to West Virginia are Serena of South Allegheny, linebacker Kevin McLee of Uniontown, safety Carl Farrell of Uniontown, offensive lineman Dan Mozes of Washington and safety Tywaan Napper of Clairton.

Napper is not rated as high as the other WPIAL players headed for Morgantown. Hand was quick to point out that players who are not highly thought of often become stars.

"You have to remember that we're not recruiting for 2002. We're looking at players and projecting what they will be like two and three years down the road," he said. "If we can get three to eight players in this recruiting class who will help us next season that's great. But we're recruiting players on what they will become, not what they are right now."