West Virginia Recruiting Report

VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERT: Wellington Smith, F (Blair Academy, NJ)

Projected 2006-2007 Roster
Seniors: Frank Young (SF)
Juniors: Darris Nichols (PG), Rob Summers (C), Jamie Smalligan (BF/C)
Sophomores: Joe Alexander (SF), Alex Ruoff (WF)
Freshmen: Joe Mazzula (PG), Cam Thoroughman (F), Wellington Smith (F)

Previous West Virginia Recruiting Reports: August 22 Report, July 11 Report and 7/24 Round-Up.

The Mountaineers and coach John Beilein have added a third verbal commitment to the mix as Wellington Smith joins Cam Thoroughman and Joe Mazzula in the WVU class. Butler transfer Jamie Smalligan is currently enrolled at West Virginia and will also be eligible to compete for WVU in the 2006-2007 season.

READ MORE....CLICK BELOW!


Wellington Smith is a nice recruit for Coach Beilein and his WVU staff. Smith has always been a skilled front court player and in the last year, he has diversified his game to be able to transition to the wing full time at the college level. Smith is 6'7 and 195 lbs and has the ability to play inside and out and is an adequate ballhandler and passer for a player his size. He actually reminds me a lot of Tyrone Sally from last years WVU team.

With the Smith commitment, WVU now has 4 scholarships open for the 2006-2007 season. I have a sense they will at least land two more players in this class. With just one senior on their projected 2006-2007 roster and high expectations for the 2005-2006 season, it is probably a wise move to hold a couple scholarships for the spring of 2006 or next fall. With a program slated for a major boost in television exposure this coming season and early season hype and expectations for a big year in Morgantown, their recruiting success should begin to catch up with their on the court success, it usually takes a little time for the exposure and success to sink in with recruits.

WVU is in a precarious situation with this recruiting class as they are going to be turning over a large portion of their scoring and rebounding this coming season. Five of their projected top 7 players in 2005-2006 will be seniors (Herber, Pittsnogle, Beilein, Gansy and Collins), so they will be in need of a group of players that can add an infusion of talent ready to contribute. Right now, projecting down the line, it is probably assummed that Smalligan and Summers will attempt to platoon much in the way of Pittsnogle and Fischer last year. Frank Young moves into the Tyrone Sally role with Wellington Smith backing him up. Joe Alexander is a player to watch on the wing, he has the athletic ability to make an early impact, needs to tighten up his skill level. Ruoff and Thoroughman would be wing players adding depth and Darris Nichols and Joe Mazzula would team at the guard slots. So, they would defenitely be looking for additional guard help and another big man that can play the "4" position.

With the commitment of Smith, I am not sure on how that will impact the decisions of Desean Butler and Jejuan Brown. Butler has narrowed his choices to DePaul and West Virginia. Based on need, I would think he would lean towards DePaul, especially with the commitment of Smith and the presence of Alexander at WVU. However, I do think he has been a lean to WVU for much of the process. The interesting thing is DePaul has just one scholarship remaining and Devan Bawinkel is set to decide on his destination in the next week or so. Bawinkel is visiting Georgetown this weekend and will decide between WVU, DePaul and Georgetown. Michigan St has also been in the mix with him. He is from Winnebago, IL and is a close friend from AAU ball with DePaul PG commit Will Walker, so, he could pull the trigger for DePaul, where he has seemed to be leaning for some time. However, again, if you look at best fit and the chance to play PG in the future, WVU would probably be the right call for him as a player. So, it will be interesting to see how the Bawinkel and Butler recruiting sagas end. WVU would be adding a quality player in either scenario. JeJuan Brown, from Biloxi, MS, is a quality athlete, much in the mold of Smith. Smith has a little better face-up game at this point and should be more successful in the WVU system. Smith's decision might now influence Brown, but I would not be surprised if it did.

Besides Bawinkel, WVU has shown interest in versatile wing guards such as Earl Pettis, Kashif Pratt and Vernon Teel. All three would add a different element to the wing guard position that would help the Mountaineers. At this point in time, I am not sure if any three of them would be on the verge of a commitment to WVU or anyone at this point. However, as more and more players make decisions and scholarships get tight, you never know who will pull the trigger when. Also, Hargrave Military Academy point guard Devin Carter has also been monitored by WVU. Carter can play on or off the ball at the next level, so far, he has gotten most of his interest from the A-10 and CAA level schools.

The other front court recruit that WVU has been linked to the most is Casey Crawford. As we discussed yesterday, Crawford visited Wichita St last weekend and will be visiting Texas A&M soon. I think he would be a nice fit at West Virginia, but getting the Kansas native to come east might be a tough task for Coach Beilein and staff.

The news around John Summers, younger brother of PSU transfer Robert Summers, has been quiet and I am not sure if he is on the WVU radar at this time. We will continue to monitor the WVU recruiting story as they head towards the November signing period, there should be more activity shortly.

Read more!

WVU Recruiting Notes

Everyone is always looking for more size and this is making Ross Trampler an interesting prospect to high-majors. Trampler has taken his game from New Jersey's Christian Brothers Academy to the Hun School in Princeton, NJ and has attrected interest of late from West Virginia and Providence (who he is likely to visit) as well as Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. He has scholarship offers from FDU, Mount St Mary's and the service academies and has long been a target of several Ivy League programs. Yahoo! Sports, via scout.com, has an update on the recruitment of this 6'10, 225 lb Center: Trampler Sees Increased Interest.

The Wichita Eagle has a story on Casey Crawford, who recently tripped to West Virginia, and his visit this past weekend to Wichita St. The Shockers are hoping their status of the "home" team in this recruiting race will give them the edge for the 6'8 210 lb forward from Blue Valley North High school over WVU and the Big 12's Texas A&M. Crawford and WSU coach Mark Turgeon have become very familiar with each other the last couple years and Crawford has been on the WSU campus several times. Here is the article on his visit: Crawford Visits Wichita St.

Illinois Preps Bulls-eye has an updates visit schedule on Big East target Devan Bawinkel. Bawinkel, who has visited West Virginia and DePaul, has moved up his visit date to Georgetown to the weekend of Oct 8th and 9th. He will select from the three finalists shortly thereafter. To my knowledge, DePaul and Georgetown have one scholarship each remaining and DePaul is a finalist for Desean Butler, with WVU and Georgetown is a finalist for Duke Crews. Here is the article: Bawinkel Nearing the Finish.

Read more!

WVU Recruiting Notes

September 6, 2005

West Virginia will be hosting Overland park, KS big man Casey Crawford in the next couple weeks. Crawford is a 6'9 BF/C that averaged 17 PPG, 9 rebounds and nearly 4 blocks a game as a junior. He is an excellent student in the classroom and has shown the ability to step away from the hoop and score, making him a nice fit for the West Virginia's system. Crawford was supposed to visit Minnesota this coming weekend, but with Coach Monson getting a commitment from Bryce Webster over Marquette, among others, Minnesota looks as if they will no longer be recruiting Crawford. At this point, the major players for Crawford appear to be West Virginia, Wichita St, Tulane and Texas A&M. He has visits set up with WVU and Wichita St in September and is expecting in-home visits from coaches from Tulane and Texas A&M as well this month. Although, he is not sure how Hurricane Katrina will impact visits to and from Tulane. Here is the article on Yahoo! Sports from Chris Monter: Crawford Modifies Visit Schedule.

As reported in our DePaul recruiting report, the addition of Will Walker as a verbal commitment to Depaul might push them a little farther in the lead for Devan Bawinkel. While this might mean another recruiting loss for WVU, as they are one of the finalists for Bawinkel, along with Georgetown and DePaul, it could open the door for Desean Butler, who is supposed to be checking it out West Virginia on an unofficial visit in the near future, if he has not already. Butler has said he would like to wait until after the SAT's to make a decision, which shoudl but West Virginia is good shape, especially with DePaul, his other favorite, likely to be out of scholarships with a Bawinkel commit. Whether Butler decides to look closer at schools like Providence, Seton Hall and Rutgers, all who have been interested in the past and showing more interest recently, is another matter.

West Virginia could use some good recruiting news in the wake of losing targets AJ Tyler and Dennis Horner this past weekend to the ACC (Tyler to Clemson and Horner to NC St). Crawford and Butler would be very nice additions to the program as they both have the type of styles that would benefit from a structured system. I think Butler is very underrated and under-recruited for the amount of versatility and unselfishness his brings to the floor. Crawford is not one I know a lot about, but he has been described to me as a nice fit for WVU.

We will keep the WVU fans updated on the progress of their recruiting.

Read more!

WVU Team Notes

Yahoo! Sports has picked up an article written by dave Telep of Scout.com on Auburndale (FL) High School's Brandon Giles. Giles is a 6'5 shooting guard that has a nice shot from the perimeter and is one of the top mid-major recruits in the country and he has been picking up occassional interest from some high-majors, and one, West Virginia, has been showing increased interest of late and they could join his current leaders, Western Carolina and UNC-Wilmington, as schools he will consider seriously in the process. Here is the article: Giles Looking at WVU.

Read more!