Today running back Rushel Shell made official what many had speculated for weeks - he'll be trading gaudy gold for old gold; shit for pepperoni rolls. The erstwhile Pittsburgh Panther will be transferring to WVU.
Having been rudely spurned by his original school when he had second thoughts following an announced transfer to UCLA, Shell instead will get the best of both worlds - he'll be close to home with his infant twin daughters as well as play for a team that has established the most successful football tradition on 1-79 in the last quarter-century.
As the second highly-touted tailback to transfer to Morgantown in recent weeks (Charles Simms from Houston for his final year of eligibility being the first), Shell will likely find a very crowded backfield next season (he will need to sit out a year per NCAA transfer rules) with Dustin Garrison, Andrew Buie, Dreamius Smith and others expected to already be competing for 2014 playing time.
After a record-breaking high school career that saw him become the all-time leading rusher in Pennsylvania state history (give his Wikipedia page a read, it's impressive) as well as one of the most highly sought-after recruits in the nation, Shell burst on to the scene in 2012 with a 23 carry, 157 yard performance to lead the University of Pittsburgh past Virginia Tech. He never matched that performance as most of the season saw him fill the backup role to Ray Graham, but his 641 yards on 141 carries with 4 touchdowns were second on the team and he would have been the Panther's top returning rusher.
I'm just happy for a reason to remind you that the last time WVU picked up a big transfer from Pitt, his name was A. B. Brown and in his senior season this happened.
And I'm even happier to have a reason to use this: