And Rasul Douglas is just that, a gift. Well at the very least he is certainly gifted. His size (6'3", 200 lbs) is rare for a CB, but he looks to have good speed as well. Personally I can't wait to see how he pans out, especially after how excited the staff was to land him. His mid-season film is pretty impressive, check it out here. Douglas doesn't seem to be afraid to lay the wood and plays pretty solid coverage as well. His early enrollment isn't set in stone yet but it would make him a serious candidate to win a starting spot, though I believe he will be in the rotation by the start of next season at the very least.
Larry Jefferson is another early enrollment candidate and that couple with a lack of proven depth at defensive line could turn into him seeing some playing time next fall. I think he will be more of a situational player than a starter, but both he and Pegues are great depth pieces. The three-man front really needs at least eight rotatable guys that can come in and play ball without too much drop off in skill. Finding at least six guys would be great, but the more players the better. WVU really got ground down by power rushing attacks this season, but it's hard for three guys to battle five bigger guys a whole game when they keep coming right at you. It would have been nice to have Robert Landers in the fold at the DT position as well. That being said, West Virginia is fortunate to have some younger guys developing right now that should be able to provide fresh legs. Dontae Angus also moved from O-line and he has lane-clogging NT written all over him, I would love to see him develop into a starter for us. And while WVU may have lost one Rob, so did Pitt at least. Rob Dowdy, OT, is back on the college search and hopefully WVU can attract some interest. The offensive line has a number of solid recruits already and would be fine without him, but he is talented enough that he would get a spot if he wanted it. He is a player I had hoped we would make more progress with back during the summer, but better late than never.
Unfortunately, Isaac Whitney, JUCO WR, ended up choosing the USC Trojans over the Mountaineers. That being said fans can't be too upset with the shape wide receiver recruiting is in right now. Not to mention there are still some major players out there still making decisions. Tim Irvin, while I think he would play safety, is still on the horizon and if he picks the Mountaineers on Jan. 3rd then JaJuan Seider is probably the culprit. Tim Irvin could be a perfect fit to take over for Karl Joseph and he would make the incoming secondary class absolutely ridiculous, though he could just as easily end up on offense. Jordan Cronkrite is definitely still in the picture, but I am not entirely certain if they are going to be a package deal any more. A couple big-time committed players could be visiting WVU in the coming month of January as well, though that may be more for the sake of taking a visit than anything else. Still you never know, which is why WVU still hosts these guys. At the end of the day though any incoming commitments are really just going to be icing on the cake.
WVU has recruited very well the past couple of years and real depth is starting to develop, which is why we can shrug off a Robert Landers de-commit with relative ease (though hopefully no one else flips). It definitely still stings but it is not as crushing as it could have been with a lot of young guys coming off of red shirts, whereas in the past we would have a bare cupboard at the position due to heavy attrition in the ranks. The staff has done a great job of creating a family environment that people want to remain in and be a part of, regardless of whether or not they are "the man" at their respective positions. It was a large part of the continued improvement in 2014, and if the squad can finish strong and go into the off-season with some momentum then most of the incoming class will sign and WVU could take the next step in 2015. There will be four solid classes with experience on campus and a promising incoming class on top of that. The depth and experience will be there on defense and if some of the skill positions on offense can reload then WVU could make a real run of it. But first things first, lets spank some Aggies. Happy holidays as well!