WVU Football Recruiting: What You May Have Missed

In case you haven't heard, West Virginia landed a major commitment from yet another Miramar boy, bringing the total number of players committed to WVU from Damon Cogdell's old stomping grounds up to a nice solid five.

Tyrek Cole, the newest member of the 2015 class, is also the highest ranked prospect overall, a 5'11.5", 170 lbs. four star CB with a 0.9564 composite ranking on 247Sports. You can check out his highlights here. Now this news does come with a slight damper to it, as shortly after Cole committed he was suspended indefinitely from his high school football team for a violation of team rules, which could potentially call his NCAA future into question depending on what's going on.There has been a lot of chatter in recent weeks hinting that his offer from FSU was no longer committable anyways due to grade and character issue concerns, though he denied this. It seems to have turned out to be the latter if anything, but that doesn't mean he can't wind up a great player for WVU. West Virginia is lucky to have a great coaching staff in place that can develop him, particularly Cogdell as Tyrek is already familiar and comfortable with him. Also it doesn't hurt that almost a quarter of his starting high school teammates will be joining him, hopefully they can help him stay out of trouble as well.

Cole's commitment pretty much seals things up for the defensive secondary; it's hard to imagine anyone but Jordan Whitehead receiving a full scholarship offer. The rest of the season's focus will hopefully been stacking a couple more bodies in along the lines and attempting to grab some of the more elite recruits still deciding; e.g, Tim Settle, Tim Irvin, Jordan Cronkite, etc. The class, if it holds together until signing day, could end up as the best ever to come to Morgantown during the era of recruiting rankings. A couple classes still jump out in terms of star power, but in terms of overall depth, skill, and, at this point, potential, the 2015 class could take the cake. A few more quality commitments and the deal will be sealed.

The next guy up is hopefully Jordan Whitehead, who will be announcing his decision next Friday. Even with the addition of Tyrek Cole, Jordan Whitehead is still someone the coaches are dying to have as he could be the top guy on the board overall and he will be a beast at whatever position he ends up at, whether it is corner or safety or running back. Still though the Mountaineers are in a tough fight to secure him, with OSU and PSU pushing hard.  Hopefully Dravon Henry and Rushel Shell have been in his ear enough to bring another WPIAL star to Morgantown, as Whitehead's commitment would really secure what many fans are hoping will become a new, and much closer, pipeline of talent to WVU.

Jordan Whitehead is really the only name on the horizon right now that the Mountaineers have a real shot in the coming days. Tim Settle enjoyed his visit, but his remarks didn't make it seem as if he was blown away and he has quite a few left that he plans to take, with one to Virginia Tech looming. It would have been impossible for him to not notice the early playing time he could get at WVU however, which could certainly be a selling point in the future. And if the Mountaineers have to worry about Samaje Perine for the next couple of years, then the more beef on defensive line the better. Tim Irvin and Jordan Cronkite are two high-level recruits that will be visiting Morgantown in the coming weeks. They will both be hard to pull from Florida, but with a good visit who knows, WVU could become a contender. They are both smaller athletes with elite quickness and would fit nicely into the current mold of WVU players. All in all thought, the biggest challenge of the class is now keeping the eighteen players verbally committed on board until February.

As the season wears on the momentum could shift, but there is a lot of excitement around the West Virginia football program right now and it's carrying over to the recruiting trail, so right now there is no reason to think that the 2015 class can't finish up as one of the best to head to Morgantown.