Signing Day 2012

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The signing day summary comes from our own WV Law Geek (site’s Legal Correspondent.) He has his own site, WVLAWGEEK’S West Virginia Sports. Highly recommend reading it, along with our own, of course.

Without further ado…

Imarjaye Albury DT 6-1/280 (Early Admit) Coach Holgorsen says: “Imarjaye Albury is a defensive tackle. He is a big, strong guy, who played at Northwestern High School down in Miami. He was a force for them for a couple of years, and we are excited to have him on campus.”

Christian Brown DT 6-2/280 Coach Holgorsen says: “Christian Brown is a defensive tackle out of New Jersey. He only played one year up in New Jersey. He is a big body. He is a strong kid. He played down in Florida for the majority of his career and then came up into Jersey as a move-in with his father and was able to play pretty good in about seven games. You can’t have enough big bodies on the defensive line. We are all aware of that. Probably one of the needs that we have heading into next year is to get some young guys who are able to play right away when it comes to defensive line.”

Roshard Burney RB 5-10/205 Coach Holgorsen says: “This kid rushed for 2,000 yards in high school. That doesn’t happen very often. He is a big, strong, powerful guy, who probably weighs 205-pounds already, and he is going to get bigger. He runs on his toes, the kid smiles a bunch and was all-state down in Florida. He is a guy that when you watch his tape, he is going to run you over, but then he is also going to bounce off of you and out-run people. He has got a really good combination of strength and size and can run around pretty fast as well.”

Ford Childress QB 6-4/210 (Early Admit) Coach Holgorsen says: “We have Ford Childress, who played at Kinkaid school. He is a big, tall guy, who has been in a passing offense for the last three years and understands what we do offensively. We beat a lot of people out all the way from the west coast to the east coast. We are excited to have him up here.”

Torry Clayton RB 5-10/190 Coach Holgorsen says: “We were able to get a second running back out of south Florida, Torry Clayton. He is more like Roshard, then he is like Buie and Garrison. Buie and Garrison are guys that are shifty guys that can get in spaces and make you miss and start and stop on a dime. Torry is a little bit more of a slasher. He has some power to him. He is not a small guy. He is going to be able to give us some strength in the backfield. As we saw last year, we started camp with five backs, and we were down to two in the bowl game. That is a position that through wear and tear with those guys that you need to play a lot of bodies. We also played two or three bigger backs who are able to get in there and do blocking. With as much as we are in two back and three back sets, the more of those running backs we can have back there, the better. The more of those guys that can carry the ball, the better. So we are looking at a couple of backs that we got from down there that we are pretty excited about who can do a whole bunch of different things.”

Travares Copeland ATH 5-11/175 Coach Holgorsen says: “Travares Copeland, out of Port St. Lucie, probably has as good of feet as anybody on the roster that we have right now. The kid played quarterback for them. There is a whole bunch of different positions that he can play. He is probably more along the lines of a slot receiver. We can do a lot of different stuff with to get him the ball. He runs well and was a kid that again can play a whole bunch of different positions and those are the type of kids that we want to get. Guys that can play a whole lot of positions. He wants to play receiver so we will stick him in there and try to get him the ball as much as we can.”

Kimlon Dillon DB 6-2/180 Coach Holgorsen says: “KJ is a great kid. He is a good looking 6-foot-2, 195-pound guy that will smack you. He played both ways for Apopka, which is a really good program in Orlando, that has won a whole bunch of games. He is another guy that is long and lean and can run around and that will also strike you. And as you guys see, some of these highlights we put together for some of these guys, the one thing on that whole tape that stood out to me was when you put him on there, guys running a route across the middle catching the ball, the guy is knocking the heck out of them. KJ is able to cover a lot of ground. He is a physical kid, who is going to get bigger. He is going to get stronger, and he is going to be a guy who could come in and be able to play.”

Mark Glowinski OL 6-5/290 Coach Holgorsen says: “Mark Glowinski is the only junior college kid that we signed this year out of Lackawanna. He is an eastern Pennsylvania kid. He is a guy that gained on average 50 pounds over the last couple of years. Coming out of high school, he wasn’t very developed. He was tall and rangy. He went to Lackawanna and gained about 100 pounds, and you watch him come off the ball, he is a physical kid. He’s every bit a 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, 300 pounds. He has got great feet, but he plays with an attitude. He has two years of college experience already under his belt, where he can come in and will have a chance to compete for the starting left tackle spot come next year. It was important to us to get one junior college offensive lineman. When you look at what we have coming back from an offensive line standpoint, we basically have four starters coming back, and then we are able to plug a guy like him in there to be the fifth starter or some guys that we will have in the spring to be the fifth starter. It will give us some depth, and it will be fun to watch that unfold.”

Jarrod Harper DB 6-1/200 Coach Holgorsen says: “Jarrod Harper is a safety from right down the road in Frostburg, Maryland. He was our first commit of the class and was our most solid commit of the class. There is nobody on our list that wants to be a Mountaineer more than Jarrod. He probably came to every home game. He played a lot of running back for Frostburg, and they won a bunch games. He has played a lot of football. He just wants to play on the defensive side of the ball, so we will play him at safety. He was one of the most solid kids that we had. He is just a pleasure to be around. He has a big old flying WV on the side of his head here for the last couple of days and will keep it here. Can’t wait to get him here. He would walk here if he could get into school and be down there in the weight room right now.”

Korey Harris DE 6-4/230 Coach Holgorsen says: “Korey Harris is a defensive end. He is a good-looking kid. He is 6-foot-4, 230 out of Jacksonville, Fla. He is a guy who will develop into a big boy. He is 6-foot-4, 230-pounds right now, but can come off the ball and get after the quarterback. Headed into the conference that we are heading into, it is going to be crucial that we have guys that can rush the passer, as we all understand that, and this is a guy that regardless of how big he is, you can see his tenacity when he comes off the ball and his desire to get to the quarterback.”

Garrett Hope LB 6-3/220 Coach Holgorsen says: “Garrett Hope, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound out of The Woodlands, Texas. Another program in that state of Texas in Houston that has won a tremendous amount of games. You talk about Pearland High School, Katy High School and The Woodlands High School, those three teams win as many games in the state of Texas as anybody else does. He is a guy who transferred in a couple of years ago out of Tulsa out of Jenks, which also is a program that won just a ton of games and so his background from what he has been used to is good. He came in and played at outside linebacker. He is a guy who can drop into the gap, but he is also a guy who can rush the passer and is a big physical guy, that to the point, where he is good against the run as well.”

Will Johnson TE 6-7/245 Coach Holgorsen says: “Will Johnson is a tight end out of Minnesota. He came on a visit in December and watched us practice and how we used Tyler Urban a lot as far as a bigger body, who can put his hand on the ground, and can come off and zone block. He can also run down field and catch the ball. Watching him run up and down the basketball court there at his high school in Minnesota, you can tell and based on what we saw on tape, he is a guy who we are not interested in just sticking his hand in the ground and watching him block. He is a guy who will be able to run a whole bunch of routes and be able to catch the ball down field certainly as much as Tyler did and probably even more than that. Physically, he is ready to do that right now.”

Karl Joseph DB 5-11/190 (Early Admit) Coach Holgorsen says: “[Karl] has been doing an unbelievable job in the weight room. It is not going to take him a long to adjust physically. He is 5-foot-9, 190-pounds and has got muscles sticking out everywhere. You can see on film that he will be able to come up and hit you and should adjust.”

Darreal Joyner WR 5-11/180 Coach Holgorsen says: “Dee Joyner is a receiver out of Miami Central. He moved in from Georgia and only played one year there in south Florida. Based on his junior tape in Georgia, we loved how he came in out of his cuts. He isn’t the biggest dude, but he is a playmaker. He can run down field and catch the ball. He is a really good return guy. Going into Miami Central where they have got just tons of talent, he was able to adjust quickly and be one of their most productive guys on the field. He helped them to a 13-1 record and made a lot of plays on a team that had a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays. He adjusted quickly.”

Eric Kinsey DE 6-3/250 Coach Holgorsen did’t comment on Eric as his paperwork didn’t arive until after the press conference.

Nana Kyeremeh DB 5-11/170 Coach Holgorsen says: “Nana Kyeremeh might be the fastest guy in this class. He comes from Worthington, Ohio, where the guy did everything. You talk about a guy that can be a cornerback. He is a 6-foot, 6-foot-1 guy who can play cornerback, that can play safety and does an unbelievable job of rushing kicks and blocking kicks. He has probably blocked four or five of them this year. He can play a lot of different things. He is very, very smart kid. I don’t know what we are going to do with him yet. He can be a cornerback, he could be a safety, and he is going to keep continuing to grow. You watch him make plays as far as coming off the edge blocking kicks. He has got a burst and then you also see him pick a ball and take it back for a touchdown. There is not anybody who can catch him”

Sam Lebbie LB 6-2/240 Coach Holgorsen says: “Sam Lebbie is a linebacker out of DeMatha over in Washington, D.C. He is a good sized kid, who was a three-year starter for DeMatha. He had 16,000 tackles over the course of his career. He has played a lot of ball, is a physical kid and obviously is not going to get any smaller. I look forward to seeing how he develops over the years.”

Devonte Mathis WR 6-2/205 Coach Holgorsen says: “Devonte Mathis is another guy from Miramar, who was a very instrumental kid when it came to being on a team that won 13 games and was 13-1 and played safety for them, inside receiver for them, played wideout for them, played quarterback for them and did a whole bunch of things. When you talk about getting as many guys as you can with that type of a body type who can play that many different positions, you got a guy that is going to be extremely productive.”

Tony Matteo OL 6-5/280 Coach Holgorsen says: “Tony Matteo is out of Manchester High School in Ohio. Tony is another one of these guys who came over to about five different camps and came over to about five different games. He was solid from the very beginning and is a very smart kid who can play center, can play guard and is athletic enough to play tackle. He is going to play in the all-star games over in Ohio. He is a big, tough, country kid who will come over and work hard and be able to take the abuse that he gets from coach Bedenbaugh.”

Deontay McManus WR 6-2/215 Coach Holgorsen says: “We are excited about Deontay. He was one of our early commits and is one of the most highly rated guys that we have. He is very productive guy, and he was a very highly recruited guy. He committed in the summer and was solid since day one. We are fired up about getting him over here as soon as we can to teach him what to do and get him out there. Physically, I can tell you right now that he is ready to play at the next level. We have got to get him here and teach him what to do, and we have got to get his skills right to the point to where he can get out there and compete at this level. We are excited about Deontay, and we can’t wait to get him here.”

Brandon Napoleon ATH 6-0/175 Coach Holgorsen says: “Brandon Napoleon is from St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey. He comes from a great family. His dad is Eugene Napoleon, who was a great player here back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is a wonderful guy. Brandon is a great player. He played quarterback for them, and they won a whole bunch of games like they have for years over in Jersey. He is a guy who can do a whole lot of different things. He can play on either side of the ball. We have kind of settled right now to start him playing at cornerback. He has enough athletic ability to be able to play cornerback and has played a whole bunch of football.”

Noble Nwachukwu DE 6-2/240 Coach Holgorsen says: “Noble Nwachukwu is a guy out of Dallas, Texas. He has only played for a few years. He is an outside linebacker type of guy who you see coming off the ball with some pop and can rush the passer. He is a guy who has played at Wylle. That is a high school that they have won a whole bunch of games and played very good competition to the point he is going to be used to the competition. It is just about being able to come in and be able to adjust to the speed of the game. He does do a great job of coming off the ball and rushing the passer.”

Tyler Orlosky OL 6-4/290 Coach Holgorsen says: “The other guy that coach Bedenbaugh spent a whole bunch of time recruiting is Tyler Orlosky, another big, strong guy. Bill likes football quite a bit. We are talking about coach Bedenbaugh. He likes football, and he likes to go home and eat dinner and bounce his little kid on his knee. Tyler Orlosky and Tony are the same two types of kids where they like to play football and lift weights and go home and sleep and wake up and do the same thing over and over again. Tyler played at St. Edward High School over in Cleveland. He is a great kid. His work ethic is unbelievable and is a big, strong, powerful guy who the more of those guys that you can have up front, the better.”

Adam Pankey OL 6-5/290 Coach Holgorsen says: “Adam Pankey is the fourth offensive lineman. We wanted to get four, and we got four. We are pretty excited about the four guys that we got. He is an enormous dude. He is 6-foot-5, 290 and runs up and down the basketball court, throwing elbows, getting rebounds and changing directions. He is a guy that was pretty highly recruited that we got in on late and was able to seal the deal here in the last few days. He is really a good kid. He comes from a fun family, is a fun kid to be around, and he has got some younger siblings that might even be bigger than him it looks like to me. So we are excited about the offensive line class that we put together, and he was the one that rounded that out.”

Devonte Robinson WR 6-2/175 Coach Holgorsen says: “Devonte Robinson is taller than 6-foot-1. It says 6-foot-1 from Delray Beach and Village Academy. He had a great senior season and probably went from 6-foot-1 to closer to 6-foot-2, possibly 6-foot-3 over the course of his senior year. He had a great year. Almost 1,000 yards receiving. He is a wideout. You talk about the different types of receivers that we have. Bigger guys, shiftier guys, taller, leaner guys. The taller, leaner guys are the ones that we stick out wide, and he fits the mold as a pure wideout who is able to get down field at the speed but also be able to catch the ball over the shoulder.”

Jordan Thompson WR 5-9/163 (Early Admit) Coach Holgorsen says: “[Jordan] is a slot (receiver). He comes from Katy High School, which has won about 95 percent of their games over the last decade or two, but comes from a very good program. He was the second leading receiver in the city of Houston. He is not a very big guy, but as we have found out last year with Dustin, you come in and get into a program, you are going to gain weight, and as long as you can play, you are going to be able to play. We look forward to him being able to go through the spring.

Sean Walters DB 6-2/195 (Early Admit) Coach Holgorsen says: “We have Sean Walters, who is a big, tall, lean safety. He is 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. He didn’t play his junior year. He came back from that and had a heck of a senior year. He is a rangy guy who can cover a lot of ground, play safety. He will probably gain some weight and be able to move down to an outside linebacker at some point as well.”
Welcome home to this class of young men who are charged with carrying on the legacy of WVU football.

Welcome to WVU, fellas, and LET’S GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!