The West Virginia Mountaineers have an elite 2026 recruiting class joining the program this fall, but head coach Rich Rodriguez has also been hard at work building future recruiting classes as well. And one of the top prospects he's landed in the Class of 2027 is linebacker Rick Brown.
Brown is currently rated as just a three-star prospect despite the fact that the Mountaineers had to beat out many Power 4 programs to land his services. But he now is receiving the opportunity to prove he's an elite-caliber prospect, and he should be valued a bit higher, as he competes at one of the premier summer competitions for prep football players.
Rick Brown thrilled to represent West Virginia Mountaineers at The Opening
Brown recently competed during the finals of The Opening, a prestigious invitation-only summer competition that annually welcomes the best high school football prospects across the country.
During his time at the event, Brown as not only excited to make the most of the opportunity, but to be able to represent the Mountaineers as a commit of the program – hopefully showing some of the uncommitted prospects what they might have in a teammate if they choose West Virginia as well.
"I felt blessed being able to represent WVU on suh a big stage," Brown said.
NEW: #WVU linebacker commit Rick Brown got the chance to compete against some of the nation's best at The Opening and made the most of it.
— WVSports.com (@WVSportsDotCom) June 29, 2026
He also took pride in representing the Mountaineers on one of high school football's biggest stages.
Read 👉 https://t.co/w0ZxGU9MfN pic.twitter.com/YP4hxTKpNb
While Brown repreenting the Mountaineers on such a stage is good for the program and representative of the talent they have waiting in the wings, the coaches also will probably hope no other schools decide they want a closer look at Brown. After all, they won't want to have to put up a fight to keep him around come Signing Day.
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