“I made my verbal commitment yesterday,” Smith exclaimed. “I told Coach Rod (Rich Rodriguez) that I wanted to be a Mountaineer and he hugged me and welcomed me to the family. We had our picture taken together and I was congratulated by the rest of the coaching staff. It was just a really exciting day.”

“The trip was a good one. We went down to watch the spring practices, but they turned out to be winter practices as it snowed off and on throughout the day. I was able to meet with some more of the academic advisors as well.”

Smith could have waiting on other programs that run similar offenses to West Virginia, but chose to end his recruiting early. What was it about the West Virginia program that impressed him so much?

“The academic support they give you there was very important to me because I’ve been told how hard it is adjusting as a freshman and playing a sport,” Smith explained. “I also love the atmosphere surrounding the university and especially the football program. The players are all like a family with the coaches and I am really excited to be a part of that now.”

The Mountaineers have also recently added commitments from Pittsburgh, Pa., athlete Jermaine Robinson and Riverview, Fla., running back Jaheel Addae.

Taylor Hill

“Michigan State offered me last Saturday,” Hill explained. “I have offers from Akron, Indiana, Miami of Ohio, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Syracuse and now Michigan State. My top three schools right now would be Oklahoma, Syracuse and Pitt of the ones that have offered.”

Pittsburgh recently offered him a scholarship after visiting there in March. He spoke about his interest in the Panthers program.

Shayne Hale ranks as the states No. 2 overall rated prospect, although he was not the only Pennsylvania native to be offered by the Tigers as they also offered Trinity linebacker Andrew Sweat this week as well.

Josh Jenkins

"Tennessee just offered me a scholarship," Jenkins said. "I'm excited about the offer and I hope to learn more about their program."