Contact: Dr. Donna M. Simon (304) 766-3363 dsimon@wvstateu.edu
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – New West Virginia State University (WVSU) head football coach Jon Anderson and his staff announced their first recruiting class today, with more than 30 students committing to play for the Yellow Jackets.
The announcement comes on the first day of the NCAA’s national letter of intent signing period for football.
The single largest block of new student athletes comes to Institute from within the state of West Virginia, however, WVSU’s recruiting class also features players from throughout a multi-state region, including Ohio, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Washington D.C.
“We had two goals when we started out recruiting this class,” said Anderson, who was named coach of the Yellow Jackets in December. “Number one, we wanted to focus on the state of West Virginia. We worked hard to introduce ourselves to the state high school coaches, and West Virginia ended up being the state where we got the most recruits from. ”
In all, 11 students who played their high school football in West Virginia have committed to continue their careers for the Yellow Jackets, and will begin play next season in the newly formed Mountain East Conference.
Another factor that was important to Anderson was to recruit players on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football.
“We wanted to build an overall team from this recruiting class,” said Anderson, who came to WVSU following a career as a defensive coordinator of one of the nation’s most successful NAIA and NCAA Division II football programs. “You will see every position represented with great high school student athletes. Our initial goal was 20 and to be able to introduce over 30 today is outstanding.”
Despite the fact that the new coaching staff arrived in December and January, they were determined to cover as much ground as possible to recruit in such a short amount of time.
“I believe that we accomplished everything we set out to do with this recruiting class and I am confident that these student athletes will have a bright future at WVSU,” said Anderson.
The 2013 West Virginia State University football signees are: