MORGANTOWN - Say what you will about the virtues of recruiters like Doc Holliday, Chris Beatty and the rest of West Virginia's new football coaching staff, not to mention the strength of having a closer like Bill Stewart (criticize his homespun manner all you like, but isn't that the guy you want talking to parents?).

But I can't help but believe that a pair of 20-something former roommates has more than a little something to do with the apparent success the Mountaineers are having on the football recruiting trail: Steve Slaton and Pat White.

(We pause briefly here to quantify "apparent success.'' I stand by my belief that both rating recruits and chronicling their erratic comings and goings is outrageously overdone and that neither you nor I nor the coaches doing the recruiting will know for a few years whether most of these guys can really play. Still, regardless of the measuring stick being used, this seems to be shaping up as the type of recruiting class with which the so-called experts living in their mothers' basements will be duly impressed.)

Anyway, back to Slaton and White. If West Virginia actually is recruiting a stud-filled class this winter, the coaches doing the recruiting deserve most of the credit. But consider that you are a high school hotshot with designs on being either a college star or a future NFL draft pick. Regardless of the pitch thrown by a recruiter, you want to go to a place that has had success in breeding both. And as these coaches are out on the road recruiting now, boy, do they have perfect examples.

That's not to say they couldn't toss out some examples before. But really, how many high-profile players - on a national stage, mind you - has West Virginia had recently? When a coach made a pitch to a top-flight quarterback or running back, who did he cite as examples of Mountaineer success stories? Marc Bulger is the only WVU quarterback who has gotten a sniff of NFL success during the lifetimes of current recruits and he played here almost 10 years and two coaching staffs ago. And while the school has had terrific success in churning out 1,000-yard rushers (at least one every year but one since 1996), none of them became household names much beyond our borders.

Ditto linemen and linebackers and the rest. Sure, Dan Mozes and Grant Wiley were consensus All-Americas, but neither was even drafted. I'm thinking no one is really using Pacman Jones or Chris Henry as examples of success stories, either. Arguably the most successful pro produced by WVU in the past eight years, aside from Bulger, is Anthony Becht. And that certainly has brought a flood of tight ends to Morgantown, hasn't it?

But now when these coaches go on the road, all they have to do is mention all the publicity White received to a quarterback or Slaton's rather phenomenal NFL rookie success to a running back. And if you're successful in getting a few of those, the wide receivers like Logan Heastie and Deon Long see that and follow. The Mountaineers are hoping that trickles down to a few high-profile offensive linemen, too.

So far, the results seem rather phenomenal. Tavon Austin, the running back from Maryland with the megastatistical profile, mentioned the success of Slaton to the Baltimore Sun as a reason for committing to West Virginia. One has to believe that Eugene Smith, the four-star quarterback in the class, has watched White a time or two, especially this season when Jeff Mullen and the rest of the coaching staff turned him into a legitimate NFL prospect as a passer.

Now the Mountaineers even seem to be getting a cornerback or two to fill their most pressing immediate need on defense. Cornerback Michael Carter committed on national television last weekend. (Hopefully his career is more productive than the last recruit to don a WVU hat on the tube, some guy named Jason Gwaltney, who did it on an ESPN network signing day show.) Late Tuesday, West Virginia also apparently got a commitment from another cornerback, Brodrick Jenkins of Fort Myers, Fla. (over Pitt, South Florida, Wisconsin and others).

The bottom line, of course, is that success breeds success. And the recent success of White and Slaton is the best recruiting tool West Virginia has.

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.

But I can't help but believe that a pair of 20-something former roommates has more than a little something to do with the apparent success the Mountaineers are having on the football recruiting trail: Steve Slaton and Pat White.

(We pause briefly here to quantify "apparent success.'' I stand by my belief that both rating recruits and chronicling their erratic comings and goings is outrageously overdone and that neither you nor I nor the coaches doing the recruiting will know for a few years whether most of these guys can really play. Still, regardless of the measuring stick being used, this seems to be shaping up as the type of recruiting class with which the so-called experts living in their mothers' basements will be duly impressed.)

Anyway, back to Slaton and White. If West Virginia actually is recruiting a stud-filled class this winter, the coaches doing the recruiting deserve most of the credit. But consider that you are a high school hotshot with designs on being either a college star or a future NFL draft pick. Regardless of the pitch thrown by a recruiter, you want to go to a place that has had success in breeding both. And as these coaches are out on the road recruiting now, boy, do they have perfect examples.

That's not to say they couldn't toss out some examples before. But really, how many high-profile players - on a national stage, mind you - has West Virginia had recently? When a coach made a pitch to a top-flight quarterback or running back, who did he cite as examples of Mountaineer success stories? Marc Bulger is the only WVU quarterback who has gotten a sniff of NFL success during the lifetimes of current recruits and he played here almost 10 years and two coaching staffs ago. And while the school has had terrific success in churning out 1,000-yard rushers (at least one every year but one since 1996), none of them became household names much beyond our borders.

Ditto linemen and linebackers and the rest. Sure, Dan Mozes and Grant Wiley were consensus All-Americas, but neither was even drafted. I'm thinking no one is really using Pacman Jones or Chris Henry as examples of success stories, either. Arguably the most successful pro produced by WVU in the past eight years, aside from Bulger, is Anthony Becht. And that certainly has brought a flood of tight ends to Morgantown, hasn't it?

But now when these coaches go on the road, all they have to do is mention all the publicity White received to a quarterback or Slaton's rather phenomenal NFL rookie success to a running back. And if you're successful in getting a few of those, the wide receivers like Logan Heastie and Deon Long see that and follow. The Mountaineers are hoping that trickles down to a few high-profile offensive linemen, too.

So far, the results seem rather phenomenal. Tavon Austin, the running back from Maryland with the megastatistical profile, mentioned the success of Slaton to the Baltimore Sun as a reason for committing to West Virginia. One has to believe that Eugene Smith, the four-star quarterback in the class, has watched White a time or two, especially this season when Jeff Mullen and the rest of the coaching staff turned him into a legitimate NFL prospect as a passer.

Now the Mountaineers even seem to be getting a cornerback or two to fill their most pressing immediate need on defense. Cornerback Michael Carter committed on national television last weekend. (Hopefully his career is more productive than the last recruit to don a WVU hat on the tube, some guy named Jason Gwaltney, who did it on an ESPN network signing day show.) Late Tuesday, West Virginia also apparently got a commitment from another cornerback, Brodrick Jenkins of Fort Myers, Fla. (over Pitt, South Florida, Wisconsin and others).

The bottom line, of course, is that success breeds success. And the recent success of White and Slaton is the best recruiting tool West Virginia has.

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.