MORGANTOWN - The way Cole Bowers figures it, he won't get much of a hard time from his friends in the Huntington area when they find out he's decided to play football at West Virginia and not at Marshall.

His teachers? Well, now that's a different animal.

"It won't be too bad [with his friends] because a lot of them are Mountaineer fans anyway,'' Bowers said Tuesday night. "Some of the teachers, though, I don't know about them. I think most of them probably graduated from Marshall. They might give me some grief.''

Bowers will certainly get no grief from West Virginia's coaches, who on Tuesday locked down the state's No. 1 college football prospect when the 6-foot-5, 280-pound offensive lineman from Cabell Midland committed to the Mountaineers.

For Bowers, who also had early offers from Marshall and Virginia, the decision was an easy one. He said he was "ecstatic" when West Virginia offered a scholarship in early March and pretty much waited as long as he could manage before accepting.

"I didn't want to completely just jump into it right off the bat,'' Bowers said. "I needed to at least take a little bit of time and think about it and make sure it was the right decision. And it was.''

Bowers also needed time to check into the academic end of things and research West Virginia's programs in what he said are his three most likely majors - criminal justice, engineering and business. He holds a 3.7 grade point average at Cabell Midland and already has a qualifying test score.

More than anything else, though, Bowers was attracted to West Virginia by both the school's recent tradition and the new coaching staff.

"It's just a perfect fit all the way around, including the fact that the football program has three straight Top 10 finishes [in the national polls] and the recruits they're bringing in are just great,'' Bowers said. "And the coaches I talked to were phenomenal.''

Bowers, who was the state shot put champion last year as a sophomore and has junior highlight tape posted on YouTube.com, was recruited mainly by recruiting coordinator Doc Holliday and head coach Bill Stewart. He also met with new offensive line coach Dave Johnson when he attended last Saturday's Gold-Blue spring game.

"[Holliday] was just my kind of guy. I don't know how to explain it,'' Bowers said. "Coach Johnson is a really good man and my parents really liked him. And coach Stewart, he's a character. He's awesome. That man is fired up about Mountaineer football 24/7.''

Bowers knows that by committing early he probably is eliminating offers from more schools. He said Purdue, Tennessee and Duke all have sent out feelers, but had yet to offer scholarships. While saying he didn't hate the recruiting process, he doesn't particularly care for some aspects of it and is glad to perhaps end some of that.

"Some days it was nice to know that you were wanted,'' Bowers said. "But then you have other days when you start hearing all this false information and it just bothers you.''

Bowers' commitment brings to seven the number of players pledged to West Virginia for the Class of 2009. The others are quarterback Tajh Boyd and defensive end Dominik Davenport of Hampton, Va.; wide receiver Logan Heastie of Chesapeake, Va.; fullback Chris Snook of Medina, Ohio; wide receiver Deon Long of Washington, D.C.; and linebacker Branko Busick of Steubenville, Ohio.

None can officially sign a binding letter of intent until February of 2009.

To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.