- Comments - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports

January 8, 2009

Slaton, White give big boost to recruiting

Staff writer

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.)

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26 Comments

Posted By: jab30 (12:23am 01-09-2009)

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They did not go after Dobson because he was not a big target for them. Im sure they would have invited him to walk on. He only had offers from places like Hofstra. You know Marshall level scholarships. A good get for Marshall and he may end up being good, but the facts are Marshall did not have much competition for him

Posted By: WVGrown (4:15pm 01-08-2009)

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eer fan - well we have more than two, its just that we have 2 big time WR's coming in, and then theres the other kid coming in with Smith from FL. I just think that Dobson might be a little overrated at the WR postion. However I do think you could be right on with using him at LB or even DB.

Posted By: Carolina EER FAN (3:29pm 01-08-2009)

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jdude-I meant the Tongan will be NFL bound-not that he wasn't the real deal.But seriously, if USC really wanted him, they would have gotten him. We really need him and more. wvgrown-after seeing starks become the go to receiver in the bowl game-they need more than two recruits-I just wondered if it was Dobson's speed. They could have bulked him up and used him elsewhere-TE,LB.

Posted By: goldnblueblood (12:51am 01-08-2009)

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Sorry, made a an error in my post. They were great recruits in their own right *not mind.

Posted By: goldnblueblood (12:50am 01-08-2009)

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Beatty is a great recruiter. Jarrett Brown's ability to throw combined with a year of experience in the offense makes me believe that he will be very good. He's been labeled a better passer than Pat since he was a freshman. The O-line could definitely be a question mark but we're replacing 3 starters with guys who received a fair amount of playing this year and were great recruits in their own mind. Stanchek, Dent, and Capers for Jenkins, Gradkowski, and Barclay is pretty fair trade. Chemistry, i think, will be the greatest obstacle cause the likely replacements are good football players too. Jobe can play center as well.

Posted By: SonofAlum (12:34am 01-08-2009)

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As far as QBs are concerned, Mullen and WVU can attest that they did help improve Pat White's passing skills and reads as a pocket passer almost 100%. Pat White has even admitted that. Also, all the love and respect can't remove the fact that Beatty is getting a lot of our recruits. We need to keep Beatty around and help him be happy in Morgantown.

Bottom-line: We will never truly know how great these recruits really are in college until they start practicing and playing college ball. However, speed is speed and we are really loaded in that with the recruits we have committed so far. I think it's still going to be a transition year on offense next year since Pat White and a lot of the O-line is gone, but I believe WVU will be right up there competing for the Big East Championship. If not, at least 2010 should be something...

Let's GOOOOOOOOOO...Mountaineers!!

Posted By: goldnblueblood (12:24am 01-08-2009)

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Yes, I am serious. The point is that having successful players doesn't really help that much with recruiting or we would have been better at recruiting a LONG time ago. Saying that Slaton and White mean more to recruiting than the coaching staff is ridiculous. We had HOF NFL players decades ago and pretty successful NFL players in the 90's and it didn't help that much. I think you agreed with me but didn't understand my previous response. Hope that is more clear.

Posted By: FatherTime (11:58am 01-08-2009)

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goldnblueblood:

Are you serious? Kids these days don't have a clue who Sam Huff or Chuck Howley or Joe Stydahar are/were. They think Bruce Bosley sells hearing aids on an informericial. Of the 11 you mentioned, how many still play? Thornton's the only one isn't he?

The coaches who should be using Pat White and Steve Slaton to get recruits work in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This bunch of coaches had nothing to do with their success, Slaton's especially. What? Are they gonna tell a kid, "Come to WVU. The guy before me turned Steve Slaton into a great NFL running back. Maybe I can do that with you. Please."

Posted By: goldnblueblood (11:50am 01-08-2009)

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Oh, and White hasn't even got there yet

Posted By: fletcher (11:40am 01-08-2009)

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eer fan...
webstie is bluegoldnews.com under FB recruiting commits.

Posted By: goldnblueblood (11:34am 01-08-2009)

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Slaton and White's success are good for recruiting but if it only took a couple NFL players to recruit then we would have done better recruiting a long time ago. Has anyone ever heard of Sam Huff, Bruce Bosley, Chuck Howley, Joe Stydahar and more recently, Darryl Talley, Aaron Beasley, Mike Logan, John Browning, John Thornton, Jeff Hostetler, and Todd Sauerbrun? It's not as if Pat and Steve have been the only NFL successful players to play at WVU. The coaches are more responsible for recruiting than players ever will be and I think it's naive to think otherwise.

Posted By: jdude (11:11am 01-08-2009)

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Carolina EER FAN:

On paper the Tongan is that good. He had scholarhip offers from Auburn, Cal, Florida, Oklahoma USC, Tennessee, and others. He will also have two years to play.

If all those schools think he is worthy of a scholarship, he's probably pretty good. I know "thinking" he's good doesn't necessarily translate to on field success, but this guy seems to be the real deal.

Posted By: Way2Old (10:45am 01-08-2009)

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circ1ret, I hope you're correct, I really do. Coach Stewart is a likeable, jaunty kind of guy. Last year this time I applauded the decision to hire him as the HC. He deserved the chance. The transition (read: honeymoon) year is over. WVU Football dodged lots of bullets in 2008, not the least of which was dubiously competent coaching of high-quality talent. I'm optimistic but I'm going in with my eyes wide open. The 2009 WVU Football team is undefeated.

Posted By: WVGrown (10:42am 01-08-2009)

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WVU didn't go after Dobson because they already have 2 top recievers coming in, don't get me wrong Dobson is one heck of a player, but most of his catches this year came by just being taller then the High School DB's and out jumping them. I think WVU did him a favor by not taking pushing hard for him. He still gets to go to a D-1 program, and I think by his Jr. year playing in Coff. USA he could be a top WR. But not in the Big East (and yes I know the Big East isn't all the much higher up than Cof. USA). The State of WV has alot of up-in-coming, talent around the state, So the Next couple of years WVU and Marshall should rack up.

Posted By: Carolina EER FAN (10:28am 01-08-2009)

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Fletch-cool, can you give me the website- but we had to bring Liebig out of retirement, lose Slavonic this year too, but three signees isn't a gold-rush(Nice Pun Huh)& the somoan couldn't hardly get of JC&if he's that good,one yr only. I just know the kid from Col ran for 185, not to mention McCoy's 190-And the games we did lose, we couldn't get the O back on field enough- But how can you ignore the lack of a big back-and our short yd success. My point was this kid is a stud, All-state RB and an athlete, please read more about Woods(Beckly). Morty Ivy came as 190lb qb. Dobson too is a two sport all-state player. Might be wrong but sure would like to know what the EER staff didn't like.

Posted By: fletcher (10:20am 01-08-2009)

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Eerfan, I don't know much about recruiting websites, but one website has Dominic Davneport, a 4-star DT already committed and Tevita Finau, a 4-star DE from last year. There's also Curtis Feight, a 2-star DT. I'd say that's a good start, wouldn't you? Besides, I don't really know why that dictates our success. I think we're pretty good on the D-Line for the next few years.

And I'm all for WV kids. I really am. I wish we would keep more of them. But just b/c some kid can shoot some 3's against GW doesn't mean Stew should give him a scholarship for FB.

Posted By: fletcher (10:20am 01-08-2009)

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Posted By: circ1ret (10:00am 01-08-2009)

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First, "naysayer" is a perfect fit for a lot of the folks on this message board. Second, it is very convenient to predict all the doom and gloom and then say to those optimistics among us "I hope you're correct, I really do." Seems like all bases are covered. It might just be that our coach is a real down to earth guy in the best sense of the word. Recruits and parents like that in the person they are going to spend the next 4 years with. Coach Stewart will win. He is a true Mountaineer.

Posted By: fletcher (9:51am 01-08-2009)

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Posted By: Carolina EER FAN (9:37am 01-08-2009)

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WV also let MU sign all-state player Aaron Dobson of SC- this 6-3 kid also played safety on state champion team and is all-state in bb as well. EERS didn't even think of putting 25lbs on him and making him LB- he can flat out play.

Posted By: Carolina EER FAN (9:35am 01-08-2009)

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I believe D-linemen recruits will dictate how well the EERS fair. I haven't seen any committments from 2,3 or4 star linenen. As far as FB, Beckley had 2nd team All-state RB 6-3 kid who is also an outstanding BB player.He struggled with grades a year ago,but if he is athletic enough to put 25pts on GW including some 3's- Stew better give this kid a look. If he needs a year @prep so be it, but we all saw a need for a big FB & he's a WV kid.

Posted By: wvu1980 (9:10am 01-08-2009)

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Seems like an awfully long story just to say that Slaton and White's success has helped in recruiting.

And Stewart can recruit however the jury is still out on whether he can move us toward the types of successful years to where RichRod had done.

Posted By: Way2Old (9:03am 01-08-2009)

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tom15102, don't worry we "naysayers" (isn't that term outdated?) are still around, still supporting WVU Athletics (and that includes Football). Watching. Waiting. We learned from last year.

We learned that before the season's first game every team is undefeated and will have a National Championship year. Heck, last year this time even UMichigan thought they were going to be in this year's BCS chase. Hee, hee, hee...sorry, I had to laugh about that one.

I hope you're correct, I really do. Unfortunately, every year is a transition year for new, incoming freshman and transfer recruits as they learn a new "system" (whatever that means).

So, if things don't work out in 2009, you can say, again, that 2009 was a transition year. If things are more to everyone's liking you can say you were correct and beat down us "naysayers." Convenient.

Posted By: wvbeta1610 (8:57am 01-08-2009)

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I agree with Tom. We could have had easily a few more losses this year. I rememmeber many a year when we would have be thrilled with 9-4 or even 6-6 with a bowl game victory-not a shellacking like we saw in the late 80's and 90's. There have been times where I have been unhappy with Mullen's/Stew's play calling and clock management. I think what many have missed is that Mullen has been able to adjust in many games where we were behind/tied to push to victory or give us a shot at winning (Syracuse/Uconn/Auburn/Cincy/Pitt/USF/Colorado/Pitt/UNC). We came up short a few times, but working as 1st year coach he has been able to adjust where Calvin Magee was not when we lost with RichRod. (USF-twice, Pitt, Lville). I think Doc's recruiting is unmatched and that we will see a more wide-ranging playbook and better execution as we go forward-give it some time. It has already been said on ESPN that we will be "lucky" to finish 2nd or 3rd in the B-East next year.

Posted By: Sara (8:19am 01-08-2009)

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I hear ya Tom! 2009 is looking pretty darn good and I am excited, already, for the 09 season to get started. I think it was the Austin kid, or maybe Carter, that said when he visited Morgantown, he "felt right at home." All season long (even on the so-so days) you could tell that the players like each other and care about the other. This positive atmosphere starts at the top with Coach Stew. LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted By: tom15102 (8:08am 01-08-2009)

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Where are all the naysayers now that the recruits are starting to pour in? Amazing. I thought the sky was falling with this 9-4 season? I thought that the "train was derailed" and we were heading to certain disaster with Stewart at the helm and Mullen calling the plays.

Dave Hickman didn't see it that way and apparently neither do the recruits. Of course, it doesn't hurt having two fine young men (with excellent character mind you) such as White and Slaton to point to as success stories. I will point out that Hickman mentions that Mullen is attributed with the success of White's passing this year.

Again, where are all the naysayers? Certainly recruiting isn't an exact science and the proof is determined on the playing field. But I think the future looks pretty bright for Mountaineer football. Keep it up Coach Stewart!