MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 22-player football recruiting class West Virginia announced today is really a product of what Neal Brown has learned over the course of the last five years here.

It’s a product of what he’s learned about West Virginia University, of course.

It’s a product of what he’s learned about Morgantown, West Virginia, and it’s a product of what he’s learned about the history of Mountaineer football.

“Our evaluation process is pretty simple,” Brown explained. “It starts with, athletically, can they play? Are they good and do they fit a need that we have? The second thing is, academically, can they do the work, and can they succeed?

“The third thing, and the hardest, is how are they from a character standpoint? That’s where the real digging takes place, and that’s where the success is if you judge on- and off-the-field character. Do they fit in that room?”

Brown thinks about his roster in terms of position rooms. Do they have all their rooms right? Do they have the right mix of players?

Sometimes that takes some time.

“From an offensive line standpoint, we were intentional to get to where we’re at,” Brown explained. “We had to be intentional with high school recruiting and being really specific with the transfers we added to there.

“We did the same thing from a defensive line standpoint. We really had very few transfers. That was all high school and then banking on the developmental process,” he said. “With our class, portal-wise and with this, we’ve got our linebacker room kind of where we want it, and it took some building there. The receiver room has been a two-year process to really kind of cleanse it and get it where we want it to be.”

He continued.

“Now we’re on defensive backs. We’ve got to get more quality depth and more quality players there. We’ve addressed it with high school players with five, and we’re in the process of doing that in the portal. We probably need to add one or two more as well,” he said.

“You’ve got to be intentional and think about it, and from my perspective, I’m thinking about it as rooms. We’ve got to get the rooms right.”

That’s basically been the philosophy the most successful coaches here at WVU have adopted in terms of recruiting, regardless of what outsiders think of it.

At West Virginia, it’s not about signing players to impress others, or how highly they are rated on someone’s list – a list oftentimes based off the players Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State or Texas are recruiting – it’s about signing guys who are going to fit what they want to do moving forward.

“Certainly, over the last year, I’m probably more comfortable knowing who is going to be successful in our program here,” Brown admitted. “And we’re not exactly for everybody, and even if that kid is not the highest-rated kid, I say no more than I probably used to. If I don’t have a good feel when they’re here, or when I go and see them in school or in their home, then we X those guys, where in the past, I would maybe take a chance and now I’m less likely to take a chance, unless we have a great room.”

During West Virginia’s peak years of success in the mid-2000s, when Rich Rodriguez had things humming along, he never once batted an eye whenever the subject of recruiting rankings came up.

That’s because he always trusted his own eyes first.

I can remember, with great amusement, listening to Rich Rod frequently talk about highly-rated recruits who “couldn’t play dead in a Western (movie).”

And when he signed guys like Pat White, as he did in 2004 when his recruiting class was rated 47^th-best nationally, or when he signed Steve Slaton the following year when that class was ranked No. 31, he knew what he had.

Bill Stewart was keenly aware of what he had in 2009 when he landed Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey in the same class, one that was only rated 27^th that year.

Now, this is not to imply that there is going to be another Pat White, Steve Slaton, Geno Smith, Tavon Austin or Stedman Bailey in this group, but who knows?

White and Slaton only had three stars next to their names, just like nearly all the players that were announced today. So, I wouldn’t get too caught up in that number 42 next to West Virginia’s name right now.

Listening to Neal Brown talk about them individually, or about the group collectively, you get a sense that this is the product of five years-worth of experience recruiting football players to West Virginia University.

This looks very similar to what the Mountaineers have done so successfully here in the past.

For starters, 15 of the 22 players signed hail from adjoining states, and another is within a six-hour radius of campus. Three players are from West Virginia, which means they understand what Mountaineer football is about to the people of the state.

“We are heavy in our local area,” Brown noted. “When we talk about our local area, it’s within a six-hour radius, and we signed 16 guys within our six-hour radius. I’ve got a much better feel for who we can get and what’s the right fit. You’ve got to recruit a big area here, and I think you can get spread too thin if you are not careful. I think it takes a little while to get the right people in the right areas.

“I’m not saying we’ve got it all figured out just yet because there are probably some areas that we need to continue to work on, but it’s been a learning process,” he added. “I think we had the right idea in the beginning, but I don’t know if our execution was the best, and I think we’re getting closer to where we need to be.”

There are guys in this class filling areas of need, for sure, but there are also guys complementing what has already been recruited here in the past.

That’s what comes to mind when I begin reading some of the names on this list.

Seven of them – defensive backs Israel Boyce and Zae Jennings, defensive linemen Nate Gabriel and Elijah Kinsler, outside linebacker Obinna Onwuka, tight end Jack Sammarco and quarterback Khalil Wilkins – will be on campus in January and will participate in spring practice.

Some of the others coming in later are potentially good enough to contribute right away, such as wide receiver Ric’Darious Farmer, defensive lineman MaKai Byerson or defensive back Christopher Henry, to a team that is coming off an eight-win regular season.

To me, that’s the sign of a football program building toward something even bigger.

And where will all these guys eventually take the program?

Stay tuned.