Basketball recruiting is working almost exclusively out of the portal this time of year, particularly in Morgantown.
West Virginia won't be adding any high school signees to its program this cycle and will instead lean on the experience of transfers Kerr Kriisa (Arizona), Jose Perez (Manhattan), Omar Silverio (Manhattan), Jesse Edwards (Syracuse), and potentially one or two more.
But this doesn't mean Bob Huggins and his staff will completely shy away from recruiting the high school ranks. In fact, they've done a good job of reaching out and establishing relationships with some of the top prospects in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes.
One of those recruits already has major interest in the Mountaineers and that's 2025 guard/wing Cam Ward of Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
"My thoughts were wow this is big because I seen them play in the tournament and they were getting to it and I was hyped," Ward explained his emotions when receiving the offer. "I think them making the tournament this year was a major step to show they can compete with the best and I also think they have a winning culture and a legendary coach.
One of the biggest reasons Huggins hired DerMarr Johnson was to have better success recruiting the DMV area and that's exactly who is in charge of Ward's recruitment.
"Coach Johnson is definitely a top recruiter. The relationship has been cool. He shows a lot of interest and has been talking with me for about a month now."
Bryant, Canisius, Georgetown, George Mason, George Washington, Illinois, and Virginia Tech have also got in early on offering Ward but four schools are sticking out at the moment, including two that have yet to offer - George Mason, Penn State, Arkansas, and West Virginia.
With it still being extremely early in the process, Ward doesn't anticipate on making a decision until next summer. The next step is setting up unofficial visits and then taking official visits during his final year of high school. And yes, West Virginia will get a visit.
This past season, Ward averaged 25.9 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists per game.
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