We touched on this briefly before, but the recruiting process has a way of literally stretching the truth. No one is immune to these inaccuracies. In a way, no one is to blame, though if a school takes a provided height and/or weight to be true and makes some sort of decision based on that without checking it out first, it’s their own fault.

Anyhow, when signing day arrived in February WVU released bios on the 24 players that included height and weight. Four were accurate.

Many added an inch or several pounds. A few even managed to deprive the player. Only two were what you might call misleading. The Mountaineers have ways to bust such myths.

“It’s part of the recruiting process,” said Director of Recruiting Doc Holliday. “What you have to do as a coach is have certain people you can trust. You’ve got to pick up the phone and call someone you have faith in and say, ‘Hey, how tall is this guy? Is he this? Is he that?’ If there’s a guy we hear about in Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) there are five, six, 10 people I can call and find out pretty quickly how tall he is without going down to see him.”

Only fullback/tight end Chris Snook (6 feet 3, 220 pounds) and cornerback Broderick Jenkins (5-10, 175) were deemed to be upon evaluation as they were on signing day. Defensive lineman Dominik Davenport (6-1, 264) and running back Shawne Alston (6-0, 218) were just a few pounds off – and WVU became very familiar with the Phoebus (Va.) High players on the recruiting trail.