True, senior Will Clarke would never play a game with Rushel Shell, and that even presumes Shell visits and transfers to WVU.

Yet the fifth-year defensive end from Pittsburgh says he’d encourage the former Pitt and Hopewell star Shell to strongly consider the Mountaineers and would then welcome another running back transfer to the team.

What would seem to be good for Shell would be good for WVU and that’s good news to Clarke.

“I would say, definitely, if he chose to come to West Virginia — being that it’s a college town opposed to a city atmosphere — a lot of the time he’ll be going out with us, the team,” said Clarke. “It’ll be a good opportunity for him to bond with his teammates because we do a lot of team things outside the stadium.”

If Shell decides to attend West Virginia, he wouldn’t be eligible until 2014. A year from now, WVU’s top three running backs — Andrew Buie, Dustin Garrison and junior college transfer Dreamius Smith — would be seniors.

WVU recently added running back Charles Sims, a transfer from Houston who immediately will be eligible for his senior year.

“I would just tell him there’s an opportunity for him to come here and work hard, play hard and play smart,” Clarke said of Shell. “I would tell him the expectations we have; he just has to represent Pittsburgh well. We have a lot of talented guys already, but the more help, the better.”