He is the state’s top-rated prep prospect in the 2017 class, but Derrek Pitts also staged a commitment announcement at a popular Charleston restaurant Wednesday and picked Penn State. 

But the rising senior made no apologies to WVU fans, some of whom were at the restaurant on Wednesday.

“I love West Virginia,” Pitts said. “But as of right now, I’m doing what’s best for me and my family. If some people can’t understand that, then they don’t want the best for me. That’s what me and my family understood at the end of this process.

“I do what’s best for me and my family and if you don’t understand that, you didn’t like me from the beginning. If you don’t understand that, you will never understand me.”

Stones. I like his future.

But do we need to talk about this? I think we need to talk about this.

There are now six Mountain State players in the 2017 recruiting class who have committed to FBS schools, and that is many long strides away from normal. Five of them are going to school outside the state’s borders. The exception is Morgantown High’s Maverick Wolfley, who is Stone’s younger brother.

The top uncommitted player is Billy Ross, a skilled and sizable offensive lineman from Huntington. He’s announcing his decision at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and by all indications, he’s going out of state, too, with North Carolina seeming like a favorite ahead of Florida State, Tennessee and Marshall. WVU didn’t make his top seven last month. This, for whatever reason, isn’t unusual this year. The Mountaineers weren’t runner-up in all of these decisions. And neither was Marshall.

So, quite likely, the home base of WVU and Marshall will produce seven Power 5 recruits this season — with full senior seasons still to come, meaning that number could still grow — and that is extraordinary and almost illogical as the state’s population continues to dwindle. One of the seven will stay home. One. That’s not a great look for either school.

But, near as I can tell, the Mountaineers are doing all right with recruiting. They’re getting players they’re targeting, and some of them have had big summers. Do they get everyone they want? No, and if you think I’m here to say the staff can’t do any better, you can move along.

But at the same time, I don’t want to hear about where the class is ranked today. It’s early. WVU doesn’t subscribe to rankings or star ratings. The Mountaineers generally finish in the neighborhood of the top 35 — and usually without many or even any in-state kids — and maybe that’s not the best they can do, but realistically it’s difficult to consistently do better.

The coaches target and evaluate kids and decide whether they’ll chase or stay away. Safety was a priority, and Pitts would have been a flashy four-star addition, but it’s still early and targets remain uncommitted. Are they as good as Pitts? Well, it’s early there, too, but in some regard it’s safe to say if they were, WVU would have targeted them before Pitts.

So, to the point, why is this happening? How much of it is Dana Holgorsen’s status? Marshall’s conference affiliation? Geography? Travel? The impossible-to-ignore state variables people seek to escape? There are a lot of explanations and a lot of reasons to describe what’s going on and even whether one school or another should be all that upset. Have at it.