Wayne Players On WVU’s Radar
Last season WVU was excited about the prospect of landing Wayne HS DT, Robert Landers. WVU was the first big name school to offer Landers a scholarship, which he accepted immediately. Just as quickly as he accepted the WVU offer, he dropped it and chose to go with Ohio State.
There have been other Wayne players that have had offers from WVU, but went elsewhere for a variety of reasons, and there has been a couple of Wayne players that did accept offers and attended WVU.
Wayne head coach Jay Minton (who was raised in WV) has had a few players who ended up in the NFL since he became HC at Wayne. Minton has taken the Warriors to State Play-off Games 3-times.
This season it appears Minton and his Wayne Warriors are heading to the playoffs for the 4th time and if they make it, it will be the first time they have done it in consecutive years.
WVU got in late trying to recruit Wayne’s 4-Star CB, Tobias Gilliam, for he had already committed to the University of Kentucky prior to their offer. He appears to remain firm in his commitment to Kentucky.
This year Wayne has a jr running back who has been on WVU’s radar for over a year. WVU Coach Dawson was at the Miamisburg vs Wayne game last season, and got to witness first hand football the savvy and talents of Wayne RB Matthew Wilcox Jr. From all accounts WVU Coach Bruce Tall has taken over some of the recruiting the in the Dayton, Ohio area.
Wilcox is starting to get some recognition in recent months . This year he has received offers from Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green and Toledo. On July 15 of this year, TristateFootball.com published an article “Wilcox is Wayne’s Closer” (http://vype.com/tristatefootball/2015/07/15/wilcox-is-waynes-closer/).
Stats:
- Height: 5’10”
- Weight: 185
- Age: Turned 17 on July 15
- GPA: 3.8
- Speed: Runs the 40 in 4.5 seconds
- Vertical Leap: 34 inches using jumping mat
- Bench Press: 315 lbs
- Squats: 600 lbs
Accolades:
- 1st Team All Central Division
- 1st Team All GWOC Conference
- 2nd Team All-TriState
- Honorable Mention AP SouthWest All-District Team
- Top 25 SouthWest Team (Dave Berk)
As a freshman, he was ranked 13th on The Top Underclassmen List for the Midwest Region on Rivals.com (Josh Helmholdt), and earned 2nd Team All Central Division GWOC.
As a sophomore, he led a very talented 2015 State Runner up Wayne Team in All Purpose yards 1,369 avg/game 91.3, with 18 Touchdowns and scoring 108 points as a WR, RB & a returner.
Video Highlights:
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3426221/matthew-wilcox-jr
https://m.youtube.com/watch?sns=em&v=TWPe6zW-mXg
Though Wilcox has no offers from major universities, it is apparent they are coming. I would suspect that after his junior season at Wayne offers will be coming in from teams such as WVU, Ohio State, Kentucky, and many other top college programs.
Other Wayne players on WVU’s Watch List:
- WR Sophomore L’Christian Smith 6’4” 215 lbs: http://www.scout.com/college/football/recruiting/story/1486838-l-christian-smith-continues-growth. The University of Kentucky is really looking at Smith, and he is expecting an offer from them soon.
- DE/TE Sophomore Alex ReigElsperger 6’4” 225 lbs: No highlights found. However, HC Jay Minton says this kid will really be good, and is someone to watch.
Note: Wayne High School is located in Huber Heights, OH a northern suburb of Dayton, OH. There biggest football rival is the Centerville Elks, which is where WVU DT Kyle Rose played, and where WVU commit LB Adam Hensley plays
