Four-Star Lathan Commits to WVU
Positive buzz continues to build around the West Virginia Mountaineers’ Class of 2022. After adding Christion Stokes and Kevin Thomas to an already-strong class, West Virginia landed linebacker Travious Lathan moments ago. Yet another four-star, Lathan commits to WVU, making him their sixth such commitment to the class (Jarel Williams recently received a four-star rating from ESPN).
Lathan Adds Significant Talent
Hailing from Miami, Lathan is a 6’2, 202-pound linebacker with room to grow. He holds 20 Power Five offers, including offers from LSU, Miami, Florida, and Penn State. Ultimately, Lathan committed to West Virginia based on his opportunities to play early and the family environmental Head Coach Neal Brown pitches so well to his recruits. Coach Travis Trickett’s influence also helps significantly, especially with his deep South Florida ties. Lathan is a Top 300 recruit by 247Sports (its internal rank for Lathan is 224, while his composite rank is 300).
Lathan continues the theme of the Class of 2022, especially on the defense. Brown has added a number of versatile defenders, including Jacolby Spells and Stokes. We can add Lathan to that group. He offers WVU a particularly long and rangy linebacker who can play at either the Mike or the Will. Indeed, Lathan’s skills could even translate to Spear safety, though he projects best at linebacker.
Lathan Adds More Excitement to the Class
Before Lathan’s commitment, several other commitments have been adding to the intensity and excitement surrounding WVU during this recruiting cycle. Cornerback commit Mumu Bin-Wahad tweeted “It’s all coming together” after Stokes committed. Running back commit Justin Williams added, “Y’all better wake up! WVU something serious!” Quarterback commit Nicco Marchiol has hyped each of the recruits in this class and continues to pitch to others. Excitement certainly continues to build. And there’s a good reason why.
Four-Star History at WVU
Some fans tend to scoff at the four-star potential offered by a high concentration of blue-chip talent. Sports Events Guide explained this earlier this Summer. While blue-chip potential does not guarantee success, having the team and individual success is far more difficult without it. We won’t rehash that here, but it is worth the five-minute read. That said, over 60% of enrolling four-star recruits gave significant production in Morgantown.
West Virginia has not typically concentrated a high number of blue-chip recruits in a single class or a series of classes. Lathan is the fourth, with at least two more expected (maybe three). And this does not include any rating bumps due to senior year film. We expect between one and three recruits to get such a bump this season. As a result, WVU could easily finish the class with between six to ten blue-chip recruits.
WVU’s average since 2003 has been three blue chips per class. Its most concentrated classes in the past have included five blue chips (this happened four times). Already, Brown has enrolled classes with four blue chips (2020) and five (2021). As four-star Lathan commits to WVU, make than the third successive class that exceeds the average.
