Will Steve Slaton be back?

Rivals.com has him projected as a late first rounder to the Seahawks. That's a pretty significant drop from the top 10 he was projected as during the season and is a huge difference in money.

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Well Aaron pardon my ignorance but what are his options (and restrictions)?

How far can he go to "test the waters" without cutting the limb off behind him?

He can announce and if he doesn't hire an agent, a committee made up of scouts, agents and other NFL types estimate where he'll be drafted. From there it's fairly easy to estimate the money he'd get from previous years. He then has X number of days to withdrawal his name from the draft, which is before the actual draft. If he does that and takes NO money from anything he can return to college and retain his eligibility.

Well he runs the risk of being overshadowed if he comes back don't you think?

shermangeneral wrote:Well he runs the risk of being overshadowed if he comes back don't you think?

Possibly which I'm sure he'll take into consideration. The bottom line is, WVU will be a NCG contender next year whether he comes back or not and barring an injury I can't imagine him dropping lower then he is right now. I think in the end, with Pat coming back and the chance to win a championship while improving his stock will keep him in Morgantown. Of course, hiring a competant coaching staff will play a part in all of that. Time will tell.

Did you see the vingle column today on the hiring of stewart?

Yeah, I read it Sherm and I agree with it. It's not that I don't like Bill Steward because I do and it's not that I don't think he's a good coach because he clearly showed he is. First, I wonder how he will do recruiting wise. If he can't bring in recruits then Kendrick’s is right and the program will fall to an mediocrity. Considering where WVU is at, that's not acceptable.

A good comparison would be the University of Miami. Butch Davis bolted for the NFL in 2000 so the school hired an assistant to replace him. Larry Coker was successful with players Davis recruited, winning 25 straight games and a national championship and lost his second NC on a highly disputed call. But once he started relying on players he recruited, the program sank faster then a bag of rocks in the gulf. Will that same fate fall on WVU? Only time will tell.

The other concern is that as Vingle stated, WVU was a highly sought after job and the adminstration made an emotional hire. Who's to say what would have happened if they had taken a week to let the dust settle and see if there were any other interested candidates. Thing is, we'll never know.

I think one early indication of what the fate of the program will be can be seen in what Parkersburg's Josh Jenkins does. Jenkins, who played in the US Army All Star game yesterday, is likely the most highly recruited player to come out of WV since Randy Moss. He originally committed to WVU and RR early on. When RR left and no coach was hired within a couple of weeks, Jenkins pulled his commitment and is now considering OSU and Pitt among other schools. When he found out Stewart was hired he basically said Stewart would have to re-recruit him. As I said, time will tell.