The WVU football team received verbal commitments from a pair of D.C. athletes Thursday for the 2011 recruiting class. Twin brother Vance and Vernard Roberts both made the decision to join the Mountaineers after word got out earlier this week that their announcement would come today.
“I committed to West Virginia around 2:30[p.m.] after class,” Vernard Roberts told wvillustrated.com. The reason I picked West Virginia is because I felt like it was a home away from home. It’s a down-to-earth school and they’ve been loyal to me and my brother since day one. My brother was facing a lot of adversity and we had a lot of weight on our backs and West Virginia University stayed loyal to us. I just think it’s the perfect school. I want to have the chance to get an education and to play at the next level and West Virginia seemed like the perfect school.”
Craig Jeffries, their head coach at D.C.’s Dunbar High School, agrees that they both made the right choice in putting West Virginia ahead of other interested schools.
“I really want kids to make their own decision and I try to find a place that they’ll fit best. I’m excited for them because I think it’s a really good fit,” he says. “They like the facilities, of course. They like the schemes that Coach [Chris] Beatty and Coach [Dave] Lockwood have and the way they’d be used in it, they really liked that. They are prototype West Virginia guys in each individual position – fast, smart kids who like to play. They’re just a great fit in terms of their skills matching with what West Virginia does.”
Jeffries says the first he heard about their commitment was when he sent them each text messages after receiving a flood of media calls asking for confirmation they had chosen WVU. The first to respond was Vance, followed shortly by a text from Vernard, each one confirming their commitment to the Mountaineers.
It’s no surprise that both Vernard – a 5-foot-10 running back – and Vance – a 5-foot-10 corner – picked WVU on the same day, because they had always planned on attending the same school. Once one made up his mind, the other followed.
“That was always a must for me and my brother. Since we were little, we’ve been doing everything together. We’ve been playing football together, even brushing our hair together when both of us had hair. When you see me, you see my brother, so why not experience college together. It’s a big step, and I plan on doing it with my brother.”
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Vance Roberts
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Coach Jeffries says each brother brings a lot to his team at Dunbar, and it all starts with their ability to lead the troops into battle on the field.
“Their leadership, mostly, but they’re also gym rats, they love to work out, they love to play and compete. Just having them around – both of them are captains, both of them hate to lose – and when you have guy like that on your team, that trickles down throughout the whole squad.”
Now that the decision has been made to attend West Virginia, the questions will undoubtedly arise as to how solid their commitment is. Far too often in college recruiting we see a prospect commit only to change their mind shortly after. Roberts says he and his brother will not be going down that path. They have made their decision, and they plan to stick to it.
“We have no intentions of changing our minds. West Virginia is pretty much a sealed deal, that’s the reason I committed. West Virginia is a sealed deal for Vance and Vernard Roberts.”
It’s so much of a sealed deal, in fact, that the two are already preparing to get on campus and get working as soon as they can. They are currently taking their final English classes in summer school to put themselves in position to graduate early and enroll at WVU in January.
“It’s definitely important for us to graduate early, so we can get a headstart on the other incoming freshmen,” says Roberts. “Me and my brother are trying to play early. We want to come and contribute positively to the team early, so what better way to do it than to graduate early and get an early start?”
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