West Virginia has just one defensive line recruit who is verbally committed for its 2010 class, but the Mountaineers are still in the running for the services of touted defensive tackle Antonio Ford, of Pahokee High School, in Florida. EerSports.com caught up with Ford on Wednesday night, who explained WVU has made the cut for his final three potential college destinations, along with Oklahoma State and Wake Forest.
“They’re definitely in the top three,” Ford said of WVU. “They’re all sort of even at this point.”
Before Ford trimmed his list of around a dozen scholarship offers, he was being sought by the likes of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Florida, Louisville, Minnesota, Purdue, Colorado State and FIU.
Continuing about WVU, Ford explained, ““What I’m really looking for is how comfortable I feel with the campus and what can they do for me educationally. WVU, they fit that category in what I’m looking for.”
Ford, 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, could join Trevor Demko, a defensive end from Mount Carmel, Pa. as the Mountaineers lone pair of defensive line recruits.
Ford took his only official visit of the fall during the weekend WVU welcomed in East Carolina, back on Sept. 12. Pahokee teammates Fred Pickett, Richard Ash and Chris Dunkley joined Ford on the visit to Morgantown; Pickett is a wide receiver who has already given his verbal pledge to the Mountaineers.
Doc Holliday, WVU associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, has maintained regular contact in recruiting Ford. “They’re recruiting pretty hard. We talk weekly. He just talks about football, what I can learn and major in. I’m leaning toward accounting.”
Ford has tentative visits planned for his other two finalists. “If I go to Oklahoma State, I m probably going to have to go during December. Wake Forest is going to be Halloween weekend,” he said, adding that he plans on making his commitment “in the middle of November.”
ESPN Scouts Inc ranked Ford the No. 76 overall defensive tackle prospect for the 2010 class and rated him with a 75 scouts grade. Pahokee is off to a 5-1 start and Ford says he’s registered 27 tackles on the season.
The possibility of continuing to play together in college is something the Pahokee teammates often talk about, Ford says. “That would be real good. We talk about that a lot. We still talk about how much fun we had on the visit.”
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