The biggest news that could come out of the Mountaineers' home game on Saturday against East Carolina may actually take place off of the football field. As many as eight prized recruits from talent-fertile Florida will take official visits this weekend to see what WVU has to offer. The headliner of the bunch is University of Florida commit Matt Elam of Dywer High in Palm Beach, Fla., the nation's No. 4 athlete and No. 25 recruit overall prospect according to ESPN.com.

Elam and teammate Robert Clark -- a WVUverbal commitment ranked the No. 51 cornerback in the nation -- told EerSports they will fly to Morgantown for the visit.

“He’s staying at my house tomorrow [Friday],” Clark said, “so we can fly out there together.”

Even though Elam, one of the nation’s top-rated safeties and the younger brother of New York Jets safety Abram Elam, is verbally committed to defending national champion Florida, he is keeping his options open and is giving WVU a shot during his visit.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he said.

The Mountaineers are fighting for Elam’s services among some elite college football powers from the SEC such as Georgia, LSU and South Carolina, along, of course, with Florida. Florida State is also seeking the high-potential athlete, who can play both sides of the football. In 2008, Elam caught 39 passes for 776 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for 431 yards and four touchdowns.

“Yeah, he’s coming up,” confirmed Clark. “He already got his tickets and stuff. We both are coming up.

“He’s just keeping his options open. He wants to see what the other schools are all about.”

WVU’s odd stack defensive scheme intrigues Elam, a 6-foot, 205-pound athlete.

“I just want to see basically what’s there,” he said. “I like that they run a 3-3-5 defense. They play with a lot of safeties.”

Clark, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound defensive back, is verbally committed to WVU, but said he plans on visiting South Florida, Kentucky, Louisville and Wisconsin.

“I’m taking all my visits,” he said. “They are also recruiting me harder.”

During his visit to WVU, Clark said, “I just want to see how the lifestyle is, how the football team is, how practice is and how the atmosphere is on game day.”

WVU associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Doc Holliday is known as one of college football’s elite recruiters, and as expected, he has been hard at work trying to persuade both Clark and Elam.

Holliday specializes in luring talent away from the state of Florida. Leaving his associate head coach and safeties coach position at Florida behind, Holliday joined head coach Bill Stewart’s staff in 2008, marking his second tenure with the Mountaineers.

Elam maintains regular contact with Holliday.

“I knew Coach Doc since he was at Florida,” Elam said. “Our relationship is good.”

Clark has noticed Holliday building a relationship with Elam.

“He loves Matt. He’s always talking about Matt.”

Clark and Elam are best friends off the field who often play basketball and video games together, which, assuming Clark sticks to his pledge, could work in WVU's favor.

“We’re real, real close,” Clark said.

“Yeah,” Elam said, “we’re always together.”

Continuing to play alongside one another sounds ideal to both.

“I would love that,” Clark said. “He’s a great player on the field with a great mindset. I wouldn’t mind playing with him for another four years.”

Clark has tried to persuade his friend and teammate to follow suit and become a Mountaineer.

“He talks to me about it,” Elam said.

Both players’ decisions may depend on how their well their visits go. Each offered their prediction that WVU will beat ECU.

“I think they’ll win big over ECU,” Elam said.

Though Clark admitted ECU was a pretty good team, he said the Mountaineers would come away with the win.

Elam will decide if he will take other official visits and mull his long list of pursuers after things are said and done this weekend in Morgantown.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said of taking more visits. “It depends on how this visit goes.”

Matt Elam ESPN Evaluation and Highlight Video:

"Elam is an excellent athlete and one of the more dynamic prospects in this class. A load of a running back with good power, soft hands and deceptive elusiveness -- but his future in college most likely lies on defense. He lacks ideal height for a projected outside linebacker, but is layered with good bulk and thickness. Plays bigger with his quick-twitch burst and striking velocity closing in space. A real hitter who packs a punch as a tackler and drives through from the hips. Active linebacker whose feet are constantly moving. Displays great read-and-react skills. Gets a quick jump filling downhill, allowing him to beat blockers to the point of attack and make plays on the ball inside-out. Displays good lateral footwork, agility avoiding traffic and mirroring ball carriers between the tackles before swarming on them with great burst. Flashes great sideline-to-sideline range and chase speed. Can open and turn smoothly in coverage, get proper depth and pattern match quick slots. Shows good ball skills and natural awareness in coverage. However, he does need some fundamental polish which should come once he concentrates on one position at the next level. Can duck his head as a tackler without wrapping up and doesn't always break down very fluidly in space. Lack of a longer, rangier frame and limited room for physical upside is an area of concern. He could get recruited as a hybrid safety. Does possess the great short-area power and diagnostic skills sought after between the tackles though. Where he projects best is a good problem to have for the program that lands him because he should offer great scheme versatility. Overall, Elam brings a lot to the table physically as a prospect and may be one of this class' best competitors."

Robert Clark ESPN Evaluation:

"Clark is a very active, quick-twitched corner who is constantly around the football making plays. Undersized but plays bigger and taller on film. Displays good recovery quickness and burst. Breaks quickly and closes the cushion fast on the underneath perimeter pass. Shows good burst out of his pedal. Shows a bit of hip stiffness at times opening and turning but he transitions in and out of his pedal without a lot of wasted motion and is sharp out of his breaks. Attacks and high-points the football well in deep coverage often masking his lack of great height. A threat with the ball in hands on the INT; this kid is an explosive athlete who is just as dangerous on offense and in the return game. However, his marginal size is a concern as he shows difficulty pressing and getting off the stalk-block on run support. Could struggle to set the edge in true cover 2 zone schemes. His ability to match up versus today's bigger college receivers out on the perimeter is our biggest concern. May be better suited as a sub-package corner lined up over slots at the major college level. He lacks great top-end speed, quicker than fast, but we like his true cover corner skills and ability to matchup in space versus spread programs. Overall Clark has some deficiencies but we really like his good quickness, instincts and knack for finding the football in coverage."

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