They've been saying he was a silent to them since his OV. Here it is in print:
The four-star prospect told the coaches that he wanted to be a Mountaineer when he officially visited back in early June, but that he wanted to make a couple more trips before going public with his decision. The staff would take him in a second, but they knew his recruitment was far from over. Spells confirmed everything was the same after his official visits to Indiana and Miami, choosing not to go to Miami's Paradise Camp right before the dead period. The last hurdle was him telling the coaches for Miami and Indiana the news - which he didn't do until Friday. That's always a day where you hope no one talks him out of his decision, and they obviously did not.
Here's the rest of the story:
West Virginia first made contact with Jacolby Spells after his freshman year in high school. The Mountaineers were one of the first to do so, showing strong interest in Spells as a receiver, especially with his amazing speed. The first point of contact was inside receivers and tight ends coach Travis Trickett, who would later turn the majority of his recruiting focus to south Florida. At the time, he was just spot recruiting guys in the area, and he pinpointed Spells as a special talent very early in the process.
So the sophomore film changed things, right? That's wrong. Much like West Virginia had before, the Mountaineers made their move off potential. They initiated contact with him about his receiver skills before he had ever really done anything at the varsity level. He had five catches for 112 yards when WVU first showed interest. When the Mountaineers offered as a cornerback in May, Spells had not accumulated a single defensive statistics for his high school team. West Virginia saw the potential, though, and made the offer. Spells made the move that fall, focusing on corner, with so many teams following WVU down that path with offers for defense.
The vast majority of the credit goes to..... Travis Trickett. He initiated the contact on behalf of West Virginia, and the secondary recruiter was... pretty much no one for a long time. When the Mountaineers first touched base, Xavier Dye had just left the program as receivers coach. Gerad Parker came in, but then there was a transition where Spells was actually going to be recruited as a defensive back. He might have still been a top priority for Trickett, but a converted receiver that was not in his area was down the list for former secondary coach Jahmile Addae on who he needed to talk to. Then Addae was gone, and ShaDon Brown came in. Brown did a nice job of getting acclimated with Spells and bonding with him, but he also had to deal with no in-person contact for the first few months on the job at WVU. As is the case with a Neal Brown staff, others got involved (graduate assistants, recruiting coordinators, staffers, etc.), but Trickett carried a heavier load than normal on this one because of the coaching changes, the position changes, and the pandemic.
And according to this article, Miami finished 3rd. Indiana was the runner up and Spells told them it was a tough decision.....
