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WVU Football Recruiting

2022 3-Star Athlete Raleigh Collins III Makes Return Visit To West Virginia

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Raleigh Collins has seen and learned a lot about the West Virginia football program over the last week.

The 2022 3-star athlete from Philadelphia took part in a WVU football camp on Friday and followed that up by making another unofficial visit to Morgantown on Tuesday. During this latest visit, Collins had a 1-on-1 workout with Mountaineer assistant Jeff Koonz, along with getting a tour of the campus, the facilities and of Morgantown.

West Virginia has really made positive strides in the recruitment of Collins, who would be a key addition considering he currently holds offers from Boston College, Cincinnati, Kansas, UMass, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Bowling Green.

“This visit was different from the last time because I got to be in the atmosphere of the West Virginia players working out and a few players were training on the field,” Collins told West Virginia Sports Now. “It was nice because I really got to go in depth with the tour and see the team recovery center and their training and weight room. On top of that, I got to work 1-on-1 with Coach Koonz.”

“The thing that really stood out to me about the visit was seeing the $55 million renovation that was done to the football facilities. It was crazy. I was also really, really impressed by their recovery room. They had all these cryo machines and Epsom salt baths that players are able to jump into after practice, which allows them to get back to where they need to be physically. I also got to see the cold tubs and hot tubs that the players use. It was really nice to see all of that.”

Following the tour, Collins went to the football field to get a 1-on-1 workout with Koonz and went through some drills at the position where the WVU coaches hope he eventually plays in their system.

Courtesy Raleigh Collins

“He had me working at outside backer, the WILL linebacker position,” said Collins. “We were having me dropping me back into coverage. Because he saw me as a cornerback during the 7-on-7 Tournament on Friday for a few hours, he knew that I could cover man but he wanted to see me drop back into coverage as a linebacker, come support the run and transitions that they would do. He even had me working on some blitzes in order to see my mobility. He commented and loved how low I play because I’m 6’4.”

I wrapped things up with Collins by getting an update on where WVU stands with him and could he see himself making a decision in the near future?

Courtesy Raleigh Collins

“100 percent that West Virginia will be in my final mix. I definitely saw everything that I needed to see from them. Up next for me will be a 7-on-7 camp this Friday at Penn State, a 7-on-7 camp at Rutgers on Saturday and that will end things for June and then I think we enter a dead period in recruiting.

“Coach Koonz told me that they don’t have any commits currently at that MIKE position right now and that he’s only looking at a select few and I’m in the top few of that group,” said Collins. “Right now, they currently have two of those type of players on the team and he wants to be three deep. Coach said that he’s going to call me and my parents on Sunday, so we’ll see.”

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