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West Virginia Improves Their Chances With 2022 3-Star CB Raleigh Collins III Following Visit

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Raleigh Collins arrived in Morgantown on Friday solely with the intention of competing in a 7-on-7 tournament taking place at Milan Puskar Stadium.

He was able to do that but following the competition, something more important took place as he was able to have meaningful conversations with West Virginia coaches along with checking out the Mountaineer facilities. Collins (6-foot-3, 185-pounds) is a 2022 3-star cornerback from Neumann Goretti High School in Philadelphia and currently holds an offer list of Boston College, Cincinnati, Kansas, UMass, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Bowling Green.

West Virginia Sports Now spoke with Collins Saturday morning who told us he is excited about his day in Morgantown and has a new perspective on the West Virginia football program.

“The tournament went great for us,” Collins tells West Virginia Sports Now. “We finished 7-1 and lost in the semi’s by two points which was heartbreaking. The first game, I had 3 interceptions and a few pass breakups. After that, the teams saw what was going on and sort of stop throwing my way so it got a little quiet after that. Our team went on a nice run so overall, we performed pretty well.”

“Getting to compete was nice because you have the opportunity to show your talents off to the coaches and then I got to see the facilities. I wasn’t planning on seeing the facilities but I talked to Leddie (Brown) and asked if he was going to show me around real quick and he said ‘yeah for sure’. I got to see the new locker room, which was insane. Getting to see things there was just really cool.”

Collins has not made any official visits yet so his recruitment is wide open. However, he admits that the time he got to spend at West Virginia did nothing but help their chances and he plans to return there very soon.

“Yesterday definitely boosted their chances,” said Collins. “They were high on my list but yesterday finally allowed me to talk to coaches that I never talked with before. I never talked to Coach (Jeff) Koonz and was able to do that yesterday. He talked to me about how they want to use me as a nickel, so that was new to me and something that I felt was very productive.

“I had a good connection with Coach (Chad) Scott but being there and being to showcase my skills allowed me to I think improve myself on their radar. Now I think we have a better relationship with each other. Also, I didn’t get to see a lot of the campus just because we were there for just football. Prior to yesterday, when I thought of West Virginia, I thought of just mountains but before we arrived at the facilities, we were driving around and saw a lot of cool things to do, which kind of piqued my interest because when I’m on campus, I want some other things to do.”

Collins finished things up by telling West Virginia Sports Now that next week he has a private workout scheduled with Koonz, WVU’s special team coordinator.