West Virginia Offers Fast-Rising Sophomore Defensive End Alexander Cunningham

Coming into his sophomore season at Johns Creek High School in Johns Creek, Georgia, Alexander Cunningham is seeing his recruitment heat up in a big way.

Cunningham (6-foot-6, 265 pounds) is a 2024 strongside defensive end recruit, currently unranked by 247Sports and Rivals, that has seen a lot of interest from college teams since the conclusion of his freshman season of high school — including West Virginia.

ALL GLORY TO GOD!!! Blessed to receive an offer from West Virginia!!! 💙💛 #TrustTheClimb #WVU @ChadSimmons_ @CoachJaxDL @Mansell247 @adamgorney @RivalsFriedman @JohnsCreekHSFB pic.twitter.com/ciD6LJymQO

— Alexander “TA” Cunningham (@_getlikealex) July 28, 2021

With offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, East Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Tennessee, UCF, USC, Wake Forest and now WVU. WVU defensive line coach Andrew Jackson has been the biggest name in drawing Cunningham to Morgantown.

The pair met at a mega camp at Mercer University, and after his WVU offer, Cunningham said his dad and he first spoke to Jackson, continuing their “great” relationship so far.

“I was thankful for him believing in my skill set and potential,” Cunningham told WV Sports Now. “He mainly spoke about my potential and what he liked about my film.”

With a background in Georgia and still very early in his recruiting process, Cunningham said there isn’t much to say about his familiarity with WVU at this point.

Courtesy of Alex Cunningham

While Cunningham said he wishes he could visit every school that is recruiting him, WVU is one of the schools he’d like to make a trip out to. As a rising sophomore, he’s got plenty of time ahead of him.

Overall, he’s felt the recruiting process so far has been a healthy mixture of both stress and fun. “It can get stressful knowing that eventually,” Cunningham said, “you’ll have to choose a school but the process overall has been very enjoyable.”

Already possessing excellent size, with time and space to continue to grow into his huge frame, Cunningham will likely shoot up recruiting boards as he kicks off his sophomore season and continues into camps and visits ahead of his junior and senior seasons. Cunningham feels like his size, mixed with his blend of length and athleticism, is what’ll set him apart from other players in the class of 2024.

“I feel like they’ll be receiving a rare athlete due to my length and athleticism for my size,” Cunningham said. “Right now I have an 82-inch wingspan.”

Only a rising sophomore, Cunningham has a long road ahead of him before officially committing to a school, but WVU has jumped in on the highly talented defensive end early.