12/10/2009 football Edit

Mountaineers get another from Ohio

Brian Snow

Special to Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting

West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins spent over two decades as a head coach in the state of Ohio, and now he is working hard to recruit the state as the leader of the Mountaineer program. Already Huggins reeled in one 2012 commitment in the summer, and on Thursday he snagged another in Jalen Robinson.

As one of the top players in Ohio's 2012 class, Robinson has attracted a lot of high major attention. The 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward picked up an early offer from West Virginia to go along with MAC offers from Akron, Ohio, and Kent State. On top of that he had interest from Xavier, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and others.

However on Thursday after talking with his parents and his coaching he decided to become a Mountaineer. "I knew it was right a couple of weeks ago, but I was just talking things over with my mom. She gave me the go ahead today. I talked about things with Coach Satch (Sullinger), my mom, and my dad, and they all gave me the green light," said Robinson.

He continued about WVU, "I felt like home every time I went down there. They showed me love and they are a top 10 program."

At the moment Robinson is basically a purely interior player, but the Mountaineers are telling him that he could end up inside or on the wing. "Right now they want me as a wing or a power forward. They keep telling me to work on my ball handling."

Robinson is the second commitment for the Mountaineers in the 2012 class. He joins fellow Columbus, Ohio product Elijah Macon as a commitment. Robinson and Macon both play AAU basketball for All-Ohio Red. Now Robinson is happy to be a teammate of Macon's during their college career.

"It's fun playing with him over the summer because he is a good player," said Robinson. "We are already going to have chemistry, and I think we dominate the Big East."

Robinson is one of the top players for Northland High School in Columbus. Northland is currently ranked in the nation's top 10, and they will get an early test on December 17 when they face off against Findlay Prep.