Country Roads Trust burgeoning, results showing, with football excitement on WVU’s side
In a way, it’s kind of funny.
Yet ever since WVU’s football team defeated North Carolina – and afterward Neal Brown took his mayonnaise bath – in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, NIL fundraising and support for the Mountaineers have had a little mustard on them.
Country Roads Trust, WVU’s Name, Image and Likeness collective, has seen a big jump in membership and a streamlined process over last year that’s helped keep key players in the fold.
“As far as memberships, we didn’t just double,” said Country Roads Trust GM and COO Stephen Ford, “we grew from 670 members to 1,680 members. We grew that in one calendar month, which is incredible. We probably added $400,000 in projected revenue in that alone.”
Unlike after last football season’s 5-7 mark, there’s excitement in the Morgantown air. And that – as well as the aforementioned streamlined process – has translated into more Mountaineers staying in these West Virginia hills.
“We’re doing well,” Ford said. “We’re getting a lot of these guys back and some portal additions as well.”
As of Tuesday morning, Country Roads Trust has signed agreements with at least 20 Mountaineers on the bowl champion team with more expected. Among those are offensive starters like quarterback Garrett Greene, back Jahiem White, left tackle Wyatt Milum, left guard Tomas Rimac, right guard Brandon Yates, receivers Rodney Gallagher, Traylon Ray and Preston Fox and tight end Kole Taylor as well as quarterback Nicco Marchiol and linemen Johnny Williams, Nick Malone, Ja’Quay Hubbard and Nick Krahe.
On defense, players like end Sean Martin, tackle Ed Vesterinen, linebackers Trey Lanthan, Ben Cutter and Josiah Trotter, and safety Aubrey Burks committed to return.
“More announcements are coming,” Ford said before diving into the difference between this year and last.
“Retention is the priority,” he said. “It has to be, and I think a lot of schools and collectives are seeing that. You take care of the guys on the team and build around them and you’re not going to have to go in the portal and spend crazy amounts of capital. If you’re able to do what we have you only need to plug holes and find depth.”
WVU coaches have always struggled to land five-star high school recruits and have looked for hidden gems that may turn into NFL talent. That’s all well and good if coaches hit each year, but Ford suggests with the transfer portal and NIL help some of the stress is off the coaches regarding high school recruiting.
Retention also helps avoid a scenario like the past couple of seasons in which WVU lost a bunch of top players.
“Last season was hard to stomach,” Ford said. “There were two to three guys that hurt. I really don’t think it came down to NIL but losing them was tough. Kaden Prather (to Maryland) and Jordan Jefferson (to LSU) losses were tough, but we found those behind them here were solid.”
Priority one became keeping those blossoming.
“You don’t want your home-grown kids – and by that I mean the kids you bring here as freshmen, the guys you develop – to take off and help another program,” Ford said. “We want student-athletes to do what’s right for them, but when they go into the NFL draft, we want them to be calling the name of West Virginia University.”
If you’ve noticed, players initially sign their letters of intent. Then they sign with respective collectives. It’s a two-step process now.
“I tell every single athlete this: You put your priority on why you’re here, to be a student-athlete, focusing on the weight room, conditioning and practice and helping us win some games and the NIL will take care of itself,” Ford said.
Aside from retention, of course, is dealing with the incoming players from the transfer portal. In regard to that, Ford had to stop and throw flowers at the WVU football GM and Director of Scouting.
“Drew Fabianich with football has just done an incredible job with the portal, identifying talent and getting these guys here,” Ford said. “We haven’t been missing with a lot of these guys coming to town.”
Yes, players like running back Justin Johnson, receiver Cortez Braham and Ja’Shaun Poke (San Diego State) and defensive linemen Mike Lockhart (SMU) and James Heard (Syracuse) as well as linebacker Jared Bartlett (ouch) and cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp are heading out.
Yet incoming are ex-Old Dominion safety Tahj Ra-El, ex-Gardner-Webb three-time All-American edge Ty French, former Jacksonville State offensive lineman Xavier Bausley (I hear the coaches love him), Ohio State transfer Reid Carrico, ex-Troy defensive lineman T.J. Jackson, ex-Colorado State cornerback T.J. Crandall, ex-Duquesne DB Ayden Garnes, ex-Louisville DB Josh Minkins and former Oklahoma State receiver Jaden Bray, who scored a TD against the Mountaineers last season.
Ford smiles.
“We have such a good system in football right now,” he said. “Is it perfect? No. But where we are today compared to where we were last year at this time is night and day. Everything is so much more structured. There aren’t as many fire drills.
“As time goes on, you’re able to see the market for these guys. You see with some now on different teams, our coaches can say they might not be what they’re asking and wish them well finding that at different schools.”
Oh, and Ford had big kudos for the man that took that mayo bath.
“Neal (Brown) does this whole thing better than anyone else,” Ford said. “He tells guys that want to get in the portal if you don’t want to be here then you’re gone. He tells those talking about coming here that we’re not going to sit around waiting on you – it doesn’t matter how good you are – we’re not going to be strung along. If you don’t give us an answer tomorrow or whatever the time frame is, we’re moving on. Then we move on.”
By the way, dealing with NIL, the transfer portal and recruiting isn’t over. It’s never going to be over. It’s always going to be a moving target. But Ford and his staff at Country Roads Trust have seen improvements.
“There’s the change in the transfer rule, recently with (WVU basketball player) RaeQuan Battle,” he said, “and the best thing we have to calm this Wild, Wild, West down are these portal window dates. They are the only things in black and white that we can look at and say, ‘The madness will stop on this date regarding your current roster.’ It’s the most important thing. That 30-day window. Then there’s the 15-day window. You’ll see more action in the 15-day window than this because kids will see where they are on the depth chart.”
The next portal window is April 15-30, said Ford, around spring ball.
So, this is an ongoing challenge. But WVU is trying to capitalize now, especially with a good group lined up for next season. He estimated the money set aside for the offense alone doubled for next season. It’s time to throw all the eggs in the proverbial basket.
Mountaineer fans are off the ledge. There’s now the potential for national attention and excitement. There’s the potential to get the WVU fanbase even more jazzed up to help with fundraising.
The time is now, said Ford.
“We’ve got the excitement on our side,” he said.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.
