One of West Virginia's prized recruits in the 2012 recruiting class will not be arriving in Morgantown in time for the upcoming season.

Hyattsville (MD) linebacker,Sam Lebbie, will attend prep school in Atlanta with hopes of getting his academics in order, and arriving in Morgantown in January.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The best way to determine a major college football champion seemed so obvious to so many for so long. Just have a playoff.

Now the people in charge of making that decision are on board, too.

Come 2014, the BCS is out. Playoffs are in.

A committee of university presidents approved a plan Tuesday for a four-team playoff put forward by commissioners of the top football conferences

"Wide open Austin what a move, Tavon Austin!" were the words of Mike Tirico as Tavon Austin juked a Clemson defender out of his shoes and marched down the field for his 4th touchdown of the historical night in Miami, Florida in which the 'Eers would have the most prolific bowl performance in FBS history.

Tavon Austin accounted for 123 yards receiving and a total of four touchdowns on that memorable night. What outsiders who only watched WVU on college football's biggest stage was that Tavon does this just about every single game.

Call me a bias West Virginia fan, but the facts don't lie. Austin averaged 91.2 receiving yards per game and ended the season with over 1,100 yards receiving in 2011. It doesn't stop there. Austin also led the nation in all-purpose yards averaging a total of 198 per game.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck has announced the hiring of Curtis Jones as the assistant athletic director for academic support.

Jones comes to WVU after serving as an academic counselor for football student-athletes at Texas for the past 3 years.

This could be the year. This could finally be what Mountaineer fans have been waiting for. This could finally be the season where West Virginia makes its case as a national title contender, and an eventual champion.

After wrapping up the 2011 season with a convincing 70-33 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl, the Mountaineers quickly found themselves shifting their attention to 2012. Their inaugural season in the Big 12 conference will present many challenges but also the possibility for something very special.

In order for WVU to reach their ultimate goal, various dots have to be connected. The team, in and of itself, has many factors working in their favor. The offense is talented enough to keep the 'Eers is every game they play. The defense is a solid mix of experience and young, athletic play-makers that is expected to keep them in every contest.

Since the move Oliver Luck and his office pulled off to get WVU into the Big 12, WVU Football is getting more media coverage since the glory days of Pat White and Steve Slaton. Magazine covers, photo shoots, and college football shows have been finding their way to the mountain state of West Virginia. So what does this have to do with off-season concerns?

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West Virginia University center Joe Madsen was named to the 2012 Rimington Watch List. The award is presented to the premier centers in each of the FCS, Division II, Division III, and NAIA divisions. Madsen is one of 50 players that made the list, and one of 4 players from the Big 12 Conference. 

Publications and college football guru's from all over the country release several early Top 25 lists, and often repeat depending on injuries, coaching changes, or change of opinion. The EERinsider staff recently sat down to put out our Top 25 teams of 2012.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Former West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart, who was hailed as Rich Rodriguez's successor but wound up leaving the school in a messy split, died Monday of what athletic department officials said was an apparent heart attack. He was 59.

Stewart's family notified the university and said Stewart had been out golfing with the longtime friend who hired him as head coach, former athletic director Ed Pastilong. West Virginia spokesman Michael Fragale said he had no further details, and Pastilong couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Like most huge news stories these days, social media was buzzing again this morning with news of a Big 12 announcement, followed by an announcement by the SEC.

Many insiders questioned what it could be, and most whiffed. What was built in the end was the start of a new tradition.