West Virginia
5 West Virginia Black Bears taken in 2024 MLB Draft
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — Five players from the 2024 West Virginia Black Bears heard their names called during this year’s MLB Draft, the team announced Tuesday. This marks 32 total players who have been selected from the team since the organization joined the MLB Draft League in 2021.
Ryan Lambert, a right-handed pitcher from the University of Oklahoma was the highest player taken from the 2024 Black Bears team as the New York Mets took him in the eighth round at 233rd overall. Just 13 picks later, teammate Ethan Sloan was selected in the eighth round at 246th overall by the Detroit Tigers.
Also drafted from the 2024 Black Bears was right-handed pitcher Blake Shepardson, who was taken in the 11th round, 319th overall by the Chicago White Sox, right-handed pitcher Eric Loomis, who was taken in the 16th round, 495th overall by the Texas Rangers and outfielder Andrew Patrick, who was taken in the 17th round, 504th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
On top of the players selected from the Black Bears’ 2024 roster, six former Black Bears were also taken including right-handed pitcher L.P. Langevin, who became the first MLB Draft League player—active or alumni—taken in this year’s draft in the fourth round at 105th overall by the Kansas City Royals.
Other former Black Bears taken this year include:
- Sam Antonaci—Chicago White Sox (5th round, 140th overall)
- Peyton Olejnil—Los Angeles Angels (6th round, 172nd overall)
- Ryan Schiefer—Tampa Bay Rays (14th round, 426th overall)
- Ben Hartl—Texas Rangers (14th round, 435th overall)
- Ryan Degges—Philadelphia Phillies (17th round, 522nd overall)
Overall 52 current and former MLB Draft League players heard their names called during this year’s draft, the most in league history, according to the team. 36 of those players were from active rosters and included 19 pitchers and 17 position players.
Rich Rodriguez may be out in Omaha, Nebraska, supporting the West Virginia baseball team, but he is still reeling in commits left and right. Friday evening, the Mountaineers picked up a verbal pledge from class of 2027 running back Khamoni Williams (5’11”, 210 lbs) out of Southwind High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
The consensus three-star recruit picked the Mountaineers over offers from Auburn, Colorado, Florida State, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pitt, Purdue, USC, Wisconsin, and several others.
Williams popped onto the radar of colleges nationwide when he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark as a sophomore, finishing the 2024 campaign with 1,151 yards and 13 touchdowns on 125 carries, playing in just eight games. That’s an average of 143.9 yards per game — insane stuff for a sophomore. This past season, Williams saw his overall numbers dip to 892 yards and seven touchdowns, but he had fewer opportunities, getting just 85 carries. He upped his per-carry average by 1.4 yards.
Williams becomes the third running back to commit to West Virginia in the 2027 class, joining Lee Prince Jr. and Bryian Duncan, who recently flipped from Kentucky.
The Scouting Report on Khamoni Williams
He’s listed at 5’11”, but looks to be 6’0″ or maybe even 6’1″. Good size and has the look of an every-down back already, let alone once he gets to Morgantown and bulks up. Super twitchy back that does a good job of remaining at top speed while changing direction. Once he gets out to the perimeter, he becomes very dangerous. Took a lot of snaps at quarterback in a Wildcat formation, oftentimes turning them into big gains. The vision is elite, so it’s no wonder they had him playing that role as much as they did.
The running back room for 2027 is starting to get pretty crowded with an infusion of young talent, but Williams has just as good a chance of seeing the field early as any of them.
West Virginia’s current 2027 recruiting class
QB Andre Phillip II, RB Bryian Duncan, RB Lee Prince Jr., RB Khamoni Williams, WR Brock Burrus, WR Carter Davis, WR Roscoe Hayes, WR Jacobi Pasley, OL Ethan Lawson, DL Zai’Vion Meads, DL DaJour Webb, EDGE Trevoris Finley, EDGE Chris Wilson, LB Broncs Baker, LB Rick Brown, LB Mason Cerovac, LB Wesley Flamer, CB Carter Bonner, CB Zachary Gleason Jr.
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West Virginia has landed another key piece to its 2027 class, securing a commitment Memphis (Tenn.) Southwind three-star running back Moni Williams on Friday night.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder chose the Mountaineers over offers from Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Auburn and a host of other programs. Williams visited WVU earlier this month and a little less than two weeks later has joined the class.
He is the 19th commitment for Rich Rodriguez and Co., who have assembled the Big 12’s No. 3 class and the No. 34 group nationally in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.
Williams himself ranks as the No. 529 prospect nationally and No. 40 running back in the cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services.
Rivals, however, is higher on him than both 247Sports and ESPN. In the most recent rankings update in April, he was tabbed as the No. 34 running back in the country and No. 19 player in the state of Tennessee.
He is coming off a breakout junior season where he rushed 84 times for 892 yards (10.6 YPC) and seven touchdowns. In the passing game, he hauled in 17 passes for 263 yards and a pair of scores. Williams joins a class headlined by four-stars Chris Wilson and Carter Bonner, along with seven other prospects who rank among the top-800 nationally.
The class is shaping up to be another big one for Rodriguez and his staff, who signed a record-breaking 49 prospects out of the high school and junior college ranks last year. That class finished among the top-20 nationally and No. 2 in the Big 12.
It doesn’t take much to engage children in the lifelong pursuit of fishing. PHOTO: Chris Lawrence
ELKINS, W.Va. — The requirement of a fishing license in West Virginia will be waived this weekend all across the Mountain State. June 13th and 14th are designated as “free” fishing days in West Virginia.
“All other regulations still apply, but this is for all of our public waters and this is for resident and NON-resident both,” said Frank Williams, acting director of the Division of Natural Resources hatchery programs.
The idea is to encourage all West Virginians to consider going fishing and see how much fun it can be. Many adults probably fished at some time in their lives and had fun, but when life happened schedules became too busy and fishing was one of the first casualties. The DNR is betting if people are introduced to fishing, they’ll be compelled to go buy a license and make fishing trips a part of life again.
“Life gets busy, but there’s always an opportunity and it’s nice to get out and get away from all of that and go to a pond or stream and enjoy the outdoors,” Williams explained.
To help things along the West Virginia DNR puts on a kids fishing event. The annual fishing derby is set for the Bowden Fish Hatchery in Randolph County. The event at Bowden gets started at 7 a.m. with registration and fishing for the youngest anglers starts at 8 a.m. and runs through noon.
DNR is actively engaged in recruitment and retention of anglers. Studies have shown the earlier children are exposed to outdoors pursuits, the more likely they are to make it a lifelong pursuit.
“That’s a big part of the DNR program is that recruitment and retention. It’s a big part of what we’re working on every day,” Williams said.
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