The West Virginia football program has landed a commitment from Wyndmoor (Pa.) La Salle College High 2025 spear Chris Fileppo.
Fileppo, 6-foot-3, 210-pounds, flipped his pledge to the Mountaineers from James Madison where he had been committed since April. The versatile athlete also held offers from Purdue, South Florida, Connecticut, Villanova, Monmouth and a number of others.
The Rivals.com two-star prospect received an offer from West Virginia in May and those efforts were spearheaded by secondary coach ShaDon Brown.
Fileppo made the trek to West Virginia over the weekend for an official visit and saw enough to end his recruitment by committing to the Mountaineers shortly after its conclusion.
Fileppo is set to play spear for West Virginia on defense, but also has the skill set where he could end up at free safety depending on how he continues to develop.
Fileppo represents the sixth commitment for West Virginia in the defensive backfield behind Tampa (Fla.) Gaither 2025 cornerback Serious Stinyard, Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Fork 2025 cornerback Elgin Sessions, Richmond (Va.) Trinity Episcopal 2025 defensive back Terrance “Deuce” Edwards, Lakeland (Fla.) 2025 defensive back Sammy Etienne and Huntington (W.Va.) 2025 safety Zah Jackson.
He is the 18th commitment overall.
WVSports.com breaks down the commitment of Fileppo and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.
Skill set:
Fileppo is a long rangy safety that has the frame to fill out even further. He is a sure tackler and has no reservations coming down into the box to spill ball carriers. He is equipped with the speed and athleticism to cover a lot of ground and his skill set is a good fit for what the program wants at the spear spot.
Fileppo plays both sides of the ball and creates separation as a wide receiver, showcasing his athleticism. He displays strong coverage skills and plays the game with a high IQ in the backend of the defense. He possesses good ball skills and shows the ability to track the football well to both make plays on it and deliver hits.
Fitting the program:
West Virginia continues to target versatility and length in the back end of the defense and Fileppo certainly possesses both of those traits. He has the size and skill set to move around to multiple positions but will likely start his career at either spear or possibly even the free safety spot.
This is a player that secondary coach ShaDon Brown targeted and was able to get him to campus in order to close the deal in his recruitment. The Mountaineers were also able to go into neighboring Pennsylvania to fill a need in the recruiting class and gives the program a safety that can move around to multiple positions.
Fileppo will step into a position where they will be seven scholarship players on the roster when he arrives on campus and with his ability to bounce around it opens doors for him to potentially challenge for early time.
Recruiting the position:
West Virginia has hit the defensive backs hard in this cycle and while there are options out there, expect the Mountaineers to be selective if there are any additional prospects added to the class.
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A woman and a man from West Virginia were arrested after the woman pulled a handgun during a child custody exchange in Tarentum on Friday night, according to court records.
Tarentum police arrested Alexis Sage Simpkins, 22, of Morgantown, W.Va., and Joseph Erickson, 24, of Fairmont, W.Va., after responding shortly after 9 p.m. to a report that two people with handguns were outside a home in the 300 block of West 11th Avenue and threatening the people there, according to their criminal complaints.
As an officer approached the home, a car with West Virginia plates was backing out of the driveway. The officer used his vehicle to prevent it from leaving, the complaints state.
Numerous people near the porch of the home pointed at the car yelling, “That’s them.”
Simpkins, the driver, and Erickson, the passenger, were both detained. According to the complaints, Simpkins admitted to having two handguns and gave the officer permission to retrieve them from the car.
A Ruger .380 in the center console was not loaded. A 9mm Ruger on the passenger side floor was loaded with a live round in the chamber, the complaints say.
Neither Simpkins or Erickson have a concealed weapons permit in Pennsylvania or any state, police found.
Police said they learned from the people at the house that a child custody exchange was taking place there. They said Erickson became aggressive and a fight took place between him and a man at the house, during which Simpkins retrieved one of the guns from her vehicle, loaded the chamber by moving the slide back, and pointed it at four others, the complaints state.
The Tarentum officer arrived shortly after that moment. The officer reported that the man from the house had a large abrasion and a “goose egg” on his forehead, according to the complaints.
Simpkins and Erickson were each charged with a misdemeanor count of carrying a firearm without a license. Simpkins was also charged with misdemeanor counts of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person; Erickson was charged with disorderly conduct.
They were arraigned Saturday and released on their own recognizance, according to court records. Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for 1:15 p.m. March 4 before District Judge Carolyn S. Bengel.
West Virginia moved to 16-9 (7-5) on the season following a 74-67 win over the UCF Knights on Saturday night. Shortly after, WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media to discuss what he saw in this one.
“It was we’re going to have to play with a lot more urgency on the defensive end of the floor. This group’s been in these positions before, and typically, we do a good job of not panicking. It was just hey, we don’t have to panic on offense, but our level of urgency and desperation on the defensive end of the floor is going to have to pick up and pick up right this second. I thought the level of urgency, desperation, and physicality on both ends of the floor…we started making some plays around the rim. Up until that point, I thought we were fairly soft.”
“It’s a resilient group. Unfortunately and fortunately, I guess we’ve found ourself in this situation quite often. I think in our seven league wins, we’ve trailed in the second half of every game that we’ve won. They’re a mature group and don’t have a lot of panic. They are bought in and believe that we can find ways to win the game in different ways.”
“I thought it started when Lorient made some tough, physical plays around the basket. We were able to get some stops and then Honor (Huff) on the four-point play, and then he kind of starts getting going a little bit, and then you’re mirroring it with we’re getting stops and getting baskets and we’re giving them one shot only.”
“We need Honor to play good and if you’re going to come on the road and beat an NCAA Tournament team, your best players got to play well. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, so to see him come through like he’s done so many times for us in a big moment, on the road, it was awesome to see.”
“It was incredible. I am biased because I’m the head coach here, but it really is one of the best fanbases in the country. Tony Caridi is our radio guy, and he always says it. He’s like, ‘Hey man, we show up.’ It’s always nice when you can reward your fanbase for showing up like they do. It was 70/30 probably, 65/35 UCF to West Virginia, but on the road it was awesome.”
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West Virginia got back in the win column on Saturday night, taking down the UCF Knights for their 16th win of the season and their seventh of Big 12 play. The Mountaineers erased a 14-point deficit to win 74-67
As always, a few of my quick thoughts from this one.
Of course, this has nothing to do with what happened on the floor, but I’d be remiss to not point out how often the game before West Virginia always runs over or inevitably turns into an overtime game. Then, to make matters worse, FS1 takes a commercial break during the middle of the game, I assume to fix the visual issues they were having, resulting in four minutes of game action that no one could see.
After a dreadful first half performance, West Virginia did a much better job of penetrating and scoring inside, although they scored 10 fewer points there compared to what they did in the first half. Part of that was drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line, a place where they’ve struggled mightily all season. Tonight? They went 15/17 in the second half, which helped them claw back in, take the lead, and seal the deal. Chucking up a ton of threes is just not what’s best for this group, as we’ve seen over the past couple of games.
There’s still plenty of work to do, but WVU really needed to get this one. A quad 1 win, a road victory, against a team that is currently viewed as an NCAA Tournament team…just huge. This group battled, scrapped, and clawed all night long, even when things looked awfully bleak. A massive win not only for the resume, but also for the confidence of this group to erase such a major deficit on the road against a quality team. Now the attention turns to taking care of business at home on Wednesday night against a struggling Utah team. Get that one and keep your postseason hopes alive.
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