Beach party: WVU gets another Tidewater commitment

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, June 18, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

West Virginia Mountaineers
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Ever since school let out for the summer, Dominik Davenport has been telling Shawne Alston "You've got to come up here."

Meaning West Virginia University, to which Davenport and Phoebus High school teammate Tajh Boyd have already given their verbal commitments to play football in 2009. And considering that Davenport weighs 260 pounds and holds the Phoebus record in the bench press, such a command has to be taken seriously.

Actually, Alston told Dave Johnson of the Newport News Daily Press, it was only a matter of making sure WVU actually wanted him. And as soon as the 6-foot, 210-pound running back got a formal offer from the Mountaineers, he put Davenport and Boyd at ease.

"The atmosphere up there (Morgantown) is so live," Alston said. "I was up there with Tajh (the Phoebus quarterback), and everybody was high-fiving him and asking for his autograph."

Alston's commitment is the fourth of the 2009 class from the Tidewater area of Virginia, with the trio from Phoebus (located in Hampton) joining Logan Heastie of Great Bridge (Virginia Beach).

In recent years, Virginia Tech has had the most success recruiting from that football-rich area, but the hiring of Chris Beatty as offensive backfield coach has tilted the equation in West Virginia's favor. A highly successful coach at Landstown High in Virginia Beach, Beatty also served as offensive coordinator at Hampton University. He knows the Tidewater region and knows the coaches.

Alston is a departure from recent Mountaineer backs, billed as a powerful downhill runner with significant lower body strength -- a different style from Steve Slaton and Noel Devine, although Devine is deceptively powerful in his own right.

As a junior at Phoebus, Alston rushed for 1,687 yards and 26 touchdowns. His signature game came against Warwick in the state playoffs, when he gained 210 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns in the second half.

"Somebody asked me how fast he (Alston) is," Phoebus coach Bill Dee said, "and I told him, 'Fast enough to score 26 touchdowns.'"

Actually, Alston has been clocked at 4.5 in the 40.
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