Report: Ex-Pitt RB Rushel Shell transferring to West Virginia

Rushel Shell, a former top recruit at Pitt, will have three years of eligibility at WVU. (George Gojkovich/SI) By Zac Ellis Former Pitt tailback Rushel Shell
Report: Ex-Pitt RB Rushel Shell transferring to West Virginia
Report: Ex-Pitt RB Rushel Shell transferring to West Virginia /

Rushel Shell, a former top recruit at Pitt, will have three years of eligibility at WVU. (George Gojkovich/SI)

Rushel Shell

By Zac Ellis

Former Pitt tailback Rushel Shell is transferring to West Virginia, Brady McCollough of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Shell, a freshman with the Panthers last season, will have to sit out the 2013 season and will have three years of eligibility remaining with the Mountaineers.

Reports surfaced in April stating Shell was seeking a transfer to UCLA, but he changed his mind in June and instead began eyeing teams closer to his home state of Pennsylvania, where he has twin daughters. Shell had reportedly narrowed his selected schools to West Virginia, Ohio State and Kentucky.

Shell briefly considered returning to Pitt, but Panthers coaches closed the door on that option.

The tailback entered spring practice as Pitt’s starting running back after rushing for 641 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman in 2012. A four-star prospect out of Hopewell High in Aliquippa, Pa. — the same high school that former Pitt legend Tony Dorsett once attended — Shell originally elected to attend Pittsburgh over the likes of Alabama and Ohio State. He set a state record with 9,078 career rushing yards in high school.

Charles Sims

Cougars

transferred to West Virginia

Andrew Buie


Published
Zac Ellis
ZAC ELLIS

Zac Ellis joined SI.com in 2011 and has covered college football and basketball since 2012. In addition to features and columns, he is SI’s primary Heisman Trophy analyst.