The Secret Weapon of West Virginia's 2022 Signing Class

One of WVU's biggest playmakers in the 2022 recruiting class could come from an unlikely source.

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown has had a history of his teams playing well on special teams. You wouldn't know that by watching the team this year thanks to their struggles in punt/kickoff coverage and consistency in the punting game. 

Sixth-year senior Tyler Sumpter improved but still averaged just 43.6 yards per punt in 2021. With Sumpter's eligibility being exhausted at the end of the 2021 season, WVU knew that they had to add a punter that could come in right away and compete for the job. To do so, they went clear to the land down under to snag Oliver Straw (6'3", 220 lbs) of ProKick Australia.

"Yeah, absolutely. That's why we signed him," Brown said when asked if Straw could be an impact right away. "He's got to go win the job but that's why we signed him. He's from the ProKick organization and if you look across college football, most of the guys that are from Australia are through ProKick. Ollie, he's unique. He can kick with both feet. He can roll to his right, he can roll to his left. He kicks spirals, he kicks end over end. Ollie will be able to give us the opportunity to change field position. We'll kick away from returners. People will have to use two returners. Two returners means less rushers. We think he could be potentially a game-changing type player within special teams."

Flipping the field has been a bit of a chore for West Virginia but now they could end up with one of the best punters in the Big 12 over the next three to four seasons. Straw has a very strong leg that produces a good combination of hang time (average of 4.9 seconds) and distance, which sits around 48-50 yards consistently. His motion is not completely fluid and does need to work on his release and angle of his kicks. This will be something that he'll get cleaned up very early at WVU. What's most intriguing about Straw is that he has the ability to kick the ball with either leg, as Brown mentioned. 

West Virginia was the first school to offer Straw and he didn't wait around to see if any others would express interest. He knew right away that West Virginia was where he wanted to be. 

"I couldn’t say no to it [WVU] really," Straw told Mountaineer Maven. "It’s an amazing school, great football, great student life and the chance at an education. I loved meeting the coaching staff and the other recruits. I also got familiar with the football facilities, which coming from Australia, it's like nothing I've ever really seen before. I've been to big stadiums but to be on the field is something I can't wait for." 

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