Finding a home

When former Jacksonville (Fla.) Ed White cornerback Guesly Dervil took an official visit to West Virginia way back in December of 2004 he never thought Morgantown, W.V., would be his eventual destination.

He came back from the trip and visited four other schools - Illinois, Alabama, Nebraska and Southern Miss - and eventually signed with Illinois.

Dervil, who was ranked as the nation's No. 32 athlete and a three-star prospect in the class of 2005, then failed to qualify academically at Illinois and has spent the past year at home working on achieving a qualifying ACT score. He got that score and then was able to go back on the market, but it didn't take him long to find his new home with the Mountaineers.

"It's true, I'm heading up to West Virginia," Dervil, who is 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, said. "I don't know how it's exactly going to work yet, and I have to call the coaches back here in about an hour. I don't know if I have to sign something or if I just show up for classes.

"I'll probably enroll over the summer. The first summer session starts this Monday, and I don't know if I can get up there for that. I'd have to look at the second summer session, but I still need to talk to my mom about that."

Dervil said he's excited about his final destination.

"There's a good opportunity for me up there," he said. "They only have three defensive backs coming back, and I think there's a good shot for me to come in there and compete for a position. On top of that, they're going to be ranked high, and I want to be part of a great program. I think it's the perfect fit."

Dervil said he's been working hard back home in Jacksonville after things didn't work out with the Illini. He's spending time training at his former high school and then with Velocity Sports to get bigger, stronger and faster.

"The only things I worked on was my ACT and my speed," Devril said. "I took an ACT class and then I would go work out at Velocity Sports and at the high school. I got my 40 in to the 4.3 range, and now I'm a year older. I also put on five more pounds, so I'm faster, bigger and stronger. I'm also better than what I was coming out of high school."

Dervil was originally recruited by Illinois, Alabama, Nebraska, Southern Miss and West Virginia back in high school. He visited each of those schools and many continued to recruit him when he was back on the market again, they were joined by South Florida, Purdue and Arizona State.

But in the end, Dervil said he just had a feeling about West Virginia and it all stems back to that visit in 2004.

"I didn't think at the time, I would end up back there, but I really did like the coaches, the team and the people," he said. "That was also when they had Pacman Jones, and everybody was telling me when I was up there on the visit that I was the next Pacman since he and I are about the same size and same speed.

"I thought it was kind of cool back then, but West Virginia wasn't in my final three. It's funny how things work out. In the end, it was the right place for me afterall."