Minemyer close to a decision

Tight end Jeff Minemyer is closing in on a decision. The 6-foot-6, 245-pounder with 4.88-second speed is planning a visit to West Virginia today and if all goes well he may commit.

"I'm leaving on a visit to West Virginia and I'm not sure if I'm going to commit yet or not," he said. "It depends how the visit goes, I could commit this weekend. It's probably about 50/50 that I'll do it."

What would he like to see from the visit that could push him over?

"I want to see their offense and what they plan to do with me, whether they want me at tight end or offensive tackle. I also want to see what they are thinking as far as playing time," he said. "I want to talk to the academic advisors and see if they have the majors I want. I'm looking to possibly major in civil engineering or business management or administration. Then I just want to get a feel for the atmosphere down there. My whole family is coming down and I didn't get to see a lot during spring practice, I'm hoping to see more."

Minemyer plans to spend the entire day in Morgantown before heading home.

Does anything in particular stand out about the Mountaineers going into the visit?

"I really like coach Trickett, he's a great guy. I like the coaching staff too, they are solid and will stay there for my entire career I think," he said. "They also play in the Big East, so all the games whether home or away are about two hours away. They have a good fan base with alumni and approximately 20,000 students."

Other schools still in the mix include Rutgers, Duke and Michigan State.

"The thing about Rutgers and Duke is that they are both good academic schools, but their football programs are a little bit behind. I want to watch them this season to see if they starting winning some more games because I want to play in a bowl game in my career," he said. "I went to visit Michigan State and I loved everything about them. What hurts them though is that they are nine hours away. It is a little too far for me and I'd say they are fourth on my list."

The No. 23 prospect in Pennsylvania plans to visit more schools if he doesn't commit to the Mountaineers.

The Ebensburg (Pa.) Bishop Carroll prospect starts mini-camp with his teammates on August 12th.

"I'm looking forward to catching the ball more this year, last year we were more of a running team," he said. "This year we're spreading our offense out more. I'm a big target and they're going to get it to me."

Minemyer was named second team all-area as a junior after receiving 86 yards and one touchdown along with 55 tackles, six for loss and two sacks.

Minemyer holds a solid 4.0 GPA and 1070 SAT.