Avery chooses West Virginia

West Virginia picked up a commitment at a position of need Saturday when Coffeyville C.C. (Kan.) safety Toyous Avery offered a verbal pledge to the football program on the heels of his official visit.

Avery, 6-foot, 200-pounds, picked up an offer from the Mountaineers Tuesday following a visit by new safeties coach Matt Caponi at his school and immediately set up an official visit two days later.

"I'm officially committed to West Virginia University," he said.

The Georgia native was originally committed to Colorado State before backing off that to explore his options only to see a number of schools become involved.

Aside from West Virginia, Avery had collected scholarship offers from Colorado, Kansas, Colorado State, Arkansas State, Southern Mississippi, South Alabama and several others. He had previously taken official visits to Arkansas State and Colorado State and had initially planned to take a trip to Missouri Jan. 29.

The junior college safety could fill several roles in the West Virginia defense but is expected to begin his career as a free safety.

After redshirting his first season at Coffeyville, Avery finished this past year with 69 tackles and five interceptions showing the ability to cover in the back end and tackle.

Avery will have three years to play three in Morgantown and is expected to enroll at West Virginia once he completes his coursework at Coffeyville in May.

Caponi served as the lead recruiter for Avery after moving over from Arizona and the two were able to quickly form a connection in large part because he will serve as his position coach on campus as well.

The Rivals.com two-star prospect is the 22nd overall commitment for the Mountaineers in the class of 2016 and the third safety joining Scranton (Pa.) Lackawanna C.C. athlete Kyzir White and mid-year enrollee Bridgeport (W.Va.) product Dylan Tonkery.

WVSports.com will have more on this news including a full interview with Avery.