Posted on Sun, Jul. 06, 2008

Only a few months after producing one of the richest football recruiting classes ever by a Miami-Dade County school, Northwestern had its first player of the Class of 2009 commit to a Division I college.

Bulls coaches confirmed Friday that running back Daquan Hargrett, rated the No. 20 overall prospect in Dade by The Miami Herald, has orally committed to West Virginia.

While splitting carries with The Miami Herald's No. 17 overall recruit, Tyresse Jones, Hargrett (5-9, 180 pounds) ran for 882 yards and 12 touchdowns on 117 attempts last season to help Northwestern secure its second consecutive state championship and a consensus No. 1 national ranking.

Hargrett, who runs a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash, also had 25 carries for 248 yards and two touchdowns his sophomore season while backing up former Northwestern running back Antwain Easterling.

Hargrett is rated the No. 18 all-purpose running back nationally by Rivals.com.

He has offers from South Florida, and Minnesota, as well as interest from FIU, Clemson and Buffalo.