One of the real perks of the Mountain State Coal Classic is having the opportunity to meet some interesting folks from different parts of the country.

And so it was Friday.

We’ll call this one the recruit and the guitarist.

No doubt Norcross has an outstanding basketball team, as evidenced by its showing in the tournament. It has beaten Bridgeport and Veritas Christian, and will face Oak Hill Academy for the national bracket title today.

The Blue Devils have an array of outstanding basketball players, led by 6-foot-9 Wake Forest recruit Al-Farouq Aminu.

But Norcross also has one of the top football recruits in wide receiver/defensive back Prince Kent.

And yes, West Virginia is interested.

“They have one of the best programs in the nation,” Kent said after his team’s 65-41 win over Veritas.

Kent said the fact Rich Rodriguez has gone on to Michigan wouldn’t weigh in his decision.

“I look at what schools that are going to put my education first, not what staff is at the school,” Kent said. “The staff at the school doesn’t really matter.”

West Virginia would appear to be farther down on Kent’s list at the moment. After all, he has already received offers from Boston College, South Carolina, North Carolina, Miami (Fla.), Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama.

“There are plenty of schools with more to come,” said Kent, who didn’t really start playing football until his sophomore year.

Kent said he hopes to take his three official visits over the summer and would like to get the decision out of the way before fall.

“I keep every team high on my list because they are all important to me,” said Kent, who said Georgia was recruiting him as a defensive player.

Jonathan Ellington loves basketball. He just loves guitar more.

The Veritas guard has standing offers from American, among others, to play hoops.

Don’t count on it.

Ellington, along with being a good point guard, is a great classical guitarist.

To me, a classic guitarist would be Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix.

“Actually, that’s classic rock,” Ellington said. “But Jimmy Page did start out as a classical guitarist.”

Pretty impressive, a hoopster who knows who Jimmy Page is. (He of Led Zeppelin fame, for those who don’t know.)

Even more impressive is his guitar resume. He started playing classical guitar at age seven and he has also dabbled in rock and is in a band in Asheville, N.C.

He has whittled his college choices down to either the Berkeley College of Music or USC, where he would learn at the feet of the renowned Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

“Music is my first love,” Ellington said after scoring 15 points Friday. “It’s hard to give up basketball, but as time has gone by, I kind of gravitated more toward music.”

Ellington would like to one day become a touring artist. And he’s not talking about playing any power chords. Classical guitarists run the spectrum of the instrument, not a three- or four-note parade to the top of the charts.

Ellington owns a Les Paul Gibson and often strums on his father’s Fender Stratocaster. He said the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante is his favorite guitarist. And yes, he takes his guitars on the road.

His teammates enjoy his playing.

“A lot of times they can’t believe all that sound is coming from one instrument,” Ellington said. “I’m trying to open up their musical spectrum to some new music.”

I was impressed that he knew who Jimmy Page was.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com