Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay and the Flames have picked up a commitment from the highest-rated recruit in program history as four-star combo guard Eli Sancomb has announced his verbal.
The 6’5″, 190-pound athlete from the Class of 2026 is from Wheeling, West Virginia where he attends Central Catholic High School. He is rated as a four-star by 247Sports where he is ranked as the 102nd best prospect in the country and the top player in the state of West Virginia. He is rated as a 0.9578 in the 247Sports Composite, easily the highest rated recruit in school history. He is also a four-star rated prospect on ESPN, where he is the top player in West Virginia and the 30th best at his position in the Class of 2026. On3 rates Sancomb as a three-star prospect.
The lefty guard took an official visit to Liberty during the weekend of August 30 when the football team opened the season against Maine. Earlier this summer, Sancomb set a top five of Liberty, Iowa, Colorado State, Saint Louis, and Loyola.
In addition to that top five, Sancomb also touted offers from a long list of schools including Belmont, Charleston, Dayton, Drexel, George Washington, Marshall, Miami Ohio, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Richmond, Toledo, and Youngstown State. Liberty offered him in June.
During his junior season this past year, Sancomb was named the 2025 West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year and led the Maroon Knights to their 13th State Championship. In three state tournament victories, he totaled 72 points, 41 rebounds, 15 assists, eight steals, and six blocked shots with seven turnovers. He made 22 of 40 field goals, including 7 of 12 from three, and 21 of 23 at the free throw line.
For his junior season, Sancomb averaged 25.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.6 steals while shooting better than 54% from the field, 36% on threes, and nearly 85% from the free throw line.
Hailed as one of the best passing guards in the country, his strong play from the school season carried over into the summer as a breakout player for the WV Gold on the Pro16 Circuit where he averaged 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 38.2% from three.
His father, Danny Sancomb, is a longtime Division II men’s basketball coach who recently wrapped up his seventh season as head coach at California (PA). Prior to that, he was head coach for 11 seasons at Wheeling University, where he is one of the most accomplished players in program history having led the country in scoring at 26.9 points in 1997-98.
Sancomb is the third commit in the Class of 2026 for McKay and the Flames. He joins three-star guard Eli Herbert and three-star forward Reece Davidson.
