National Signing Day certainly turned into a festival atmosphere for Hokie fans, with tons of positives coupled with some negatives to give both the most ardent homer and the most disaffected crumudgeon plenty to talk about.
The Hokies were able to secure two of their top three remaining targets in multi-talented athlete Joel Caleb and bruising defensive end prospect Ken Ekanem. Meanwhile, Koren Kirven disappointed Hokie fans by joining Nick Saban's NFL machine down in Tuscaloosa. Finally, the Hokie blogosphere and twitterverse went crazy as MARGINAL linebacker prospect Ja Wand Blue decommitted and headed down to the Harvard of the South in Coral Gables.
These guys, as I'm sure every other high school senior about to sign a National Letter of Intent, are. There won't be many surprises tomorrow. Beamer Co. has received verbal commitments from 27 players, two of which: J.C. Coleman and Donaldven Manning have enrolled early. Jawand Blue, who committed to Tech back in July, continues to be recruited hard by his home state Hurricanes.
Three-star OLB Jawand Blue of Boca Raton, Fla., will find out Tuesday if he'll get a scholarship offer from Miami, according to Canesport.com. Blue, 6-0, 215, is committed to Virgina Tech but has been courted by coach Al Golden and his staff in recent weeks and hosted Miami's coaches at his high school last week.
As expected, Blue took his official visit to Tech last weekend, but no one can say for sure what a high school kid will do.
Three uncommitted targets remain for the Hokies: Korren Kirven, Joel Caleb, and Ken Ekanem.
I wrote somewhat of a "put yourself in the recruit's shoes" blog post last week to reiterate the pressures that go into the process. While scouring the various other college football related sites I stumbled upon this gem. The writer (@cuppycup) is a contributer for aTm but made this post to show how flagrant people have been with misusing twitter to contact recruits rather mockingly. Sadly the examples are real tweets people have sent out. The link is here.
"He's a great athlete. An elite athlete," one coach said. "He has size, speed — all those things. I think he's clearly the No. 1."
Another coach added, "He has great explosion and acceleration. He can run away from people."
If the receiver picks the Hokies on Wednesday, Tech will sign 4 of the 5 on the T-D's 2012 A-List. Caleb is 90% sure of where he'll end up. The Hokies are relentlessly pursuing defensive tackle Korren Kirven, who made his official visit to Tech this past weekend, but so are Alabama and Tennessee.
He made an official visit to Alabama last weekend. Tennessee coach Derek Dooley visited Brookville on Monday to make a final plea with the player, and Alabama coach Nick Saban was in Lynchburg on Wednesday to put in a final word for the Crimson Tide.
Top of the weekend to you fellow Hokie fans. We are knee deep into recruiting season, and as always, it is time to get excited about the new faces of the Hokie program. Today, I have watched some video on two commitments for the Hokies next season, Trey Edmunds and Woody Baron.
Trey Edmunds
Edmunds is a 6'2 210 linebacker/running back from Dan River High School in Ringgold, Virginia. With a deep running back class already committed, the Hokies are projecting Edmunds to play linebacker, by most accounts at the backer position. Edmunds was a Parade All-American whose production from both sides of the ball was outstanding (similar to Darren Evans, who was a 3 star recruit but was also a Parade All American. Edmunds is ranked as a 4 star by Rivals.
The life of a college senior is usually predicated on a time of ease as another chapter of schooling comes to a close. Thoughts of prom and other integral events flourish throughout the year until acceptance letters file in around spring. For some the choice is simple. Others may be pressured by legacy or cost, but the excitement assuredly blankets any stress once a commitment is made. If any other feelings of trepidation do arise the comfort of knowing the rest of one’s peer group are going through the same thing make them fleeting at best.
By RiVAHokieon January 11, 2012, 10:09 AM | 2 comments
After Alabama's drubbing of LSU in the National Championship game some analysts pointed out that 16 players on the team were from their top rated '08/'09 recruiting classes. Since SEC ball is "big boy football" this hardly comes as a shock to anyone as it often takes top talent to play against top talent later on. Hokie fans are aware of this gap during marquee games sadly enough.
To address the disparity we were all relieved to see Frank break the mold with staff shake ups and the ruturn of his prodigal son. The dividends to which are paying off nicely. Shane's fresh approach and charisma has helped the rest of our top recruiters get better at landing top talent.
By sparkoon January 9, 2012, 12:11 PM | 32 comments
With Urban Meyer supposedly planning to wreak havoc on MD/DC/VA recruiting in the coming years, I'd say that Shane Beamer's clout as a recruiter is first being put to the test with the recruitment of Joel Caleb. Beamer has been recruiting his first big name heavily and it seems like a huge tug-of-war between us and Ohio State.
I'm pulling for Shane but good or bad, where Joel Caleb goes may be a sign of things to come regarding VT recruiting.
By TKP Staffon September 27, 2011, 8:45 PM | 13 comments
JC Shurburtt of 247Sports reports that stud running back Drew Harris from Downingtown East high school in Exton, Pennsylvania committed to Virginia Tech.
According to Harris' 2010 highlight film he's 6-1 200 and runs a 4.4 40.
Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. Tech target Joel Caleb was