2016 Hokies Commit CB Troy Pride Jr. Impressed by Hokies' "Boldness"

For new Virginia Tech commit Troy Pride Jr., a cornerback out of South Carolina's Greer High School, seeing is believing.

While Pride attracted interest from a variety of top programs, only the Hokies extended him a scholarship offer, and he accepted it Friday night to become the fifth member of Tech's 2016 class.

"Virginia Tech was the first team to believe in me, and not just give me the 'let's form a relationship' spiel," Pride said. "It wasn't just 'we're going to be talking to you heavily and then we'll see,' they just showed they believed in me."

Defensive backs coach Torrian Gray didn't offer him very long ago, with the Hokies making it official only in mid-December, but Pride was clearly overwhelmed by his early experiences with Tech.

"I just loved the boldness of Coach Gray, how he was willing to be my first offer," Pride said. "He's someone I feel like I can connect with as a coach, plus they've been a real tunnel to the NFL for DBs."

Pride's been making the rounds recently, visiting a variety of schools that have expressed interest in him the last few weekends, but he decided he didn't want to wait on Thursday. He told Gray about his decision, and once the coach checked with Frank Beamer to make sure everything was in order, he gave Pride the green light to announce the news on Twitter.

Blessed to say I have verbally committed to further my education and football career with the Virginia Tech Hokies #beamerball #DBU — Troy Pride 5 (@GHSIsland5) February 21, 2015

Strangely enough, Pride had a visit to Georgia scheduled for Saturday, after making visits to Wake Forest and N.C. State in the last few weeks, but only VT seemed right to him.

"They were each great and impressive in their own ways, but for me, they couldn't compare to Tech," Pride said. "I felt at home there. It was just more personal for me."

Pride got a chance to test out the feel of Tech's campus when he made the trek up to Blacksburg for the team's Junior Day on February 7.

It seems the staff tried to give the visitors a taste of how Lane Stadium looks and feels on a game day by letting the recruits line up in the tunnel and blasting "Enter Sandman," before running out on the field, and that experience seemed awfully tantalizing to Pride.

"It just gave me chills, walking through the tunnel like that," Pride said. "I could picture myself in the pads, ready to run out there and play for the Hokies."

But the program also scored high marks when it came to the more serious matters.

"Their academics really impressed my mom," Pride said. "I haven't decided on a major yet, I need to talk about it with her still, but the overview of the tutors and the whole program was really impressive."

Pride is hoping to visit Tech again this summer for a camp for another look at his future home. He adds that his rigorous studies at Greer, including AP and IB classes, will prevent him from enrolling early, however.

Now that Pride is in the fold, Gray has to feel confident that he's found a diamond in the rough. Pride only earned a rating from the 247Sports Composite ranking on Saturday, checking in as a 3-star recruit, and Gray clearly sees something he likes in his abilities.

"They tell me they really like my length and speed at DB," Pride said.

At an even six feet tall, it's clearly to see that Pride's size is attractive. But Gray also likely showed Bud Foster how well Pride could fit as a run-stuffing corner in his system.

"I'm a sound tackler, I really pride myself on not missing tackles," Pride said. "I'm a ballhawk, I try to fly to the ball."

He tries to apply that same physicality to his work in coverage.

"I love to play man," Pride said. "I like to get up in a receiver's face."

Now that he has his college choice settled, Pride plans to focus on the remaining elements of his game that need work so he can start to stand out from the other two DBs that have already joined the 2016 class.

"I want to play off coverage better, improve my footwork," Pride said. "I want to work on my catching ability as well. I can catch fine now, but I know it has to be better at the next level."