While the vast majority of high school recruits will end the suspense and announce their college choices on Feb. 1, also known as National Signing Day, 2017 DE Zion DeBose of Spencer, N.C.'s North Rowan HS is planning to keep everyone in the dark for an extra 48 hours.
And by everyone, DeBose means absolutely everyone — he says he won't even tell his mom about his decision before his Feb. 3 announcement.
But DeBose says that particular mystery is her choice, not his.
"That's my mother's birthday, and she specifically asked me for, as a gift, she wants me to even surprise her, she doesn't want to know where I'll end up going," DeBose told The Key Play. "So that's going to be her surprise. I'm just going to do this signing party, pick a school, that's going to be a surprise. Because I honestly feel like this is probably my last time spending time with her for her birthday before I go off to college for the next four years, because I won't be home too much. So I wanted to make it special for her before I end up going off to school."
Yet DeBose's family won't be the only ones waiting with bated breath for the news about the DE's decision; the Hokies have emerged as a key contender for DeBose's services after offering him late last month.
"Honestly, I was excited, but at the same time, it was more of a closure type feeling," DeBose said. "I knew it was coming, so it was like, 'Finally, I got the offer.' But at the same time it was still exciting because it was just a blessing and a gift to have the talents to compete at such a high level, especially Division I football, so it was just a pretty good feeling."
Indeed, the Hokies have kept tabs on DeBose for a while now. He camped at Tech early in 2016, but he committed to Appalachian State in July. Yet DeBose still earned a trip to Blacksburg for the team's beatdown of ECU in September, and he de-committed soon afterward.
But through it all, DeBose says DL coach Charley Wiles and the rest of Tech's staff never stopped watching his progress, culminating in the offer right before Christmas.
"He told me that him and the defensive staff have been watching me my whole senior year, and they've just been watching how great I've been doing and how dominant I've been," DeBose said. "And they say that's what they've been looking for, for somebody who they want to come up and play for them at Virginia Tech and they pulled the trigger. They told me they've been watching me and they're really excited about how I play the game and how I fit their program and stuff like that."
Yet DeBose noted that he hasn't yet gotten the full pitch from Wiles and company about what sort of chance he'll have to earn early playing time or how he'll fit into the defense. Luckily, he expects to get two different chances to learn a little more about the program.
With the dead period ending on Jan. 11, DeBose says TEs/special teams coach James Shibest is ready and willing to line up an in-home visit, along with Wiles and possibly even Justin Fuente.
"(Shibest) DM'd me and told me about just how fired up they are about being able to come down here," DeBose said.
And by the end of January, DeBose is hoping to see Blacksburg in person once more. He's set an official visit for Jan. 27, where he's hoping learn more about every facet of life at Virginia Tech, including the academic side of things.
"I'm hoping to see their architectural program along with their civil engineering program, and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with the coaches and being able to get to know them, kind of see where their head is at," DeBose said. "Just see what type of person they are, if they're cool, laid back, easy coaches to talk to. I also want to spend a lot of time with some of the players so I can actually get a feel for the reality of it, the reality of how it really feels to be at Virginia Tech as a football player, the ins and outs. Is it difficult balancing football, academics, and stuff like that, so that's what I'm really going to go see."
The official visit will be DeBose's final official before he makes his big decision. He says he visited Missouri on Dec. 9, and he's planning a trip to Illinois on Jan. 13 and one to Pitt on Jan. 20.
By the time his hectic January is over, DeBose is hoping to have all the information he needs to make his decision. Whether he'll be surprising just his mom with that choice, or the Hokies as well, will likely come down to how those trips go.
"I plan on finding all that stuff out and getting all my questions answered," DeBose said.
Comments
I don't care who else that signs. This kid plays the way we expect a VT DE to play. Relentless and angry! WANT
Between him, Garbutt, Brad Johnson, Dimujke and Porcher, how would you rank them in potential along our DL.
DL or just DE? In terms of playing right away I'd put Johnson at the front of the list for DE. I think Dimuke and porcher would eventually slide in to DT.
DL, I realize that Dimujkek and possibly Porcher would be moved inside, I just wonder how French would rank them in potential along VT's DL
Just in case he reads TKP...
D-I-M-U-K-E-J-E...I got you Vic :)
always good to hear a recruit has French's stamp of approval:
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure French's stamp of approval would not have a wheel of cheese on it.
Man...you sure got that right! He's awesome!
One of the best architecture programs in the country. I graduated with an architectural degree from VT and it has been one of the best things I've ever done. Come to Virginia Tech. Play for a winner. Earn a great degree. Regret nothing.
Civil Engineering is also a very strong program at Tech. Can't go wrong with either here.
I'm a 2014 civil engineering grad and I approve this message
I can't imagine doing Architecture and playing football. My studio days usually lasted 12 hours, minimum, with the occasional interruption for class.
My advice to the kid would be to do the engineering, for background. Then do an Architecture masters after. That'd take up much less of his time early in school.
Eh, good advice. Advice I wish I would have had when I was deciding my college track. But...
I'm here to say it's possible to graduate (and not anywhere close to being at the bottom of your class) and become an architect with good employment opportunities without drinking the "12 hour studio sessions are required" Kool-aid. Faculty wants you to think that is what it takes, but that culture needs to change, in my opinion.
I'm tempted to go on a rant about what I perceive as the few shortcomings of an otherwise great program. But in lieu of such, I'll just say that having a more well rounded college experience, which includes as many business classes as you can fit in, is a better alternative to living in Cowgill/Burchard for 5 years, if your dream is to become an architect.
All that said, there were extremely few athletes and Corp of Cadet students in the program when I was there. It is a bit more challenging from a time management perspective, but not impossible.
I think this might be a pretty widespread mindset/culture with architecture students. I knew a few guys who were doing Architecture at Clemson that had the same mentality, and regularly spent the night in the studio.
I definitely had some friends who went through architecture and they didn't do the all-nighters or anything like that. Admittedly, they were married so I feel like that tends to add a little more structure to your life, but they decided it was better to treat it like a job. Any time they didn't have classes, they would try to get into lab by 7:30 and not stay later than 4:30 or 5. Hardly your typical college experience, but they were able to guilt free enjoy their nights and weekends...
afraid that culture doesn't stop after university. It's a deadline heavy creative process that fosters late night binges that are pretty much what you do in arch studio for 4 years.
Personally I am freeing up the studio to work at the hours they please so long as the deadline is hit and meetings are attended, then what hours are worked are subjective in my opinion. That's the idea anyway. Got it from an Advertising agency and seems to work wonders for managing excessive overtimes.
most office not like that though.
Eh, I never did an all-nighter. 10-10 with breaks was fine for preservation of my sanity.
In my work life, I LEAVE work at 5:30. I don't take stuff home. I don't have email on my phone. It's great.
I've seen too many Architects letting work dominate their life. There's no reason for it.
I wanted to be an architect but after some high school misguidance, went in as a mechanical engineer. After a while, decided to go back to architecture. However, I transferred into Interiors (one of the top programs as well), went through culture shock as my classes changed from all dudes to all girls, graduated, worked at some top firms, and now my own firm.
Remember being teamed up with an arch student and just about lost my mind as she never progressed to completing her project by the deadline, so I had to finish without her. Interiors is more deadline driven in class, and there are more projects to complete.
Unless you want to do base building, my recommendation is Interiors. Graduate faster and move up in the professional world quicker. You tend to become a PM while architects are still "interns". And of course, there is that girl thing too.
More power to you all who made it through architecture. I bailed after 2 years. My studio professor always joked about business majors being lazy and going to Sharkey's for burgers on Fridays, while arch majors were in the studio. Needless to say, I'm a business major now.
This topic is a complicated one that gets discussed often among all of us who experienced and/or survived design school. I can count the number of all-nighters I pulled at Cowgill on two hands, but for some people all-nighters work for them. It's all personal preference, like morning people and night owls. I am a morning person, and the thought of spending my evenings in studio never appealed to me.
I think for some, they hear about the culture of design school and see all-nighters as a badge of honor; as though you aren't designing hard enough if you aren't there all night. But for me, I managed my time as well as possible (while juggling a 30-hr a week job at the bookstore) to avoid regularly burning the midnight oil. Am I a better or worse architect because of it? I don't know, and I don't really care. I feel pretty good about how my career has gone.
Regarding balancing varsity sports and architecture, all I can say is best of luck to Zion if that's the route he chooses. I remember many many classmates who were Cadets or athletes First Year and either dropped out of the program or no longer competed by Second Year. It's intense, and purposely so.
As Fernley said, it's how our profession operates (for better or for worse). But again, even in the working world, time management and good project managers (who do the same) can go a long way towards ensuring you have a personal life.
I have noticed that it's largely a compounded issue between the manager and the designer. Designers can get into their own head and rework something to death. Managers, especially ones that are less organized, can derail a project with focus on wrong or insignificant details. When I was working for others I had this Design Director that would start reworking the design in the final week of delivery and it would completely derail everything that we were pushing for originally. Then a very good presentation would end up being a very poor presentation. I wouldn't have minded if the changes were things that mattered to the client and would be the difference between approval or not, but it was always just the "I am the senior designer so my design is great" bullshit.
Professionally I have found that designers that need to physically go through the creative process all "on paper" have an extremely low amount of personal time, while those that can do a lot of that in their head while thinking of a project have better time management. It doesn't mean one is better than the other, but I literally have had to turn off the lights and kick people out because they are looking at scribbles on paper trying to get through the process.
Also I have this rule for all Managers, project managers, etc. If your team is working late at night then you need to work late at night. If they stay all night then you have to as well. I find it highly effective incentive for managers to be proactive at deadline delivery and not rely on the end of deadline binge. Managers that don't manage their team's productivity are not managers, and you cannot do that when you're sleeping and they are at work.
When does Fernley for President campaign start?
All the legs for this. I completely agree with everything you have said.
This.
Well, to be blunt, in the studio as I recall, there was for the most part a lot of fartin around, lack of focus on the task at hand. Its hard for me to see how anyone can be productive and focused for 12 hours.
While I don't think he can go wrong with either major, I was thinking the same thing about the time commitment. I graduated in CE and probably could have worked around the athletic schedule, but architecture is a different animal.
My nephew is on the crew team at Temple and is a freshman architecture student. He was telling me over Christmas how he was struggling to meet the demands of 3-a-day workouts and design studio. Doesn't sound like they travel as much as football does.
However, it appears this kid is pretty motivated and VT seems pretty flexible across the board with students and their majors (my daughter is a freshman Hokie that has already changed her major), so I'm sure they can work it out if that's what he chooses.
I hope the young man chooses VT and is successful in whatever major he ends up in.
have been around the design and development industry worldwide for a long time now, and delight devilishly in dashing the smugness of Harvard grads when I show them VT undergrad is routinely ranked higher than them. It's not like any of the top 10 are "better" than any others, but seeing them deflate is always enjoyable.
He'll have to accept the logo he wears in High School becomes the mark of the beast once he gets here though. (Though I also went to a High School with a Cavalier mascot)
As did I. Thankfully, neither of our colors were orange or blue. Makes it slightly better I think.
Red/White/Black Cavaliers for my high school
Holston High School! Damascus! Where the police chiefs can't stay out of jail. My dad's family is from there. Our family land is right there on the river across from Columbus McKinnon.
Isn't it a bit of a risk to wait after NSD if your school gets too many commitments?
makes you wonder if one of the places he wants to go has expressed interest but only if there's still a spot after NSD.... hope that is not the case. Seems like the Hokie blue collar type so I hope he ends up in O&M.
Or we could take him at his word that he wants to surprise his mother on her birthday.
Come on VT_Fencer, the name of the game is assume the worst and let it eat at you until you believe it to be true.
Wow. I usually can't tell much from watching kids' film, but I got really excited watching this kid. Takes great angles, gets off blocks, never stops, and most of all makes some HARD hits. This is one instance where I don't care too much about the star ratings and class rankings, I would love to see him in O&M. Go Hokies!
I watched that highlight reel twice the other night with my 6 year old. All I can say is we were both thoroughly amused at how hard he was hitting the QB
I am impressed with his speed and his tackling, he uses his arms to wrap up the player, not trying to do block tackles which frequently seem to hurt us. He does look like a beast and would be a welcome sight in orange and maroon. He seems to play right DE primarily so he will be facing their strongest offensive tackle, but he looks GOOD! I likey. Let's make it happen.
Architecture or Civil Engineering? I like this kid's ambition.
At 1:00 Debose blows past the RT, the RT stands there for a few seconds like "what the hell just happened," and then falls down with an "injury."
Looks like he is diving on the ball since Debose caused a fumble there
I rewatched that part about 10 times to see what the hell he was doing. Still missed it. Your equine eyes are better than my human ones.
Man-o-man... poor QBs must have had nightmares before playing this guy's team... me like!
In many of his highlights he was completely unblocked. Was that fear factor, poor execution, or poor coaching?
I think the answer is: high school.
Or highlights. Tend to get better hits and make more of an impact when you are unblocked. Every now and then you see some really good film showing players getting off blocks and making plays consistently but they don't come around all that often.
A lot of times he was on the weak side of the run unblocked and managed to get around and catch QB's and halfbacks running stretches to the opposite side of the field. Guy has good speed and doesn't stop playing. I like him.
Don't usually watch highlight videos, but his is impressive. That swim move is vicious and he plays hard and fast every single snap. Don't care about the stars, he looks like a Hokie.
Seems like a good, well-rounded kid and a good addition to the team.
This kid reminds me of Corey Moore.
Love his highlight music. Anyone know the name?
And yes he plays with a hell of a motor. Form tackles too! Not just trying to do a hit-stick deal.
This kid goes to high school down the road from my office. I wonder if his reveal will be public? My coworker in the office next to mine went to North Rowan and has kids there. Still goes to all of the games. He had some non-highlight reel clips on his phone. Even Zion's non-highlights were impressive. Coworker was livid that he decommitted from App State.
P5>G5 when they come calling and you're committed to a G5 scholarship; a decommitment was inevitable once an opportunity to play at a higher level opens up
For sure, but he has a kid at App State and actively roots for them. He wanted to see a star from his high school go light it up there in Boone.
A dude with a motor and mind. Exactly what we're looking for.
Why was he offered so late? Late bloomer? Grades?
Not ideal length for a typical 4-3 college DE. His body type is very similar to Orion Martin. Fortunately for the Hokies, his ability to get around the edge, bend, get off blocks, and arrive at the football with bad intentions is also like Martin. If Wiles gets him, he would probably be my candidate for the surprise guy to bust out from the class.
Shibest and Wiles met with Debose tonight in home.
Look at the difference in facial expressions between the 2 photos. Zion knows what's up.
Is their a queue of coaches outside his door?
Must be; He's wearing the same thing. We did the same thing when we were getting replacement windows. Schedule all the appointments back to back so they can cross paths as they enter/leave and know there's a competition.
Both were yesterday after school. My sauces say he really enjoyed his Missouri visit, but of course no one really knows anything.
Logo'd half-zip > logo'd button down. That alone should get his commitment.
French, I think you mentioned him in your quick DL review that he's basically a faster Vinny and you're dead on. He's a faster Vinny. Also, we better hope he doesn't treat women like he treats OL and ballcarriers or he'll never play a down for VT and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Good gracious.
Underrated scene:
We don't have time for questions. We need marijuana now, as much of it as possible! Like a big bag of it.
Did he make a decision? I haven't seen an announcement from him anywhere?
Not sure if /s or not. I think he is waiting until 2/3/17 to announce on his mom's birthday. I may be mistaken though.
That's what I was thinking... Yesterday I thought I saw his name on the signee list on Hokiesports.
For some reason I also had been hearing rumors that he picked the good guys prior to his actual announcement as well. Who knows. We got him and I'm excited to see him play.