Virginia Tech National Signing Day Wrap

Justin Fuente wrapped up his first national signing day as Hokies' head coach on Wednesday. Virginia Tech's 21-person class is highlighted by 4-star JUCO quarterback Jerod Evans and cornerback Khalil Ladler. Alex Koma posted a story highlighting the highs and lows of Tech's NSD, but given the abundance of remarks and information, he and I transcribed what Fuente, Bud Foster and Brad Cornelsen had to say.

Head Coach Justin Fuente

OPENING REMARKS:

"I wanted to thank our administration for giving us the tools to get out and travel and host and house these kids that are deciding to come to Virginia Tech. It takes a whole village to recruit. We actually touched almost every aspect of our campus in these kids' times here, and it takes a whole bunch of people in a bunch of different categories to help us out and show off the Blacksburg area. Lastly, the coaches and their families. A lot has been said about travel, and time away from home and that sort of stuff, so it was a lot of sacrifice by the coaches and their spouses and families, so I wanted to thank them for that. I'm awfully excited about this class. We built upon the work of Coach Beamer and his staff. We basically divided this up into two separate classes. When we got here, it didn't take us long to figure out that we had some immediate needs, in terms of midterm kids, high school kids that had graduated early, we needed to reach out to them because their decision was coming on an accelerated time table, so we addressed those needs. We had seven high school kids and added two junior college kids to that, so over the Christmas break, we took a little stock in the kids that we were going to sign today. We did a great job of holding onto the kids that were committed and adding other pieces of the puzzle, and also turned our eye towards next year to make sure that we do a great job 365 days from now. We still have a high priority on the state of Virginia, and you'll continue to see that through my tenure here. A lot of kids decided to stay close to home and play for Virginia Tech. Obviously we had some needs position-wise that we needed to address. On the defensive side of the ball, it was a little more even class, with four defensive backs, three linebackers and two defensive lineman, a little bit more even distribution there. On the offensive side of the ball, it's a little more bunched up. You won't see any running backs, just because of our numbers. Obviously we needed to sign some wide receivers, and we still have room, we have some room to reach our goal number, but I was a little hesitant to get too many of those guys in one class. If you're not careful, three or four years from now, you're gonna find yourself in the exact same situation when it comes to class dispersion. We wanted to be sure to spread those guys out. There's several offensive lineman that hopefully we can put away in the weight room for a few years and get back in a couple years."

ON THE HOKIES' BIGGEST NEEDS:

"On the offensive side of the ball, we needed to continue to add some depth to the offensive line. We had one quarterback already in the class, and Jerod will add some depth and get some good competition there. At wide receiver, we have three midterm kids. On the defensive side of the ball, when you look at those guys, we wanted to keep some of the local kids here and we signed some in the secondary and linebackers to continue to just add guys that we need."

ON THE CHALLENGE OF ONLY BEING IN BLACKSBURG FOR TWO MONTHS:

"Obviously, that's a challenge, but part of the reason we were able to keep the players is some of the continuity. Bud Foster knows the high schools in the state of Virginia, and I think that played a huge role in keeping the class together, just accelerating those relationships. You always look at it, and there's some guys that you target and sometimes those work out, and sometimes they don't. The best way to do it is to continue to build those relationships."

ON RECRUITS HE KNEW FROM MEMPHIS:

"Demetri Moore is a guy we had some contact with before."

ON RECRUITING JUCO PLAYERS:

"I don't anticipate it being a big part of what we do. I think these were special scenarios or special situations. We have a pretty strong group of kids academically that we felt like can handle Virginia Tech, so I don't anticipate it. I'm not saying we'll never do it, but I don't anticipate it being a large part of our process. But Jerod was somebody that we knew what he was about, we knew his background, and same with Demitri, so it made it a little bit easier."

ON HAVING 5 OFFENSIVE LINEMAN IN ONE CLASS:

"That's pretty heavy, I think. In general, it's usually around four. Sometimes you have guys redshirt and guys play and classes spread out a little bit, but off the top of my head, I can't remember what our target number is. I'd like to not be so heavy in one spot and have the offensive side look a little bit more like the defensive side distribution wise."

ON ADVANTAGE OF EARLY ENROLLEES:

"I think it's really big for us at wide receiver. It's big for Jimmie Taylor and Khalil Ladler as well on the defensive side of the ball, but at wide receiver, we're not incredibly deep right now. We only have two guys with a lot of reps last year, and we'd like to play a bunch of guys. With the tempo we run, I don't know how much or how little of that we'll be able to do or how fast these guys will come along. But it's big for them to be here in the spring to get a handle on what's going on, where they're lining up, all those sorts of things. Those 15 extra practices will be big heading into fall camp."

ON WHO WILL REDSHIRT THIS FALL:

"I'd say that's way down the line, we'll worry about that this fall. I anticipate we will redshirt some, but I haven't even seen our own team practice yet, so I don't know."

ON RECRUITING COMMITTED PLAYERS:

"You ask them. It's pretty simple, if they don't want to be recruited, they'll let you know. You ask every coach and every player. We have guys commit to us, I ask them to not commit to us until they're ready to severe ties with everybody else."

ON 2017 CLASS:

"We're hoping to sign a little bit of everything. Hopefully we'll be back with tight end and running back, on the offensive side of the ball. We don't have a particularly large class this year, we only have 10 seniors, so it won't be an incredibly large class, though I'm sure we'll have some attrition, every program does. Hopefully our numbers will be a little more balanced, we can balance it out a bit more. I think we'll need a little bit of everything next year."

ON SPECIFIC COACHES RECRUITING AREAS:

"I do think it's important to have. First of all, everybody on staff is in Virginia, we want to emphasize the state, we want everyone to have a stake in it, so everybody recruits in Virginia. Basically, in general terms, we go up and down the east coast, but we still organize it by areas and that will lead into position specific recruiting. I want those kids to develop a relationship with their position coach and coordinator at that side of the ball."

ON IF ANY RECRUITING BATTLES STUCK OUT:

"Nothing in particular. Each one of those kids is a story, and they chose Virginia Tech for a reason. What's ultimately most important is figuring out for that young man what's most important for him and making a decision based on that."

ON HIS APPROACH TO SIGNING DAY:

"My big deal is trying to avoid big surprises. If there's no big surprises, then I'm really, really happy. Everything that's supposed to happen did happen, the coaches did a great job of building those relationships and staying in touch with those kids. It was a relatively easy and stress-free day. It was the culmination of a lot hard work by a lot of people. But by no means do you put your feet up on the desk and light up a cigar, you've got to roll your sleeves up and continue to work."

ON HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE HOKIES IN-STATE RECRUITING:

"I think we've been received really well, I think high school coaches across the state appreciate the way we handled our business through this signing period. We'll continue to develop that. We'll do things to reach out to them throughout the spring to make sure we're accessible so we can develop those relationships. But I do think they appreciate the way we handle recruiting, but you can always get better. I think we made some headway here. It's a start, it's the foundation of what we're building, it's a great first step in the next generation of Virginia Tech football, and I'm excited for the ongoing chapters."

Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster

OPENING REMARKS:

"Really excited about this class. It's been a lot of hard work mixing maybe even part of the previous staff and hanging on to some people and then attacking this thing with the new staff has been very exciting. We had a good day today. Looking forward to working with the young men. I felt like we've hit all our needs. We didn't have a big need for up front because we have a lot of people coming back. But we did hit a couple target guys who we obviously we were targeting. I like the linebacker class that we have...and then a pretty good group on the back end. I feel good about the young men that we've brought in that will be a part of this thing."

WHY HIGH SCHOOL COACHES SHOULD TRUST FUENTE:

"For the same reasons they trust Coach Beamer. Very similar guy in a lot of ways. Very caring. Very detailed-oriented as far as a football guy. When it comes down to developing the relationships and how we've done that in the past and what's made us successful here, he's the same guy. Once he got a chance to visit with the coaches, once he got a chance to visit with the recruits, they saw that. I'm excited about that next chapter with him leading the charge. We've had a lot of opportunities the last couple weeks to ride around together quite a bit. We're in good shape with this guy, with Coach Fuente."

ON WHO DRIVES WHEN HE AND FUENTE RECRUIT TOGETHER:

"It's like it always is, it's usually the assistants drive (laughs). Coach does a great job. He came in and balanced what we've done, particularly we had some mid-semester guys coming in, did a great job going and seeing those guys and keeping them committed. We felt like we had a couple critical positions, in particular receiver, obviously quarterback, had the Jackson kid committed, and then going out and getting Jerod. That was big. Create some competition. He did a great job just getting out and getting connected with the guys...We've attacked this state and then the players that we targeted outside the state. He did a great job of getting out and meeting everyone"

OF IF HE FINDS HIMSELF NEEDING TO RESELL THE PROGRAM:

"No, not necessarily. This program, we've done a lot of good things...What we've done here in the past has been dynamic. Now the message is, 'dynamic offensive guy and his staff coming in...' And what we've been capable of doing defensively here, when you start putting those things together, and when we've had a dynamic offense, we've done some dynamic things as a football program. That's really the big selling point. People identify that that know Virginia Tech and have followed us over the years, they recognize what potential we have. That's really exciting. That's the thing, I think more than anything, the recruits, the coaches, the people around the area, really see a new enthusiasm, a new excitement and a new future."

ON IF HE LIKES THE VARIETY IN THE LINEBACKER CLASS:

"The Beckett kid we've targeted from Day 1. He's a 757 guy. Really good football player. Explosive. Can play in space. Can play in tight spaces. Very physical. Has great ball skills. Just a complete football player. I like what he's all about. I think he's gonna help us down the road in recruiting the 757 area. Emmanuel Belmar's been committed to us for a long time. I was talking with our radio people earlier on the sports show, Emmanuel reminds me of Nekos Brown. He's maybe a little bit taller, a long kid that plays a lot with his hand on the ground coming off the edge. Very explosive, though. Very dynamic. He can play a couple of positions...I think he has a chance to be a really big kid. Very athletic, can bend his body...Has the ability to make the big time play. And then I really think one of the sleepers in our class is the kid Eron Carter. Great student. Not a good student, a great student. Really approached heavily by the (service) academies, which makes a statement about him. More of a true Mike linebacker, but more of a thumper type guy. Good in tight spaces. A good finisher. A lot of players being knocked back when he's making plays. I really like the group of kids, I like their diversity as far as athletic ability. I like their intelligence as far as their football IQ."

ON JIMMIE TAYLOR GETTING PLAYING TIME NEXT SEASON:

"We'll see. I've seen Jimmie myself run a couple times. There's obviously a learning curve. You're only gonna get 15 days of practice. That and you've got a summer. I'm excited about Jimmie. We'll see where it goes. That position's gonna be a critical position for us this spring, our d-end position. We redshirted three guys last year. We have one guy out, Seth Dooley's gonna miss spring ball with shoulder surgery. So that really only gives us Ken Ekanem back that has any experience. There's gonna be four young guys playing for the first time and getting quality reps this spring and learning every day and growing every day. I'm excited about what Jimmie's gonna bring to the table. I'm excited about what the other guys are gonna bring to the table. They're athletic. They're working hard right now. We're gonna have to grow up in a hurry at that position. That's been a playmaking spot for us over the years. When we've been good defensively, that's been a good position for us."

ON IF HE STILL RECRUITS WHIPS:

"Yes and no. You'd like to have a big kid when you're playing against 21, 12, or 22 type personnel, meaning two back, one tight end (or) one back, two tight end type personnel, more heavier type people, it's good to have those type of people in the game in short yardage situations or in those scenarios. But the game's getting so spread out right now. I think we have enough people in place though to be able to play a whip. Even a backer can play a whip position in the short yardage or multiple back, multiple tight end personnel and formations. We've got guys already in place, big safeties moving down like an Anthony Shegog or even some kids that we have in this current class. I really like what Reggie Floyd's about. He's a big physical kid that allows us the potential to do a lot of different things. That's kind of what we've done at that position. We're really more a 4-2-5 than we are a 4-3. We claim ourselves to be a 4-3 but we're probably closer to being a 4-2-5 type scheme anyway. But there are a couple guys that fit that (whip) mold already that seem to be a little more productive close to the line of scrimmage.

ON IF IT'S EASIER TO PLAY FARTHER FROM THE BALL:

"I think it does. A lot of things happen in the box. You have to have great vision. If you're half a step slow, you're gonna get dinged from one angle or the other. I think it's a little easier to play in space early. I think sometimes the terminology and what you're asked to do as far as a mindset, as far as mental capacity, and the movements you're asked to do, can stress you a little bit more inside. Plus the guys are bigger, stronger, a little more mature inside. Not that they aren't that way outside, but it's not as much hand-to-hand combat on the perimeter as in the interior...We've got a couple young kids that I really like from last year...I really like the Hewitt kid. He's twitchy. He reminds me a lot of Luther in a lot of his quickness and explosiveness. Kind of a mix between Luther and Corey Marshall. A guy that can flatten out and chase the ball from sideline to sideline. I like what he's all about. Then you throw Jimmie in with our kids that we have coming back at our end position, we've helped ourselves I think up front. We've just got to grow up in a hurry, we really do."

ON JOVONN QUILLEN:

"He was in camp and we really liked his competitiveness. We've always liked recruiting the quarterbacks. Those guys bring to the table a good football IQ and obviously if it's an athletic quarterback, they bring a lot of athleticism. That's what Jovonn's gonna do. Smart kid. Tough kid. I like the way he competed in camp. We offered him right away after obviously watching his film and that type of thing from high school. Comes from a great program. Well coached. I really like what he's all about. We'll look at all those guys on the back end, we'll look at their ability to cover first. All of our safeties, particularly our free safety and our two corners, are involved in coverage. The one guy that we can protect a little bit and maybe not play as much away from the line of scrimmage is our rover position. We'll find that out and evaluate those guys and put them in the right spot to maximize their strengths and minimize their liabilities. That's our ultimate goal. When those guys are feeling good about themselves, they're performing well, they're feeling like they've got a lot of self-confidence, they're playing well, the defense is playing well and our football team is playing well."

Offensive Coordinator Brad Cornelsen

OPENING REMARKS:

"We're excited about the class for us offensively, we added some depth and competition in key spots, which I'm excited about. I'm excited about those guys, most of those guys being here this spring, so it should be a competitive, interesting spring. I can't say enough about the guys that were here in December, when i got here after the break. The job they did out on the road recruiting and taking over the transition phase with guys that were already here did a tremendous job putting this class together. I haven't been here long, but it's not hard to see why this program has taken off.

ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH JEROD EVANS' TRINITY VALLEY OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR:

Clay Patterson was his offensive coordinator the last two years at Trinity Valley. He was a junior college player in Oklahoma when I was a very, very young coach, so I had a background with Clay for a long time. It's always nice when you know the coaches that they're playing for. Those are the guys that know them best, that can tell you how they work, day in and day out, how they make decisions.

ON SIMILARITIES WITH HIS OFFENSE TO OTHER SPREADS:

"There's similarities in schemes, in coaching styles, but more importantly, you find out how the kid has been competing, and he had nothing but great things to say about him. Most concepts that we've been running will be things that we've installed, and some of those are similar to what they've been doing here. It's hard to really pinpoint the exact direction that you're gonna go until you know exactly what you have. It makes spring really important, you try to evaluate what we already have, what we have coming in. Our philosophy is simply to get the best guys on our team on the field and find the best way to allow them to make plays, so we're going to try to push the tempo. Whatever personnel we end up majoring in, we're going to try to push the tempo and put some pressure on the defense. We're not into snapping the ball as fast as we can just to do it, but we're going to push the tempo when we feel like we can and we need to and protect our defense as much as we can and get leads. Try to run the ball to establish control of the tempo.

ON IF UP-TEMPO OFFENSES REQUIRE MORE EXPERIENCED QUARTERBACK:

"Not necessarily, the no-huddle offense has made it easier on quarterbacks. They have to do less communicating to some extent, and when you do go fast and push that tempo, you can't expect the quarterback to do quite as much at the line of scrimmage. There's things that you do have to simplify, play calls, in order to do that."

ON IF THE FRESHMAN WR'S WILL PLAY NEXT SEASON:

"It's probably too early to say. Hopefully you don't have to play that many true freshmen. We have some young guys that are already here on the roster that we need to get ready to go and develop, and step in there when it's time. They don't have anyone else in front of them, so it's hard to say. Some guys come in and pick it up quickly, but there's always surprises. Guys you thought would really respond quickly sometimes take some time and vice versa."

ON IF HE HAS A SPECIFIC TYPE OF QUARTERBACK HE LIKES:

"I think college football in particular is heading toward most with the up-tempo, spread type styles, looking for a dual threat. At the end of the day, we're trying to find the best quarterback we can find. They have to be winners, they have to be competitive. Some guys will be better runners than others, but we're not going to eliminate guys just because of a certain style. It doesn't need to fit into the range that we're looking for."

ON DEPTH AT RECEIVER:

"We're gonna shoot for 10 to 12 receivers. Those guys get taxed the most when we're up tempo and do the most running. Those guys can help you in special teams, they can return kicks and punts for you and cover, so you're looking for five, but we've got numbers set for each position, it's not exact, very rarely is it right on the mark. It's determined by what you already have and how close you want to get to that."

ON IF FIVE QUARTERBACKS IS TOO MANY:

"Never too many quarterbacks (laughs). Those guys are going to have to understand how important, not just when we get to scrimmages or in spring ball, they're being evaluated every single day. It's an ongoing process, because there aren't enough reps to go around. You can't get every single one of those guys as many reps as you want, so it's going to be an evolving depth chart. Ideally, a guy clearly emerges early. You get him going and get him the most reps, but it will be a fun spring, and I anticipate a number of guys will be in the mix for a long time.

ON COMING INTO THE FOLD SO LATE:

"It's tough, the guys that were here did such a tremendous job, and the fact that we had so many midyear guys lessened the burden. But it's part of the business, part of recruiting, you're always getting around new kids, new coaches, selling the program and the philosophy. It's a challenge, but the guys that were here did the legwork."