Thanks for everything Virginia Tech🦃 pic.twitter.com/QolrdiRsdn— Jakson LaHue (@JaksonLahue) December 6, 2021
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Thanks for everything Virginia Tech🦃 pic.twitter.com/QolrdiRsdn— Jakson LaHue (@JaksonLahue) December 6, 2021
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I think this is something we'll have to just get used to this off season - coaching changes usually come with all sorts of turnover. Is it disappointing? Sure! But it's not unexpected. Wish him the best in his journey.
That sucks...wishing him luck wherever he winds up.
TX recruits go with the TX connections. More space for VA recruits?
Prob Miss St bound like Canon Boone last year.
edit: The oddly specific last minute flip to Miss St by a VT recruit from Texas pipeline continues.
Doubtful - the bend on LaHue is he was equally interested in Virginia Tech's engineering along with the football program. He has a very similar profile to QP - a smart kid with multiple Ivy League offers.
If another program offers him the same combination of athletics + STEM education (Texas A&M immediately jumps to mind), that's where he'll end up.
A&M is competing with Bama and UGA for the top class this year. They have multiple 5*'s they lead for and limited room in their class. I highly doubt they waste a scholly on a 3* OT prospect. They are playing ball in a different stratosphere than us right now.
Sure, I was just throwing A&M out there as an example. A school like Northwestern, Stanford, Penn State, Wisconsin etc. that have great engineering + track record of developing OL would be the perfect fit fo rhim.
depends what he wants to play more -- if it's football, he'll wind up in Starkville. If it's school, he'll wind up at an Ivy
I wouldn't be shocked if another program comes out of the woodwork. It's pretty rare for a kid to be academically and athletically exceptional.
Bye Felicia
Need to keep in mind that these are teenagers who committed their next 3-5 years to a different group of coaches than will be coaching them for the next 3-5 years...
Hopefully the new staff is able to keep the kids who want to be here still in the boat, but we also need to remember that some of these guys may also be getting the boot from our end. New staff may have different ideas about who on this commit list is and isn't a take.
I think this is probably most logical
maybe...but wouldn't we want to know who the next OL coach is before making that decision? i think that person would like input
Maybe, but just because a pick isn't public yet doesn't mean they haven't done homework and have given input
Because what the kid wrote isn't logical?
I'm sure the new staff sort of, kind of have a pecking order for recruits, but they haven't had enough time to really sort it out yet. My guess is this is more the kid's decision than the new coaching staff's decision.
I think so too. My comment was made in general terms to there being multiple dynamics at play (kids re-evaluating their own decision and/or our current staff re-evaluating current commits) in regards to all of our current commits. I doubt we would be turning down incoming help at OT right now.
Sorry to see him go but anything TX reminds me of the previous staff and its knuckleheadediness. Will be glad once that is entirely absolved.
We will continue to recruit Texas, but it won't be a focal point as it was in the Fuente era. We have to recruit nationally to keep up with the Jones'.
Our focal point will be our region and our state. NC, PA, NJ, GA, SC DMV, etc, Pry will focus there. But when there's an opportunity, like an Alex Orji or Dawain Lofton, we will go after them. Nabbing Wooten was a major coup, but as with most of the Fuente recruits, he had to transfer before we really knew his worth.
Etcetera hopefully meaning Florida, Texas, Ohio and pretty much any state with good players who fit VT's profile.
Was Texas really that much of a focal point for Fuente? It seems to me TX2VT and all of that crap was more of an over-the-top response from message boards and the VT PR folks than an actual recruiting focus.
Fuente and staff went all in on TX2VT with the 2021 (Dematrius Davis) cycle, mortgaged the 2020 cycle (oof) for the effort in the 2021 cycle, and whiffed big time on the 2021 cycle (oof). Seeing players like Davis, Latrells McCutchen and Neville, Landyn Watson, Canon Boone etc all go elsewhere after putting all of our eggs in that basket (with a few being commits at one point) was a huge whiff
We went national. Which isn't a bad take on the previous staff, but gave up on large chunks of VA going to Texas. We were all over Houston and Dallas, but were limited in resources in the DMV. All because Feunte felt that some of the in-state 4 and 5 star talent didn't want to stay in state. Let that sink in.
I hope the new staff continues to recruit the best players they can realistically get. I don't care if they're from Texas, Virginia, or the moon. If that's knuckleheadedness, count me in as a knucklehead.
I never want to absolve a chance at an Orji.