Just wanted to go ahead and get a thread out for signings and any good news to come later today. I've been frustrated seeing how some of last night played out, but let's not let that take away from all the young men who WANT to be Hokies.
Signees:
- 4-star DB Cam Johnson
- 3-star LB Reid Pulliam
- 4-star TE Benji Gosnell
- 3-star OL Johnny Garrett
- 3-star DL Lemar Law
- 3-star QB Devin Farrell
- 3-star DB Mansoor Delane
- 4-star DL Gunner Givens
- 3-star DL Rashaud Pernell
- 3-star RB Bryce Duke
- 3-star DL Kyree Moyston
- 2-star K John Love
- 3-star OL Brody Meadows
- 3-star OL Johnny Dickson
- 3-star DL Keyshawn Burgos
- 3-star TE Harrison Saint-Germain
- 3-star DL/OL Braelin Moore
- 3-star WR Tucker Holloway
- 3-star OL Hunter McLain
- 3-star DL Malachi Madison
- 3-star WR Xayvion Bradshaw
Comments
Let's Go!
Hokies!!
Hopefully a surprise or two signing with the good guys today
Looks like Cam Johnson has officially signed with the good guys!!
Gosnell and Pulliam too according to hokiesports.
4 star DB
https://247sports.com/player/cam-johnson-46084571/
3 star LB
https://247sports.com/Player/Reid-Pulliam-46081160/
Don't worry we got Moore!
.... hmm seems like the wrong thread
Can mods put the list of the signees in the OP as the they come in?
4 star TE
https://247sports.com/player/benji-gosnell-46095010/
looks like we got our QB!
Huge kid, very athletic. I wouldn't be shocked to see him at TE, WILL, or DE. In his film, he looks really fast and fluid at LB.
If you click on any of their bios, it takes you to a 404 page. Cmon, HokieSports...
Complain to them, if you haven't already.
That's just embarrassing.
I like the look of the site, but they should have the Bios available.
Not wild about the graphic the team put together for signees, the orange over skin doesn't work for me. Would actually be interested to know if those people are getting fired with Fuente and we're going to move the Penn State artists in
NC State is covering signees eyes with a stripe, not a fan of that either.
Farrell is in!!!!!!!!
So if we do indeed lose Orji today, we get Farrell, the QB that ran the top offense in high school, not just in GA, but damn near the entire country, too.
Super stoked.
With all the bad news surrounding Orji, I was really pumped to see he was in early.
Losing recruits to B1G schools that start with the letter M. 😩
Gaining recruits from your in state rival 😁
Is just me that reads Delane's name as Monsoon? Maybe it's just my crazy brain 🤷🏾♂️😂😂😂... Welcome Home Mansoor...
Don't give Pete any ideas...
Has length and range. Heavy hitter. Needs to learn to wrap his arms, but he fits that Chuck Clark safety who can match to man from Cover 3 like a corner. I think he is going to be good.
Interesting piece etymology and linguistics, his name is Arabic (منصور) and it translates to "someone who gives victory"; or, you know, a winner.
good sign
Braelin Moore no longer showing up on the NSD page. Welp.
this braelin moore?
I don't have any insider info, just relaying what I saw on HokieSports. It's not like Signing Day flips haven't happened before.
Asked and answered.
not sure why he would appear on the NSD page to begin with if he hadn't signed yet
It looks like his letter is in, but they might've taken it down until his signing ceremony this afternoon. They did tweet it out earlier then delete it.
His bro Kaden is on the team currently, barring some sort of natural disaster he's gonna be a Hokie, if it's not already been sent though
Enormous. Glacial first step (in large part because he has a very awkward step), but redirects well and has really good second step speed. It looks like it hurts to get hit by him. And my goodness, he looks massive on film. He grew a ton from the first tape I saw of him.
Farrell officially signed
Just led his team to the state finals in Georgia and played well against one of the top 5 high school teams in the country and the top rated public school!
My fave QB recruit even before the Orji flip.
I'm 100% convinced this kid is gonna be special
givens is signed
Wait I thought he was offensive line?
From what I heard there was a good chance he would flip to the D Line.
As long as he didn't flip schools, I can dig it.
The old reverse Wyatt Teller
I still to this day wonder how much of a beast he and Nijman could have been on the defensive line smh
Both getting paid in the nfl, so I suspect it was the right decision.
wyatt maybe. Nijman was a bit too slow but has a perfect frame for OT.
Neither were DL. Everybody made the right decision with both of them.
Same. Interesting...
My brother played against him in HS this year a few times and said he thought he would flip to Unc because he wanted to play defense but FU wanted him in offense. Maybe pry flipped the script
Games are won in the trenches, I don't care which side he ends up on as long as he's productive. 2 year starter and All ACC would be a win.
we need help on the DL too. And he is a beast. Getting Brody for OL plus Garret and Dickson helps
There's camp drills with Givens doing 1 on 1's as a DL and its uh.. not pretty. Hopefully Pry & Co show him the light
I wish he'd stay at OL given the recent attrition
we need DL as much as OL, and this class has plenty of potential on both lines
I think the big rumor around him is he wants to play DL, but projects out as an outstanding OL. I think this is a case of VT is honoring his wish to play DL, if nothing else to get him onto campus, and then down the road trying to get him to change his mind and switch to the other trench.
Either way big talented players in the trenches are a good thing and we've added a lot of beef today.
Wyatt Teller is a great example of this working out to $50 million+
same with Duane Brown. Came in as a TE and wanted to play TE IIRC. The move to OT worked out pretty well for him too.
If you are expecting Wyatt Teller, prepare to be disappointed.
Givens wasn't dominant on either side of the ball against Abingdon. Abingdon ran right at him on defense at key moments in their playoff game. When I watched him move, I think he could be a very good offensive tackle, but the light has to come on and he has to find some nastiness in his game. He has the tools.
If he didn't have the foot speed that he does, I wouldn't have been disappointed to see him flip. Now that he is a Hokie, I hope the light comes on.
Pernell is my Woody Baron for this year. Very productive player.
He's a dude. Already looks like a man.
we already have more composite 4*s signed in the 22 class as we did in the 20 and 21 classes combined
I don't know if I should be thrilled about this or go and dry heave into the toilet...
just remember it when people try to harsh your mellow about salvaging a decent class in the middle of a coaching transition because a few guys chose to go elsewhere -- we're about to pull our best class in three cycles in the middle of a coaching change, regardless if Orji/Brown/Martin decide to flip elsewhere.
^This
between tracking the signees and keeping the positivity going, you're doing the Lord's work Gobble.
(also shout out to VTA#1 and Fireman for getting things rolling)
don't tell my boss, i have work to be doing
but also tomorrow is my last day at my current gig so yolo yeet whatever gang gang go hokies
NSD GANG GANG
my ESD was Tuesday the 7th 😤🔥💯💪🥵
edit: and i can say confidently that the rest of the peons in the building really do respect my decision while management really does not 🤣 bet on yourself fam because the overlords won't
Hope you sent out a "Respect my decision" tweet...congrats on the next stage
Snapshot of iPhone notes with critically low battery. Commit 800% but only to taking your talents to the new gig for the next 3-4 years. Also include "no interviews!"
I think it's important that we respect your decision.
I can't believe Pry didn't lock GGC down to his current gig. What is he even doing? I bet if we had announced an OC by now GGC would've stayed committed. Fire them all.
I'll piggy back on this too. If any of you think you're undervalued in your jobs, go flip over some rocks because you're probably right. For several years at my previous firm I was screaming for pay adjustments just to get me in the pay range that I knew my position qualified for. I finally got fed up and started putting out feelers, and lo and behold, my new firm paid me exactly what I thought I was worth. Not even a month into my new job, my old firm contacted me to see if I wanted to come back and offered exactly what my new firm is now paying me.
TL:DR - you're worth what someone is willing to pay you. If you think you can get more, go get more
Exactly right. I used to think doing the organization a favor and accepting a lower than market salary and proving your value would reward me in the end. Nope, you just get taken advantage of. Negotiate heavily on salary and benefits before you ever accept a job offer.
Especially right now, everyone is hiring and it's definitely an employee's market and advantage. I moved two years ago, took a cut in salary - a little better benefits package with a company funded pension just to get me 15 minutes from home instead of an hour and 15 minutes.
However, I was at least semi-happy with my old company the new one... eh, not so much. Let's just say I'm keeping my options open.
bro the max payout package annually between base and bonuses is like a 37% increase at the new job, plus it shaves off 35-40 minutes and $5-7 tolls each way each day on the commute
...are you me? Am I you?
almost a 47% pay increase at my new job, my 45 minute commute on a good day (usually an hour due to traffic), is now however long it takes me to get to my computer desk in my house, and I am no longer paying $40-$60 in tolls a month to get there.
A toast to your new position Sir! 🍻
Congratulations! It's always great to see folks succeeding!
Best wishes in your new role and I hope it works out for you for years to come
but does it provide more opportunities to TKP at work? Priorities.......
almost definitely not aside from being able to WFH a couple times a week. however i only ever got away with as much TKPing at work as I have for the last ~5 years because the management here is inept. which is also why i'm leaving.
And never to old to go back to school to continue to build value. Over 40, a 3 year old, a 6 day old, and one semester of an MBA left to see what my new worth is.
I very much support this as well! There was a woman in her 70s working on her MBA while I was going through my program. You got this, just power through that last semester.
(I'm also seriously considering a 3rd degree myself.... I'm not even halfway through my 30s yet so I know I have no excuse not to do it, I am just mega dreading it 😩)
12 year old and a 6 year old, 2 semesters away from my MBA. Letting my current company pay for my MBA and then I'll see what my options are.
...are you me? Am I you?
Just saw your profile. I too started at Disney World after graduating in 2001. Small World (after all)
Do you still work for the mouse?
My name is thehokiewatchmaker, not Geppetto.
ServedPartied my 9 months in the college program and moved on to the real world before eventually becoming a watchmaker.Doesn't everyone in Florida from the Governor down really work for the mouse empire?
Nope! I live in Florida, but don't work for the mouse. Although I did visit Disney Springs on Sunday.....
I don't think so. The mouse works for us.
Doesn't feel like that when I see the Reedy Creek Fire department struggles.
Like fire department unions have an easy time of it everywhere else.
Typically underfunded and understaffed everywhere. Easy to overlook them as overhead, but we do need to do better.
Particularly post-COVID, where lots of folks prefer to stay home.
I don't work for the mouse, but I also don't hate the mouse.
Good luck with whatever your new work will be. FWIW, last year people at my wife's company were offered a buyout when COVID was hitting. It did not seem that great. Not terrible, but not great. She ended up staying - and promptly getting furloughed for a while. Now she is telling me that every single senior person in her group that did not tale the buyout is wishing that they had, including her. Not a great place to work now.
Sounds like you might also be Frosty's husband....lol
my guy right here
Always happy to see VT pick up a Springer from Loren Johnson's program. Awesome pedigree there.
Low center of gravity, very light and short choppy steps. He just looks like a natural running back. Sharp first cut, finishes with power. Heavy work load and productive. Also catches the ball nicely out of the backfield. Has to work on blocking.
Long, very twitchy DE. Good at dipping his shoulder to slip a block and spill a play. Fit wise, he is probably the most likely player in this class to make an impact at DE. His ranking may be a bit low because he plays at a school that I don't think is traditionally a power, and he has sort of a weird posture where he "hunches" his neck forward and makes him look shorter than he really is. I would like to see him be better at working pass rush moves.
I know the numbers always workout but do we know how many slots we have this class?
I see at the top he's rated as 2 stars. I think I remember seeing on here that punters and kickers are all rated low to begin with, right?
Yeah, there's basically no good kicker ratings. Their kicking school rating is usually a closer metric, but a 5* on those usually just means they're D1-A caliber, 4.5* FCS, etc.
Correct. He is one of the best out there. He has 5* (out of 5) rating from kohls (https://www.kohlskicking.com/player-profiles/john-love)
Goddamn genius kid too apparently.
Did anybody pull up the 2022 Rankings from the Kohl's ranking page? Love is ranked #53 for kickers. Look who is right above him at #52.
https://www.kohlskicking.com/national-player-ratings/kickers/2022
What is a 4.989? Is that out of 4 or do they have a new scale now?
I remember getting 0.5 bonus for AP classes, but even if you get straight As and took all the AP classes you could, the best GPA was about 4.2.
AP classes gave a +1 to the grade scale at my high school in the late 90s (i.e. an A was worth 5.0).
I graduated HS in 2010 and for some reason they gave a full point bump for AP AND honors classes. Makes it very easy to have that high of a GPA.
So you're saying it's easy to make straight A's in all your AP/Honors classes? I would think maintaining a 4.989 GPA is far from easy.
You're right. Pour choice of words. It makes it less difficult to get that sort of insane GPA. Nearly a 4.9 is insane and impressive.
Just giving you a hard time Fam
Even doing that he had to have been taking honors gym, health, etc...
yea, exactly. A 4.989 would require nearly 100% of classes are honors or AP (virtually all 5.0s, with a few 4.0s or 4.5s). It doesn't add up for me, but I guess we can assume it's pretty much straight As with as many honors/AP allowed at his HS, including electives: honors gym, honors music class, honors art, honors language classes, etc.
Regardless, still an impressive feat and glad he's a Hokie.
Bitter reporting that Johnny Dickson already signed
edit:
4x O-Line signees so far. Loving the focus in the trenches!
don't forget the 4x D-Line signees so far too!
I really hope we pay top $$ for a Strength and Conditioning coach.
Wish I could give this ALL the legs!
BUILD
THOSE
WALLS
looking at the class im think yeah win the trenches, but then I think maybe we should take a WR or two, cause I remember this 2009-2012 classes that missed in that position.
Orji removed all VT tweets, and rumors of him signing with Michigan, where he visited last weekend
It's a real bummer, but with the coaching change and the geography of where the kid is coming from, I am not surprised.
Did Pry even have the time to fly down to Texas for a visit?
QB: 1 (Farrell)
RB: 1 (Duke)
WR: 2 (Holloway, Bradshaw)
TE: 2 (Gosnell, St Germain)
OL: 4 (Garrett, Meadows, Dickson, Mclain)
DT: 2 (Law, Pernell)
DE: 2 (Moyston, Burgos)
DL: 3 (Givens, Moore, Madison)
LB: 1 (Pulliam)
S: 1 (Delane)
CB: 1 (Johnson)
K: 1 (Love)
20 signed. I added Madison (21st) to DL because of the graphic with 20 players (pre-Bradshaw) and him retweeting it, but I still don't see an official announcement of him signing.
Would love to see a WR or 2 fill out the class, but that looks like a great breakdown across the board.
I was literally about to type the same. I'd prefer a route runner and/or a guy w/ some legit length and power for jump balls
According to 24/7 commit list the following are committed but haven't signed
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Season/2022-Football/Commits/
Orji - QB (probably to Michigan)- Signed @ MichiganWright - TE - Not expected to sign today (see below)
Holloway - WRSigned to Good GuysChaplin - OL - Not expected to sign today (see below)
Madison - DL- Signed to Good GuysWright I believe is not signing early
Holloway
might flip to Vandyis definitely signing with us todayChaplin I think is waiting
Madison I would expect to sign today, but not 100% sure if he's expecting to sign today
Wright and Chaplin are waiting until spring
Still want both of them badly
Bottom of that page is kind of a bummer.
Marcus Vick, Devon Hunter, and Holland Fisher listed in our Top 9 recruits of all time.
The rest were major contributors though.
Am I reading that right? 6 DL and 5 OL/TE?
Love the focus on the big bois!
You very much know that, with the people that Pry has brought in we're looking to dominate the line on offense and defense. So far, we're overwhelmingly bringing in players to meet that goal.
Really hoping this class ends up with at least 2 WR's and 3 would be nice whether it be late signees or transfers
You don't need WRs when you run up the middle.
Garret Meadows Dickson
That's 3 WR right there in UVAs scheme.
But how will we run all the jet sweeps with no wideouts?
Who needs WRs when you have 10 RBs? /s
Seriously though, it's crazy how bare the cupboard is in the WR room...may the portal gods bless us.
We got Benji Gosnell - Replacement for James Mitchell
Damn I just saw Gosnell Highlights - I hope we can put him in the Wild Turkey
really hoping to land some transfers. We need experience badly
National Signing Day Press Conference is at 11:50 AM
Excited for Dickson . Grew up in corpus area . Dude is a beast .
I like the little behind the scenes things they've done. More clips like this please VT. Let us be a part of this thing.
Whoa, I think this is the first time I've seen coaches interacting since before Fu
Edit: Also found this
Bud did cartwheels when Dax committed in 18'...it was pretty great lol
I picture Merryman in the Fu era being very quiet and people just working at their desks awkwardly.
Move on dude.
And they probably couldn't talk during lunch.
Yes to more of these!
I complained about the commit graphics earlier, so it's only fair to compliment their video clips. Enormous improvement from previous years. Put that edit staff to work!
If you're on Instagram, the HokiesFB account is posting stories of Pry Facetiming all of the commits and putting them on the white board. Love the behind the scenes sneak peaks.
Braelin Moore is a DL? Also that font is way too small VT
there's a WR
Danny coale is that you?
His bigger, faster little brother..............
looks like a scrappy gym rat
Real blue collar type. First one in the gym, last one out.
Probably been said before, but doesn't that actually describe the janitor?
He's going to be good.
I'm seeing this on 247 about Hunter McLain flipping to the Good Guys but nothing on HokieSports
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Article/Signing-Day-2021-Hun...
Committed today but hasn't signed yet, may be at a later date.
Losing Orji and Brown hurt, but big picture today is a huge win for the Hokies. New staff manages to keep a top 30-Top 25 class depending on how things shake out, without announcing an OC and an offensive staff. Hopefully this is the start of building a strong corps in the O and D trenches.
Now let's hit the portal and bring in a QB, and hopefully an experienced WR and some of the WR on the roster take some steps forward.
Let's go!
HOKIES!
From the Presser:
Pry: "I think JC took full advantage of the interim head coach title and just got as many DLineman as he could"
JC: "There's never been a great defense in the history of football that hasn't been great up front at any level...and the way offense is played today you need a lot of them with similar skill sets"
Like JC's take here.
I really am starting to doubt in these coaches. In NCAA Dynasty, I always won over the Blue Chip Athletes, and they became excellent Safeties. Not seeing that in that in this class, ouch!
I am assuming this means we have all other positions covered. Most notably, we have a QB coach I suppose. Would this also imply that the Herb Hand rumors were not true?
Possibly, and that would stink. Or they just can't tell the cruits yet either...
what does a 2 star kicker mean? I mean, is that normal or are we burning a scholarship on a less than stellar kicker? I really have no idea
Kickers pretty much don't get stars they have their own rating system that's pretty loose I don't know what he is there but I imagine he's a 5* there which basically denotes he's D1 talent.
edit: he is a "5* kicker" https://www.kohlskicking.com/player-profiles/john-love
12th best kicker nationally
5'11 and 155lbs....he's tiny....
Hope he can make it across the drill field without getting blown away by the wind.
As someone who was 5-11 145 all through undergrad, I can tell you I got blown off the Drillfield paths pretty regularly
Kickers are almost always a 2 star. Usually the top 3 or so in the nation get to go to 3* it seems.
To put this into perspective , only the elite kickers/punters will get star ratings, most don't get a star rating at all. So if your K/P has a 2 or 3 star rating, they're probably very much worth the scholly.
Pry said in the presser that 11 VA kids have signed and a 12th is on the way. Who would that be, anyone know?
Also, 11, according to the reporter who asked, said that's the most VA recruits to sign to Tech since 2014. Bonkers.
I would guess Madison
https://247sports.com/player/malachi-madison-46099961/
This is killing me: https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Football/RecruitRankings/?State=VA
5 of the top 6 players in VA are committed to or signed with UNC (4x 4-star and 1x 5-star). The #3 is going to Bama
VT has 0 top 10 VA players (4 of the top 20, 1x 4-star and 3x 3-star)
I'm all for improvement, but this still feels a little embarassing
Yeah, good thing we kicked the old coaches responsible for recruiting this class for the past ~4 years to the curb! Although, credit where its due. They had a stronger list of commits for this class than they have had for a while
I mean, UNC is pulling 5 star talent from our backyard. Not even Bama/OSU/PSU, but UNC! Its painful.
Obviously, Pry has to have time to do his thing
Gonna take time to repair the inroads.
This stuff isn't going to happen over night
Silver lining in that...is only one loluva on that list. i think their class is 79th right now, 14th in ACC.
Just want to make sure I'm TKPing correctly...should I be excited or ready to have a meltdown? /s
Depends. You cake or pie?
cheesecake....it's a cake that's a pie!
This is quality coach speak.
You should be ecstatic. Recruiting analysts expect a coach's first class in the ESD era is basically a wash. To get even a couple contributors is huge. We have kept a halfway decent Fuente class together with more than a couple guys who can be contributors.
Look at some of the other schools that have had a coaching change compared to where they have been the past few years. Then compare that to us. It's not a massive deal to be significantly higher than our last 2 classes since they were so bad, but we're also not far off our program average. Expectations for a first ESD class would be closer to 50, and we're sitting in the top 30 and top 5 in the ACC right now.
Transition classes are always a mess.
Losing Brown + Orji sucks but shouldn't be shocking.
Plus this is just ESD, there's plenty of time to work the portal and work on other guys between now and Signing Day.
Teams with coaching changes that have higher rated classes than us: ND (7th) Oklahoma (10th) LSU (22nd)
Some of the ones that did not. USCw, TCU, Washington, Florida, Miami, Oregon, Texas Tech, UVA
Fourth best class in the ACC to UNC, FSU, Clemson
Better than the last several years, in a transition class. Heavy on in-state to rebuild those relationships when we did have to get a second or third choice. Lot to like here.
We lost 2 commits, but picked up 3 and FSU lost the number 1 overall recruit. Not sure how the numbers will change, but any chance we pass them?
No. They have the #15 class even with losing the #1 overall player.
Ugh. It amazes me that, as bad as we think we've been, we haven't been FSU bad, but they can still turn around and pick up a recruiting class like this.
I think they were really helped by the messes at Florida and Miami down the stretch this year, but don't really follow recruiting enough to know if that's a good opinion.
It's not if they have higher classes than us, it's how do their classes this year compare to their past few classes. LSU has dropped off a cliff. USC, Florida, Miami, and Oregon are even worse. All those classes are small so they'll be scrounging for players on NSD which is exactly what you don't want to be doing. All those schools will likely be ok in the long run, but they will have depth problems for the next three years.
The average recruit ranking is only a little higher than last year but it feels we're trying to fill the roster with the right balance. I think the key for recruiting for us going forward is proper roster balance and landing some mid to high four stars at qb, rb, and maybe a safety or shutdown corner.
Right now we need players. We need depth, We need guys that can work at it and become solid contributors.
This is what I really like about this class in particular. We got a lot of bodies. I know there was a lot of talk about how the average recruit score isn't that high, but our recruiting ranking is inflated due to the number of players we signed.
IMHO this is exactly the kind of class we need this year. With all the attrition and players coming and going having a large class is a boon for this off-season
Even better is that 12 members of this class is enrolling early and will be in spring ball. I can't ever remember half of a class enrolling early. Though I expect a fair amount of attrition after spring ball.
Not to mention how much they spoke of flexibility of recruits skillsets towards a single position. Filling gaps we need but when you get guys who can play multiple positions/both sides of the ball, that damn sure helps depth.
That's what I'm most excited for about this class: The majority of them are expecting to be on-campus for Spring ball conditioning/system installation so they're no worse off strategy-wise than the upperclassmen.
Very excited to see the QB on that list too. Extra time to learn the system and start building relationships with receivers is pretty huge, IMO. Especially given that our QB situation is a big unknown right now. I'm not implying that I expect a true freshman QB to contribute, rather that extra time to develop should pay dividends down the road.
Love how excited he was to get the offer this was awesome work by the staff
Sat in on the alumni Twitter stream (with Brenden Hill, Roc Carmichael and bunch of other Beamer boys going back) this evening. They were cautiously optimistic about this kid. The things that stuck out to them were his size and he is mauler. They were speculating that this might have been a package deal with Givens, he had a preferred walking spot already.
Today's presser
ugh, Dasani water. We need to do better than that
I freaking love it! Points I took away - he wrote down (the only thing I saw him write) that this was the most in-state signees since, was it 2015? (The year changed when they mentioned the 12th guy who would sign from VA. He certainly seems like he is going to take recruiting VA and the local area very serious. The other thing he is looking for are guys who want to come to Tech, both players and coaches - that he wanted to hear it in their voices. To me, that says he really wants to be here as well. And along those lines, if he is really successful, I could see him staying here long term.
Edit: also just remembered what he said about evaluating guys and how he got his dad in there, having 40 years of experience in the field to look at tape. How cool is that?
Of note from the presser:
Pry said that they'd have a staff member whose dedicated job is monitoring the transfer portal and getting names of potential targets in front of the coaching staff. This is the kind of stuff that we're going to need to compete for talent.
I think Pry's experience at PSU and how they staffed the program is going to be invaluable in ways that most VT fans don't ever see or realize.
I forgot about that one - that's good too.
The other thing that struck me was what he said, can't remember the exact phrasing, but something like personality/being a good kid. To me that says we won't ever take a kid like Rattler where he had that video of him belittling his teammates. You want a QB and teammates that will encourage their teammates, or, at worst, challenge them to be better, not just belittle them. Some of you may think an incredible talent is worth it, but I've worked in environments like that and they're toxic as hell. There's even a book about it called "The No Asshole Rule." If you think we should have picked him up if he'd have been willing to come to Tech, go get and read that book.
Just watched the full press release. If Pry can coach like he Hokies we are gonna be a team nobody wants to play again. I REALLY think he will fix the Fu-culture issues.
I enjoyed the enthusiasm displayed by the staff today. Great to see the guys we retained and how we did in our back yard. The flips that didn't go our way sucked , but it may end up as a net positive with the guys we flipped as well. Ready to see how we close out til Feb. As always, time will tell how the staff did on the 22 cruit class.
Looks like with Malachi Madison's latest tweet either he or VT added him to a graphic with the rest of the signees today, so I'm assuming they've received the paperwork now.
Daequan Wright and Xavier Chaplin are listed as commits but not signed. What's the latest on them?
They were not expected to sign early
Would love to hold onto both, but I think we will have to fend off multiple suitors for each. I think Wright can have an early and significant impact on offense. He's a special, matchup-issue type weapon.
Locksley is letting all the other schools do the evaluating, then coming in late with the bag. (this is not specific to Wright). They took a lot of signing day flips yesterday.
I'm truly hoping Wright is not a bag man situation, and we're behind the 8 ball on NIL. He had an outstanding senior season, and schools have been in his ear since before Feunte got fired. Might be a rollercoaster for him until February signing day.
I mean if what Shane said is true, some of them were scheduled flips. Publicly committing to one school (SCAR) and then for the attention flipping to another (UMD) on signing day.
Growing up 15 minutes from campus, it's still a basketball school with a football problem. I happened to see Freidgen's best years as a high schooler. The school absolutely has the potential to succeed in the B1G. Considering half of Good Counsel and other MD private schools went to UMD, it's no surprise UMD's best years happened when he recruited the private schools the most.
Locksley at UMD has been an adventure. He started out with an expected 3-9 season, then had a COVID bust of a year. This year started out promising until WRs got hurt against Iowa. They made the Pinstripe, and should be a good matchup for us in a couple weeks time.
The difference now vs. his New Mexico tenure is he's a Bama coaching revitalization project. I fully expect to see UMD start competing with 8-9 win seasons if he can truly recruit. Yesterday, he showed he could. Even if it required some theatrics to do it.
I think Locksley's 6-6 season is quite impressive. They had one of the toughest schedules in the country (SOS: 15th by ESPN's resume metrics, 8th by Sports Reference's methodology). They have to play Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State every year by division, and drew B1G West champ Iowa, 8-4 Minnesota (2nd in West), and Illinois from cross division. Really tough conference schedule and played an OOC P5 (West Virginia, who they beat). They also lost quite of few of their best weapons on offense throughout the season. All things considered, I would say 6-6 was a pretty successful year for the Terps. I'd say the biggest knock is that they weren't very competitive in their 6 losses.
And those big losses pretty much came against the good teams on their schedule.
They've got a steep, steep mountain to climb to get to having 8-4 expectations.
What JC Price did for this class is probably the biggest thing that separated us from other schools that had coaching changes. He came in as interim head coach and busted his ass recruiting. When LOL lost their coach, he jumped in to smack them down and take their croots, and they did not have anyone on staff who cared enough to fight back. When our croots asked questions, he answered them with a heart felt "This is home, no matter who it is." Then when Pry came in he took him around and told them "See, I told you." And you can tell Pry understand that in bring Price to the presser and they way he talked about him. Pry's not all about Pry. I hope he can coach, because I like everything I'm seeing so far.
JC is the best salesman of Tech since Beamer. Got thrown into unexpected role, did/doing his job, loved every second of it, and wants to keep doing it. Dude straight bleeds orange and maroon. Very glad Pry kept him. I hope I can buy him a beer at PKs someday.
Speaking of PKs have you seen what they've done with the place? While definitely not some architectural wonder, it's an improvement in some ways and makes that building less of an eyesore. If you like that sorta thing.
I mention it because I went DT for the first time in months for the Christmas parade and saw that they had finished, the transformation is pretty wild...
I had to look hard to make sure they hadn't closed. Looks like some office building on the outside now.
Not an improvement in my eyes, but you do you.
Well it is an office building, so there's that. But I can see where one would like the old better than the new.
I would've said Tapp. Too bad, for some completely illogical, insane reason, he was never allowed to talk to the press.
We had such a great PR strategy under the last regime. /s
I wanna be JC Price when I grow up.
I imagine you have a lot of growing to do - that's a big man!
Unfortunately to get to JC size I'd need to go up more but not necessarily out anymore.