Looks like it may be a busy few days coming up so let's get it rolling...
Discuss and share any recruiting topics for July 2022 that don't warrant their own threads. Commits and Decommits warrant their own threads.
This recruiting thread is used to share information regarding VT-specific targets, PWO offers, scholarship offers, visits, camps, and general news, in addition to larger trends. In the interests of limiting load times, check the thread to see if a tweet was already embedded prior to adding it yourself.
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[1] New commitments, decommitments, portal entries, etc... deserve their own thread. Please read the brief best-practice tips at the top of the recruiting forum
[2] Scared money don't make money.
[3] Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!
Comments
h/t alazzaro
(Committed) Aycen Stevens:
6'4 210 lbs LB from Indianapolis, IN. .87
https://247sports.com/Player/Aycen-Stevens-46113883/
(Committed) Caleb Woodson:
6'3 200 lbs S from Haymarket, VA. .87
https://247sports.com/Player/Caleb-Woodson-46129561/
(Committed) Braylon Johnson:
6'1 170 lbs S from Highland Springs VA, .86
https://247sports.com/Player/Braylon-Johnson-46112761/
(loluva) Kamren Robinson:
6'2 215 lbs LB from Tappahannock, VA. .88
https://247sports.com/player/kamren-robinson-46130621/
(BC) Antonio Cotman Jr.:
6'2 190 lbs CB from Colonial Heights VA, .88
https://247sports.com/player/antonio-cotman-jr-46113906/
(Committed) Tralon Mitchell:
6'2 185 lbs ATH from Bailey, NC. .85
https://247sports.com/Player/Tralon-Mitchell-46130675/
(Committed) Thomas Williams
5'10 180 lbs ATH from Greenville SC. .87
https://247sports.com/player/thomas-williams-46117570/
Thanks for reposting this.
We're gonna need a bigger boat
SS Great Hokie?
hokie mchokeface
More playing off of the SS Great Eastern, the largest ship of the 19th century, so well engineered that when it struck a large rock, after sustaining great damage and suffering for several hours, the rock perished.
hokie mchokeface
Robinson and Johnson both announcing today at noon. Double good news today?
I'm assuming any of these with an 87 rating are a lock for the Hokies.
Do they get bonus points of their parents were born in 87 too?
Stevens, check.
Woodson, check.
Johnson, check.
Now boarding, Kamren Robinson, please step up to the podium
Edit: Robinson's flight home has been canceled
Eh, Home will come to him twice in his career.
We got Thomas williams!!!
Got Johnson!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cfeb38wLRN9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
That video gave me goosebumps! Incredibly well done!
Dude, the shot of him in his dad's VT helmet?
I'm not crying. You're crying.
Kind of amusing watching this one and comparing it to the Kamren Robinson one posted below.
And love Johnson's video!
Pry signal is up
Boys it's nice to hit our targets so far
So far, I think Pry is checking every box we expected on recruiting too. Guys are staying home. Getting back those high end 3*'s we never should have lost. I think a toe dip into the high 4* guys will come eventually with results and relationships, but THIS to me seems exactly like how we are going to rebuild this program.
Ordinarily I would be incredibly stoked for these verbals. Unfortunately, it feels a little bit like reshuffling deck chairs, in light of the other news of the part few days.
Regardless of where we fall in the realignment, we need the players to do it.
Yup, conference realignment is up to administrators. All the coaches can do is try to put a quality product on the field.
It can't hurt to have a HC with SEC and B1G experience right now. I have to imagine that Pry is well known and well liked in the right circles when it comes to conference realignment. I'm not sure how much that was in consideration when hiring Pry, but it definitely means something to have that P2 pedigree.
Any idea what time the Robinson commit is scheduled?
3pm
247 says he committed to UVA...don't see it posted on twitter yet
LOLUVA
Yuck
Epic troll job with the Lane Stadium background and VT uniform for the video thumbnail lol
Four for five with recent targets. I guess "Copeland, Stevens, Woodson, Johnson, and Robinson" sounds a little too much like a law firm
Hoping we go "full court press" with Keys now
https://247sports.com/player/kaveion-keys-46129782/
0.9006 (88 by 247) from Varina HS
UNC lean but would certainly love to have him.
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Not exact but close enough lol.
PS even Moses Malones 'fo-fo-fo' turned into 'fo-five-fo'
Well that's disappointing. Let's see what happens.
I guess LOLUVA doesn't have somebody in the staff that can help the kid with a somewhat decent commitment video/audio? His voice sounds like he recorded on his brother's phone from across the living room.
Gross. Imagine committing to LOLUVA when VT's getting all these commits and new momentum. And choosing not to play linebacker for coach Pry
It's a crowded room with more possibly incoming. Stevens and Copeland may have beaten him to the punch?
If you're not first, you're last.
How we feeling about tomorrow?
Cotman just got a CB to Boston College. All CBs to tech for Mitchell
By Brian Dohn no less....which sucks cause I really wanted VT to get Cotman.
Still got the whole season to go. Certainly feels a lot better if he commits to BC tomorrow than PSU. We can work on getting that back, if it was PSU it was a wrap.
Top 3 for Paul Billups Jr, .87 composite 3* WR from Chesapeake
https://247sports.com/player/paul-billups-46117610/
There are other instate receivers higher on UNCs board
His MSU and UNC self are pointing to his VT-self. There's a clear winner here 😉
Cotman to BC. For what reason, who the hell knows
He doesn't want to be bothered by cheering during games? He likes the sound of football echoing off empty bleachers?
AAR at BC is a pretty good recruiter and has been building that relationship for a while
This one stings a bit bc he's good and i thought we had a real chance
Jeff Hafley is no joke
His recruitment has been weird fwiw. His top 5 was a bizarre list of schools (VT, BC, Arizona state??), he only took an official to BC and his recruit ranking has been dropping quiet a bit of late.
Appears to be kind of caught in between where he's almost not quite fluid enough for his size to be a top safety, but he's not big enough to be the traditional LB.
We had zero chance with Fuente. When the new staff came on board, we were way behind, but made up a ton of ground. Maybe a month ago, he's coming home, but realistically, we were always behind.
Chris Coleman said on the most recent TSL pod that Cotman wasn't really a take for us and most schools had backed off
Da what? He committed to Boston College. Not App St or Marshall. Schools were aggressively going after him until he told them where he was going. And if we didn't get Braylon, we were hard pressed to push for Cotman's commitment.
Not a take is just lazy bullshit. I know I know, he's got plenty of plugs, and FuCorn gave him a lot of access, but that's just not true.
**Gets down off high horse**
Pry signal is up. Mitchell?
Yep.
Accidentally stumbled on it on Twitter at the same time as your response lol
https://247sports.com/player/carmelo-taylor-46134096/
Great offer list. He's definitely going to play for someone decent.
Hopefully VT.
Or Maryland.
I certainly hope not.
This would be a huge get for the staff. We could really use this guys talent. Does scare me that UVA isn't in there now. They may play a factor later on if they get serious
https://247sports.com/player/durell-robinson-46125678/
CB's all to GT, although it is a bunch of GT insiders. Can't imagine buying what Jeff Collins is selling these days but also just had Kamren Robinson decide of his own accord to go to UVA so who knows
UVA at least is in state and has unknown potential with a new coach
We know their potential, and it's limited.
I mean I agree with you, but from a recruits perspective it's unknown and untapped
Crystal balls appear to be flipping to us now. FWIW
He has 3 CBs to GT fwiw
edit: DRINK
Culliver going to UNC tomorrow?
Sure looks that way
Looking good for Thomas Williams today based on CB's (currently at 3)....if we get him we get 5 out of 7 weekend recruit targets.
It has been awhile since we had this type of wave in recruiting. Hopefully he chooses the good guys and we can see it through signing day.
Just to take stock for a moment: currently sitting at 31st overall on 247 composite score (average score of 86.13), though there are 5 schools ahead of us with a lower average rating for players and many others with half a point.
If you add Thomas Williams and Durell Robinson we move up to 25th nationally with an average score of 86.22. That would still be behind last year's average of 86.60 - but there is still a long way to signing day, and a good portion of 2023 commits currently have a lower composite score than their 247 score.
More than anything though, it feels like we have real momentum with only 60 days left until the season opener. Let's go!!!
Hokies!
5 out of 7 ain't too shabby no matter which way you slice it!!
Love the Cake graph representation!
How. Dare. You.
You know damn well that is a pie chart. Don't you disrespect graphs and desserts all at the same time! Not in this house you won't!
i should nuke you for that
I think the only saving grace is that he did make a good joke referring to it as a cake graph vice what it actually is, a pie chart. My love of #TeamPie can forgive it since I also love a good play on words
Pretty encouraging
Oof, that's two classes that are going to have to be supplemented by the portal
It's really refreshing to see that even if the blue-chip recruits aren't coming yet, Pry clearly has a higher standard/baseline for recruits to build his class from than Fuente did.
I also think there's something to be said for having a legitimate wave of momentum that actually led to a significant string of coordinated commitments coming off the now crucial June window in the recruiting cycle.
Is it the wave of blue-chip prospects we'd like to see moving forward, not quite yet. Is it a sign of legitimate movement/momentum and coordination within our recruiting project amongst a material group of recruits working in unison and coordination? yes.
Right - how many times did we have a "big" recruiting weekend, supposedly lots of "silent commits" and then crickets for weeks after that followed by targets going elsewhere?
picked up a class of 22 PWO, his twitter bio is updated to say hokies commit as well
https://247sports.com/player/cole-reemsnyder-46132021/
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Article/22-PWO-TE-target-Col...
https://247sports.com/Player/Kamen-Smith-46128598/
'23 86 rated 3 star OT from NC
Tea leaves: He's using his VT photo shoot pic for the background of this top 4 announcement
some conspiracy theory bait for you guys
to be clear, I do not subscribe to this conspiracy theory. Just thought it would be fun/funny to discuss perceived bias on recruiting services
Because the composite is a conglomeration of a number of different rating services it is possible that one rating service is dropping them after they commit but it's not 247s fault and it should balance out over the next year.
There is no sport-wide conspiracy against Virginia Tech
Correct.
It's bigger than one sport. See: softball.
/s
Shame?
More like a sham, am I right?
It looks like he only had a 247 rating before (87) and likely was rated by another service but a bit lower (86) after his commitment. Averaged out to the .8652 he has now as a composite.
Composite 4* (0.9203) DL from GA
https://247sports.com/player/champ-thompson-46113041/
Dang, 9 SEC teams! And Georgia Tech.
Texas, Oklahoma, and Miami are already in the SEC? That was fast. ;^)
I think that was the joke!
Today was supposed to be decision day for durell robinson
Is that a good thing or a bad thing for us?
Bad.
To add a little more to this. From my understanding it means he was more likely to pick VT at his originally schedule announcement. A delay means someone has given him something else to consider.
Whether this is overall a bad thing for VT football is questionable. I've seen other RB targets viewed more highly by others, like Peyton Jones out of Maury. Doesn't mean we get either, but 3* roulette at RB can go a lot of different ways and I personally haven't watched either player's tape.
Is it because of the verbals we got last week making the class too crowded for him, you think?
More $$$$
From everything I've seen, which is probably all speculation, but something changed and he is headed up North correct?
Made top 3 for 88 rated 3 star RB out of PA. However, 4 CBs to PSU 😣
https://247sports.com/player/london-montgomery-46128292/