Sorry being new, I think I screwed the link up?
FSU having a good day, but they evidently lost a couple they expected n wanted also. Greedy Noles!
Their board is more upset than ours on their misses.
Watch coaches sit around still waiting. :)
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The difference is that their misses are kids in the top 30 in the country while Harrison and Nnadi were ranked anywhere from 100-200 in this class. They are especially ticked off about losing out on Malachi Dupre, five star wide receiver ranked 17th overall, so stealing Harrison from us helps to soften that blow.
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Sorry being new, I think I screwed the link up?
FSU having a good day, but they evidently lost a couple they expected n wanted also. Greedy Noles!
Their board is more upset than ours on their misses.
Watch coaches sit around still waiting. :)
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Kind of saw it coming. It's hard to compete with the National Champions. He'll have his work cut out for him moving through the DT traffic they have down there, but I know he'll do well. Let's just hope that when he sees the Hokies, he'll be watching them roll right past him with our resurgent O-line. Good luck, Derrick.
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Not bad. Didn't want to wait on the real stuff to brew. Also didn't know I'd been holding on to this jar so long (still sealed, saving it for the in-laws).
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My son called me last night about The Joystick wanting to "Shock the World". Heard he's going to Georgia. I'm not sure that this kids "me" mentality is what we want in Blacksburg.
Florida pulled an offer from a friend of his last night because he was going to do the same thing today and go to FSU. I kind of like that philosophy. These kids need to understand what they are getting in a college education and an opportunity to be coached by great coaches whom know how to get them to The League, if they are talented and physically gifted enough.
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Kris Harley was highly touted but never panned out. Keep the faith. Danny coale was a two star. Our coaches know what they are doing. Plus when we win the title they wish they chose different. Go hokies!
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It's probability. 2*'s have a much lower probability for success than 4*'s, there are just a lot more of them so in the aggregate, it seems like they succeed just as much.
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Christmas is always great and I'm personally thankful for the gifts that I do receive, however not getting the gift you REALLY wanted does put a damper on things. Especially when you know you aren't getting that gift FIRST THING CHRISTMAS MORNING! Dang it. But best of luck to Derrick.
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"I've been a lifelong Virginia Tech fan, and it was a pretty easy decision. I loved it when I visited and my parents loved it when I visited, and I felt comfortable there. I used to watch them on TV growing up, and Tyrod Taylor [former Virginia Tech quarterback] was one of my favorite players in college growing up."
Thank you, Tyrod.
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Let's all be honest. Us failing to sign nandi had a lot less to do with our recruiting ability than it did with the most recent crystal ball handed out. Let's not be too hard on ourselves
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They have 3 and we were content with fielding a supreme sub-par offense for years because we thought we were simply good enough.
Its really not that difficult a decision for a recruit, but it HURTS. Need to change this philosophy that its great to be in the running with these guys. We need to CLOSE these guys.
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Yeah I'd love to get these guys too. I think recruiting is on the upswing again, though, and hopefully it'll keep improving, especially if our coaches continue to make more ties out here. But I also think part of it is just winning more. We've still got a good foundation we're bringing in here.
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It's easy to be a shining star in a dark place. They will go there, stand out from everyone there, most likely win very little, make All-ACC teams, and then graduate and get drafted because they were noticeable. You will see talent stand out in those situations in the same way that lesser players at big name schools get drafted because of the performance of those around them. It makes people think more of them.
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Isiah Mckenzie signed with Georgia... good for Georgia... just wait to the very last second don't even have the kid visit and snatch'em up. *Golf Clap*
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To have Hand, Nnadi, Brown, Blanding, all coming out of Virginia in one class and to land not a single one of them. That REALLY hurts. Especially when we're supposed to have a dominant defense that should be able to hand pick whoever we want in the state.
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Well said, could not agree more. We will have a good class this year but the homegrown talent that is leaving the state or going to that other school up the road is truly disappointing. No other way to put it. People can spout all the examples they want about 5* guys not panning out but I'd rather sign some that don't pan out and some that do than not have the ability to sign any at all.
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For YEARS we all complained because we would pick up the players at home and miss out on players out of state. Now people are complaining because we are getting the out of state talent and not all of the in-state guys? You can't have your cake and eat it too people!
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I'd like to see a study about how far kids go from home these days. I feel, although this is so far unsupported by data, that kids are less likely to stay in state these days because the interwebs have created their own mobile community. No longer do you need to stay in state to play with guys you know, you get to know your fellow recruits 5 states away through twitter.
Of course, it also helps on the talent assessment side. More info is accessible for kids 5 states away now.
To me, this has fundamentally changed our recruiting strategy. No longer are we dependent on in-state recruits, as this class will show. Our best draws to in-state talent now are distance their parents travel and growing up a fan.
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Its because this year's in-state talent was top of the line. There were some absolute studs at positions of need and we didn't fill them for the most part. We have a great out of state class which is awesome but it was needed to counter balance. I dont want to have my cake and eat it too. Pie is better and I will have it and eat the shit out of it.
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And there has been top of the line out of state talent this year too that we missed. You can't have everyone. Relax and let the coaches do their thing. Recruiting isn't a one year thing. It's a plan over the course of several years. Coaches look to fill immediate needs and then begin filling ones that are next in the line. Look for us to stock up on DL next year as I already expect that the coaches are all over players for our front 7 for the next class.
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You can't have everyone, but I'd like to have SOMEONE.
We are annually missing out on the TOP in-state players, especially when they're in positions of need. Its just not healthy as a program to be continually swinging and missing on elite talent in your own state. Its REALLY bad when your in-state rival, who you've mauled 10 years in a row, IS able to pull in not one, but two of these players in a single recruiting class.
I like our overall class a heck of a lot more than theirs, but the top end of their class absolutely blows ours away. Thats embarrassing.
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You can't have everyone, but I'd like to have SOMEONE.
I have Raymon Minor on line 1. Oh and Travon McMillian is also on line 2.
If you read the article from the Washington Post yesterday about the Hoos connections to those top players, then you understand why we never stood a chance. We didn't lose out on Blanding because we never pursued him.
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Also, the "top end" of that UVA recruiting class is 4 players. Blanding, Brown, Kamara, and Steven Moss. There's also Corwin Cutler who prepped for a year. Those are all of their 4-star or more players according to 247. Meanwhile, the "top end" of our class is Shai McKenzie, Raymon Minor, Travon McMillian, Marshawn Williams, Vincent Mihota, Andrew Ford, Chris Durkin, Ricky Walker, Cam Phillips, DJ Reid, and Holland Fisher. That's not including Harrison if we get him or Ford who we should get. You still like UVA's top end more?
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We don't have anyone on our recruiting radar that comes close to the talent that Brown and Blanding have.
As I said, I MUCH MUCH prefer our class as a whole over theirs, but the cream of the crop for them absolutely dwarfs ours. (which is saying something about how the rest of their class is when you consider ours is still a higher rated class than theirs, even with our misses today).
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Yeah, there is a guru on another board who says Walker will be better than Brown. He may be if Brown gets injured or doesn't apply himself, but from a scouting perspective, it's not even close. Brown is a man.
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So... you are complaining because they have TWO guys who are studs that got steered to them through questionable (at best) 7-on-7 coaches and required 400+ phone calls from Mike London in the last year to get, and are practically a walking potential violation? Big whoop, they can have them. I'm bummed we had a few misses, but this class is still really good. The sky is not falling. Chill out.
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Our coaches decided we wanted CJ and not Blanding. We knew we had no chance whatsoever with him because he outright stated that he wouldn't consider us (most likely influence from Thoroughbreds but no concrete evidence on that). CJ is plenty talented and the great thing about football is that it's a team sport. You can have 2 5-star athletes on the team, but if the other 9 on the field at the time suck, you won't be a good team. When you see us building a TEAM of talent and not just grabbing talented players, you should know our coaches have a plan for using them effectively.
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Wait until Brown and Blanding get through LOLUVA "coaching" then half our class will be ahead of them in a 2 years.
haha.. I know where you're coming from and I agree with what your saying all over this thread but we need to win more and win big for 5 stars to come to VT. Yes LOLUVA has 2 but they were all but gift wrapped to LOLUVA and as hard as it is to say, some people actually prefer the douchelife... uh, city life, of doucheville... uh Cville.
Overall if everyone commits, even minus Harrison and Ford, this is our best class in yonkers. By far. The program is headed in the right direction and if we start winning like we should and our offense starts actually thumping people at least half as much as our defense does we will get those 5 stars kids in.
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yes this is perfect our recruiting class is great. what all these coaches have done in a short period of time is amazing. Think about it... We have a Legit QB competition, a Legit RB competition, and a lot of talent in WR and continued success on the Defensive side.
I want kids to come to VT to play for VT and embody "UT Prosim" not just use it as a stepping stone to the NFL or in LOLUVA"S case to be the 5* recruit that slowly disappears and then gets punished year after year in Lane Stadium
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Hope we can pull in Ford to have something nice occur today. Glad to have the guys we get but it sucks watching guys we are waiting on to go somewhere else.
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Well hey, every kid that doesn't choose the Hokies is one more scholarship available for 2015. From the looks of it, we're gonna need every available one we can get.
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Ford would make me feel much much better. I think the chances he comes here are only getting better with harrison and Joystick going elsewhere, but he did make a scary tweet about how everyone seems to know where he is going...
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I saw on Bitter's post that Harrison's time to announce was TBA, is that him waiting on other WR's that could possibly commit to FSU? Does this bode well for us? am I reading too much into an 18 year olds actions?
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I think it does somewhat depend on some 5 star WR that may pick FSU (i forget his name, sorry), but I wouldn't hold my breath that he still doesn't pick FSU. You never know though.
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This is what good programs do. When they have high profile success, they immediately capitalize on it. FSU has been to 2 BCS bowls in a row, one a Natty Title win, and they're going even HARDER on the recruiting trail than they have been in the past because they know they're a hot item.
All I have to say is that I wished our coaches had done the same when we were in the middle of our most recent run in 2010 and 2011. Those 2 classes of recruiting blunders are why we're as down as we are right now. Thankfully, we've moved on from the main problems with the recruiting in those classes.
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I think if anything, Andy's articles the last few days have shown how you can have good classes in recruiting not pan out, and bad classes in recruiting far exceed expectations.
To all the recruits picking VT, I hope you follow through on your commitment.
To all the recruits picking other schools, good luck to you in those schools. If you picked UVA over us...then I have to worry about your decision making skills.
To all those watching waiting for good things, if it doesn't happen the way you hope, don't fret. There's potential in every class.
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As far as recruting goes, I think FSU only recently passed Florida and Miami in the class rankings. They had fluxuated over the past few years. With Florida having its first losing season, FSU's national title, and the threat of the NCAA sanctions floating around Miami for what seemed like 2 years, FSU will be on top for awhile. Thats what I was saying.
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Is it sad that Miami might have a lower rated class than they were pulling in under the NCAA investigation umbrella. I guess people are finally figuring out that Golden and crew aren't all that.
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To the victor goes the spoils. To get the best, we have to be the best and that means we have to beat teh best. I think our current class with this current staff can do that.
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I think we will have big recruits coming for sure, maybe not this year but in years to come. Often times we forget the time these coaches had to recruit since being hired. Lets give Lefty, Moorehead, and Grimes(although gone) credit for hitting the ground running. A lot of good quality Offensive recruits were in our grasp, some slipped away some committed.
But the main thing is that I think this has been the most entertaining/heart wrenching/ active recruiting year/class we have had in awhile and it all started with the hiring of 3 new coaches. Add the Beast Searels to the mix next year and we will be stealing recruits from Texas, Georgia and even UF.
Its always a great day to be a HOKIE
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Isaiah Ford committing at 2pm today. and Harrison is most Likely going to FSU.. I don't think I can wait till 2, if he (Ford) doesn't sign with VT I'm going home to "Jack and Johnny" to cry like a little baby
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It would be absolutely devastating to our recruiting class if we miss out on all 3 big name receivers we were in the running for.
As good as everything else in the program is, even if our OL gets incredibly beastly, we aren't going to do anything if we don't have anyone who can catch the ball.
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If you are really going to cry like a baby than I suggest you make sure Jose is also at home. Much more effective "grief counselor" to make you forget all your troubles.
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Note on Chris Durkin: his father played baseball at Youngstown State & is in that school's HOF. Also played 7 yrs in the Astros system— Jimmy Robertson (@jrobIHS) February 5, 2014
Oh I'll take a former baseball QB all day ... Hopefully this kid picked up some stuff from his pops. I just imagined a 6'3" 230lb Russell Wilson throwing on the run... Niceee!
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On the bright side, since we didn't get Nnadi, Mckenzie and Scott, we won't have to worry so much about making the numbers work. Excited to watch all of the new Hokies over the next few years and good luck to recruits we missed out except when they play the good guys.
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Gotta love NSD. We exhalt and moan the decisions of 18 year olds. Come Saturday when we have our first Junior day we turn our attention to 16-17 year olds.
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How many did we even pursue though?
247 Sports only has 33 total five stars in this class
Rivals has the same number
ESPN limits it to 15 total
The only one that I know we really were after was Hand. I think there was early interest in Jabrill Peppers but that fizzled almost a year ago. Same thing with Jalen Tabor out of DC.
The one I was surprised that Grimes didn't push to get into the discussion on more was Damian Prince, the O lineman from Bishop McNamara in MD.
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Just a reminder folks...none of these kids have stepped onto a college football field to play in a game yet. You'd think we just lost every game in the 2014 season the way some people are reacting. Let's wait and see how the recruits pan out before we panic or rejoice.
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To be fair, this is the *Exact* same thing that people were saying the last few years as recruting was really crapping the bed. "Oh you don't know if any of these kids are going to be good or not, lets see how it plays out." Then it feels like the exact same people turn around later and say "Oh, well, of course we're losing we don't have the talent because we weren't recruiting well."
So, while I agree that this year was better than the last few, signing only what 1 of the in-state top 10 is an issue and it does need to be addressed. No, the sky is not falling, no we will not lose every game next year, or any of those other extreme things, but the opposite is also true: everything is *not* 100% fine. Things do need to be worked on, things do need to be improved. Missing so many signing day decisions so often *is* still an issue.
People seem to treat everything like a black and white issue, and it's never the case. It can be both. It can be both our best class in years with good hopes for the future and the identification of several areas of improvement like getting top in-state talent and closing with guys on NSD.
Complacency is the reason for the last couple of years, both in recrutiing and on the field. Now that things are turning around, it's not the time to get complacent again, it's the time to keep getting better every year and keep improving. There's always work to do.
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I wasn't saying you couldn't be happy or unhappy with the recruiting, just that we should try and moderate it. No running around like chickens with our heads cut off, out of happiness or despair. We can be excited, or disappointed, but I think either way should be taken with a grain of salt.
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I think you're mssing my point. I agree with you that people shouldn't be throwing themselves off of bridges, or whatever. But I'm also not seeing a lot of that. There's maybe a handful of people who are over-reacting, but that happens in sports.
What I'm disagreeing with is the "wait to see how these recruits pan out" notion. You don't need to see that to be able to identify and address areas of improvement for next year. You don't have that luxury in college football, you don't have time to wait. If you wait, then everyone passes you by and you have an even bigger challenge ahead of you than if you had just been pro-active. This philosophy is the *Exact* reason why the program has gone through what it has over the last couple of years.
I don't think we need to wait 3 years to identify that when a Defensively Oriented school from Virginia almost completely misses on the top 10 Virginia recruits who are loaded with defensive talent, it's a problem that needs to be addressed for next and future years.
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I think we're just arguing over semantics- I'd love to bring in top recruits too. But I think this is a very good class still, and I do think it's fair to see if they can contribute or not before deciding if this class was as good as most people think.
Believe me, if I had it my way we'd bring in every 5* recruit and they'd all make huge impacts for the football team and it'd be great.
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I think the bigger issue, more so than missing recruits, is the number of guys who have either left the program for whatever reason or have had their careers limited or ended by injury. Bitter did a great write up on it earlier this week. I'm bummed some of these guys went elsewhere, but I think what the message is be excited for the guys who are coming to Blacksburg. They may be the ones bringing that Crystal Ball back, fuck their star rating.
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I agree that we should be excited about the guys who are coming, but shouldn't use that as an excuse to not address areas of improvement in recruting that will help bring in more classes of even higher claiber in the future. That's my only point. Don't throw yourself off a bridge, but don't consider the problem "now fixed."
As we saw 5 years ago with "Why should we do anything about the offense - we're winning 10 games!" Complacency is the devil and good is the enemy of great. Don't wait until things are bad and you have to fix them, find things that can use fixing now and make yourself even better.
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Virginia Tech felt like home to me. It was a home away from home, basically. I could definitely see myself there for four years. I committed early. I was getting tired of the recruiting process. I didnt want to waste any other coaches time. I knew where I wanted to go, so I just went ahead and made my decision."
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Thats what I'm guessing. Looks like someone in the Athletic Dept jumped the gun after the LOI was received when he wanted to wait to make it known to the world.
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VT recruiting coordinator Bryan Stinespring says TE Xavier Burke could also play some DL with the #Hokies.— Hokies Journal (@HokiesJournal) February 5, 2014
Two shouts for converting TE's!!
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Sorry if it's already been posted but it looks like we have a time for the Harrison decision
At 12:30 @rickbrown91 will be at Kathleen, where we'll find out what school Ja'Von Harrison is signing with. Virginia Tech or Florida State?— Aimee Sachs (@LedgerAimee) February 5, 2014
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Ugly side of NSD RT @FO_SammyBatten: #EESmith coach says FSU hasn't sent DL Arthur Williams any paperwork and no one there will talk to him.— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) February 5, 2014
that's shitty
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I'm excited to be spending the next four years in your digital Blacksburg. It's been a dream of mine since the digital Vince went there years ago. Hopefully I'll get to play with my digital brother, Kendall.
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I have a Kurt Fuller but I had to create him in the create a prospect menu during the offseason. Scared the hell outta me cause after i created him he didnt even consider Tech but I swayed him.
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That would be good, but apparently just a faulty fax machine according to the Fayetteville Observer. His coach has talked to Jimbo, and they still want him.
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Gotcha. Guess it just goes to show that recruiting can be a bit of a crapshoot and that we just trust that FB&Co have done their work on the guys we're targeting.
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Yes all this makes me feel a little bit better but I figured it would help us in the edge of recruiting. Nah, he's not a troll he's just weird. He says he's a fan of both Tech and the Hoos as well as LSU. He's also a big believer in rivals and thinks that cavs outrecruiting us will translate on the field.
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a) Let's leave the hate speech at the door. Bisexuals are people too. straight, gay, bi whatever floats your boat.
b) If you're a bisexual dude by definition you are gay so you are not in denial. You just enjoy the ladies as well.
c) let's just focus on recruiting and VT football
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Not exactly downvoting cause we're "faint of heart." Shoot, I cut the hearts out of guinea pigs and mice pretty regularly. However, your post did violate a good chunk of the posting rules Joe outlined and was overall just unnecessary.
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It's all good. I apologize for the post. I didn't intend to offend. I was trying to make a bold analogy for the UVa and VT football fan. It was unnecessary...as are about 99.95% of all my posts.
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Ask him where Greg Stroman, Cam Phillips and Travon McMillan were THOUGHT to be going, and where they ended up. Ask him why a 4 star DL whose brother went to UVA (Mihota) signed with VT. Outside the guys who were betrothed by 7X7 teams to UVA, we kicked their asses.
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It looks like we are getting a high number of recruits from PA this class. In years past this only would have happened over JoPa's dead body; guess that was very true.
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I must now root for FSU to go 0-12 this season after all their starters are declared academically ineligible in a mass cheating scandal. May God have mercy on their souls.
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He definitely needs all the lbs he can get. Saw him the other day out there with Leal, Cline and Meyer and he looks pretty skinny compared to the rest of them. Rogers was out there too and he looks like a wrecking ball.
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I did and that is awesome. What I did hear as well that is somewhat concerning is that they did not try to sell me on anything and they did not wine and dine me. Now while this worked for Andrew I imagine that a little bit of selling and wining and dining would be good and help with most kids as long as we do it for all the recruits walking through the door and not just the higher recruited kids.
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Just a heads up:
Brace yourselves for the Michael Santamaria "sailing kicks through the uprights" jokes that are going to become a mainstay for broadcasters in the coming years.
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I am happy with the class overall, but I can't see NSD itself as anything but a disaster.
I can't say that I blame a kid for picking FSU over VT right now considering how bad the last two seasons have been but disappointing to have SO much in-state talent signing elsewhere.
Sure we can take the unheralded guys and develop them up to be stars, but to get where we'd like to be (that is a shot at the National Championship) we aren't going to be able to do that without bringing in the top talent.
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That's why I said that I'm happy with the class overall. It's top 20, which is respectable, but with the talent in state that we lost to UVA (for example) it could have been that much better.
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We picked up solid 4* linebacker and are about to pick up a solid 4* wide receiver and both players fill a position of need. While signing day could have been a little better I don't consider it to be a disappointment.
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Read your own image, and take a deep breath. This day clearly isn't a disaster - we've got a great class coming in, that patches a ton of immediate holes on the roster. Our O-line has depth and talent across the board! We have tons of good QB prospects for proper competition! And we still got great defensive players. Our defense has been consistently awesome WITHOUT these couple of studs we missed on - it will continue to be so. Offense is where we all agreed we needed help and that's where we got it. Would those 5-stars have been nice? sure. But this class is still really really good. pump the brakes.
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Keeping this class together ~= disaster. Losing Nnadi sucked, but we flipped Ford, and he just would have been icing on the cake. A disaster would be something like losing 2 or 3 of the o-linemen to various B1G schools, and not landing a single guy from Florida. Or maybe having none of the qb prospects qualify, or something like that. THAT would've been a disaster. If you're happy with the class we brought in today, the day is, by definition, not a disaster.
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I fully expected most of the guys that signed today to sign with VT. Essentially all of the surprises were negative...so I meant that the news that we received on NSD (losing Nnadi, Harrison, McKinzie etc.) = disaster.
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Leg for taking the time and effort to try and explain your position clearly.
When you put it that way, I can't argue really with it, even if I wouldn't necessarily use the term disaster. But hopefully this class won't be lacking, and we can forget about the lack of positive surprises today.
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Guys like Ford, Durkin, Walker, Williams, Keihn, Fisher, Reid, McKinzie are all talented dudes that will do a ton for us going forward and the #fab4 makes the loss of Grimes easier to swallow.
But today was disappointing. Was really hoping for Nnadi since I figured Harrison was gone.
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Something about your avatar just doesn't fit with the word 'disaster' when referring to NSD. A tsunami that kills thousands of people and does $billions in damage is a disaster. Losing a top recruit to the defending Champs is unfortunate, but 'disaster' is far too strong of a word. You're not going to make yourself clear to us by using overly strong words. Repeating those same words with slightly different words around them doesn't make it any more clear.
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I'm just going to have to change my avatar then, because I'm not very calm today :)
I'm well aware this doesn't compare to a tsunami. I've spent plenty of time on the Gulf Coast doing Katrina relief, and I'm in no way making that comparison...it's hyperbolic for sure.
Saying "In the world of Virginia Tech football recruiting this wasn't a great day" doesn't express my disappointment in terms of missing on the talent that I was hoping we'd land today.
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I understand. I'm not exactly jumping off the walls because of this class, but I'm not disappointed by it. Sure it sucks to miss on a couple but that's going to happen every year at ever school. I'm sure even 'Bama missed on a couple. That's how it works. I know you're disappointed...I think probably several people here are to some degree. You just came across as REALLY disappointed. NBD, we're all friends here :)
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the way i looked at it, there were 6 wild cards going into today. we landed 2/6 of them. far from a disaster IMO. could have been better, sure, but not awful.
also, we offered McKenzie a week ago. landing him would have been nice, but i don't think we should have ever expected it.
if you take the better rating from the main services, we landed 13 4 star players today. I'm good with that.
3 RB
2 QB
2 WR
1 QB/WR
2 S (was Fisher a 5 star somewhere, i don't recall?)
1 DE
1 LB
1 DT
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13 4* players is a HUGE step in the right direction from the past.
That said, the players we lost out on today would have been upgrades over what we already have and what we're bringing in, at positions of need, which will sting for a while.
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I understand what you're saying, but my point is that just making it the finish line with this class is a win. No news is good news. Only one of our commits (Harrison) was poached, and we made up for him by flipping another guy at the same position (Ford). With a class this talented, I call that a win, regardless of what happened with the uncommitteds.
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It's makes me sad to write this, but we'll never consistently pull in the top talent from our own state unless we luck out with a few 2 star recruits who end up being the best players in college football and lead us to a National Championship. If we had 10-win seasons for 8 straight years and we couldn't even get a top 10 recruiting class nationally during that span, then what makes you think that we can do that now? Unfortunately, all of the loses in big games has eroded respect for our program. At this point, the best we can hope for is to continue to sign a top 30 class, and hope that one of them turns out to be like Michael Vick. We've found out that 10 win seasons aren't good enough to win the recruiting battle against other schools. We need a national championship at this point in order to be a legitimate factor in recruiting on the national stage, which in turn will put us in with the other elite teams that are in the National Championship conversation year in and year out.
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Let's hope he has better hands than Boykin did during his first couple of years. All that talk of "big hands" and he couldn't catch the ball that well until his last year.
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We may not have scored the top talent in VA, but that was the top talent in the nation. Losing out to the likes of FSU and Bama on top recruits is tough to deal with but should be expected. That being said, we still got OL depth, a couple of playmakers at WR to go along with a young Stanford, our future QB, and two studs at RB. Plus guys like Fisher, Reavis, Minor, Kiehn, Walker will give Foster and co. plenty to work with.
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Great balanced class. We got some weapons on offense that we desperately needed. The defense got some big time players and some guys that I think came in under the radar that will be good. I hope to see some of these guys playing in the fall especially at RB and WR. DL is a good possibility as well. Cheers to a great class and beating Nnadi and Harrison in the ACCCG.
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Comments
Kendrick Holland - next one in.
Does anyone know if there is gonna be live feeds for Nnadi and Mckenzie's commitments?
Andy's post has a list of players and the times that they will be announcing... not sure about the means of watching their announcement, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxH5eVJGeXA
Sorry being new, I think I screwed the link up?
FSU having a good day, but they evidently lost a couple they expected n wanted also. Greedy Noles!
Their board is more upset than ours on their misses.
Watch coaches sit around still waiting. :)
here ya go http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2013/october/15/can-someone-help-newb-...
The difference is that their misses are kids in the top 30 in the country while Harrison and Nnadi were ranked anywhere from 100-200 in this class. They are especially ticked off about losing out on Malachi Dupre, five star wide receiver ranked 17th overall, so stealing Harrison from us helps to soften that blow.
Don't know why they're mad. The kid is from NOLA and went to LSU. Greedy greedy Seminoles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxH5eVJGeXA
Sorry being new, I think I screwed the link up?
FSU having a good day, but they evidently lost a couple they expected n wanted also. Greedy Noles!
Their board is more upset than ours on their misses.
Watch coaches sit around still waiting. :)
Ah man, we don't get espnU with our cable package :(
Bronson with that first quick step again.
Colt Pettit - next man in
Anthony Scott has committed to ECU, per Bitter
good for him, would have been in a crowded backfield here. Hopefully he has a successful career at ECU (except when he plays us)
And that's a wrap.
That one is going to sting.
NOOOOOOO! W/e ugh I like guys who don't play the system anyways. Best of luck to him I guess. Hard to compete with a National Champion
sigh
In two words: This sucks.
Kind of saw it coming. It's hard to compete with the National Champions. He'll have his work cut out for him moving through the DT traffic they have down there, but I know he'll do well. Let's just hope that when he sees the Hokies, he'll be watching them roll right past him with our resurgent O-line. Good luck, Derrick.
YOU DONE MESSED UP DERRICK!
That would be Der-rick. Now take your ass down to O'Shag-hennessy's office.
Like Dee-rick?
Been saving this brew for a special occasion. Is 8 a.m. too early?
Go for it
Not bad. Didn't want to wait on the real stuff to brew. Also didn't know I'd been holding on to this jar so long (still sealed, saving it for the in-laws).
RIP in-laws
That's "grandma and grandpa", as long as I keep this stuff away from my wife until May.
Congratulations. I hope you have already stocked up on hokie gear for little hokies.
My son called me last night about The Joystick wanting to "Shock the World". Heard he's going to Georgia. I'm not sure that this kids "me" mentality is what we want in Blacksburg.
Florida pulled an offer from a friend of his last night because he was going to do the same thing today and go to FSU. I kind of like that philosophy. These kids need to understand what they are getting in a college education and an opportunity to be coached by great coaches whom know how to get them to The League, if they are talented and physically gifted enough.
stupid national championship ruins everything!
More bad news seems to be on the way.
Uhh. So we are gonna go "0fer" on the signing day decision guys. Bummer
Everybody except Minor is a legit possibility.
His decision wont come until 2pm, so up in the air until then
He might be waiting to see what WR recruits both teams have in order to judge early playing time.
I actually feel like crying. This one hurts, so bad.
Good luck to Nnadi seeing the field in that crowed D-line but F*** FSU!
Kris Harley was highly touted but never panned out. Keep the faith. Danny coale was a two star. Our coaches know what they are doing. Plus when we win the title they wish they chose different. Go hokies!
True dat.
Disappointed for a sec, but much more excited about our newest Hokies.
It's probability. 2*'s have a much lower probability for success than 4*'s, there are just a lot more of them so in the aggregate, it seems like they succeed just as much.
Right now, I'd rather lose guys on defense than offense. In Bud we trust.
Next one in - Tabyus Taylor.
Tabyus Taylor NLI is in for VT
Billy Ray Mitchell is in.
He looks skinny for 6'4" 280.
Billy ray Mitchell NLI is in for VT (OL).
Christmas is always great and I'm personally thankful for the gifts that I do receive, however not getting the gift you REALLY wanted does put a damper on things. Especially when you know you aren't getting that gift FIRST THING CHRISTMAS MORNING! Dang it. But best of luck to Derrick.
Especially when you watch Santa announce he's giving your gift to a frat bro in an FSU visor.
Either way I believe in Bud and best wishes to Derrick
And then Santa gifts you a Billy Ray Mitchell with a spectacular hair cut.....and the healing begins.
Guitar man...Stereo!!
so I guess I'll stop watching now....hopefully the others commit. Least it wasn't the hoo's.
Billy Ray Mitchell on why he chose Tech.
"I've been a lifelong Virginia Tech fan, and it was a pretty easy decision. I loved it when I visited and my parents loved it when I visited, and I felt comfortable there. I used to watch them on TV growing up, and Tyrod Taylor [former Virginia Tech quarterback] was one of my favorite players in college growing up."
Thank you, Tyrod.
I knew it was Tyrod. He still does everything for our offense.
Tyrod and the Fullers need to knock some broads up and send their kids to play at VT.
^Science!
Let's all be honest. Us failing to sign nandi had a lot less to do with our recruiting ability than it did with the most recent crystal ball handed out. Let's not be too hard on ourselves
They have 3 and we were content with fielding a supreme sub-par offense for years because we thought we were simply good enough.
Its really not that difficult a decision for a recruit, but it HURTS. Need to change this philosophy that its great to be in the running with these guys. We need to CLOSE these guys.
Yeah I'd love to get these guys too. I think recruiting is on the upswing again, though, and hopefully it'll keep improving, especially if our coaches continue to make more ties out here. But I also think part of it is just winning more. We've still got a good foundation we're bringing in here.
Winning only means so much when you see players like Brown and Blanding ending up at 2 win LOLUva
I don't know what to say there- I'm not sure why anyone attends LOLUva, let alone athletes.
It's easy to be a shining star in a dark place. They will go there, stand out from everyone there, most likely win very little, make All-ACC teams, and then graduate and get drafted because they were noticeable. You will see talent stand out in those situations in the same way that lesser players at big name schools get drafted because of the performance of those around them. It makes people think more of them.
This made my day. Well played, Andy.
Minor is in!!
Yea, we definitely have an echo going on, don't we?
Well, it'll stop in 5 minutes, I gotta get to work...lol
Ha, our campus is opening late today and that's the only reason I'm here right now. Waiting on McKenzie's announcement before I head off.
Was informed late yesterday that I'm "non-essential personnel", so with 8-14 inches...it's NSD!
5 seconds...
Raymon Minor has signed with the Hokies!
all time classic
I keep trying to come up with a joke that utilizes D-Minor that isn't too long... wildly unsuccessful
MINOR! YES!
Isiah Mckenzie signed with Georgia... good for Georgia... just wait to the very last second don't even have the kid visit and snatch'em up. *Golf Clap*
Call me crazy, but I'm beginning to think that this McKenzie kid really, REALLY likes attention....
I don't think you're crazy. I think you are correct.
Ricky Walker is in!
Ricky Walker is in for the good guys.
Very pleased with this! I like this kid and the JMU steal, both are going to be beasts in the middle of the DL and have lots of playing time!
Ricky Walker is in
Ugh...
To have Hand, Nnadi, Brown, Blanding, all coming out of Virginia in one class and to land not a single one of them. That REALLY hurts. Especially when we're supposed to have a dominant defense that should be able to hand pick whoever we want in the state.
Well said, could not agree more. We will have a good class this year but the homegrown talent that is leaving the state or going to that other school up the road is truly disappointing. No other way to put it. People can spout all the examples they want about 5* guys not panning out but I'd rather sign some that don't pan out and some that do than not have the ability to sign any at all.
I haven't checked TSL yet, but I bet they spend all day discussing this point. Do we need to drown our sorrows here as well?
Yup, I think its allowed. Just stepping back to look at the big picture a bit.
For YEARS we all complained because we would pick up the players at home and miss out on players out of state. Now people are complaining because we are getting the out of state talent and not all of the in-state guys? You can't have your cake and eat it too people!
I'd like to see a study about how far kids go from home these days. I feel, although this is so far unsupported by data, that kids are less likely to stay in state these days because the interwebs have created their own mobile community. No longer do you need to stay in state to play with guys you know, you get to know your fellow recruits 5 states away through twitter.
Of course, it also helps on the talent assessment side. More info is accessible for kids 5 states away now.
To me, this has fundamentally changed our recruiting strategy. No longer are we dependent on in-state recruits, as this class will show. Our best draws to in-state talent now are distance their parents travel and growing up a fan.
Well...depends if the out of state players are better than the top in-state ones we're missing on.
Its because this year's in-state talent was top of the line. There were some absolute studs at positions of need and we didn't fill them for the most part. We have a great out of state class which is awesome but it was needed to counter balance. I dont want to have my cake and eat it too. Pie is better and I will have it and eat the shit out of it.
And there has been top of the line out of state talent this year too that we missed. You can't have everyone. Relax and let the coaches do their thing. Recruiting isn't a one year thing. It's a plan over the course of several years. Coaches look to fill immediate needs and then begin filling ones that are next in the line. Look for us to stock up on DL next year as I already expect that the coaches are all over players for our front 7 for the next class.
You can't have everyone, but I'd like to have SOMEONE.
We are annually missing out on the TOP in-state players, especially when they're in positions of need. Its just not healthy as a program to be continually swinging and missing on elite talent in your own state. Its REALLY bad when your in-state rival, who you've mauled 10 years in a row, IS able to pull in not one, but two of these players in a single recruiting class.
I like our overall class a heck of a lot more than theirs, but the top end of their class absolutely blows ours away. Thats embarrassing.
I have Raymon Minor on line 1. Oh and Travon McMillian is also on line 2.
If you read the article from the Washington Post yesterday about the Hoos connections to those top players, then you understand why we never stood a chance. We didn't lose out on Blanding because we never pursued him.
Also, the "top end" of that UVA recruiting class is 4 players. Blanding, Brown, Kamara, and Steven Moss. There's also Corwin Cutler who prepped for a year. Those are all of their 4-star or more players according to 247. Meanwhile, the "top end" of our class is Shai McKenzie, Raymon Minor, Travon McMillian, Marshawn Williams, Vincent Mihota, Andrew Ford, Chris Durkin, Ricky Walker, Cam Phillips, DJ Reid, and Holland Fisher. That's not including Harrison if we get him or Ford who we should get. You still like UVA's top end more?
We don't have anyone on our recruiting radar that comes close to the talent that Brown and Blanding have.
As I said, I MUCH MUCH prefer our class as a whole over theirs, but the cream of the crop for them absolutely dwarfs ours. (which is saying something about how the rest of their class is when you consider ours is still a higher rated class than theirs, even with our misses today).
Walker is closer to Brown than you might think. Also, having Brown and Blanding won't fix their offense.
Walker is an excellent prospect and player, but Brown is a starter in Blacksburg yesterday if he signs with Tech.
Yeah, there is a guru on another board who says Walker will be better than Brown. He may be if Brown gets injured or doesn't apply himself, but from a scouting perspective, it's not even close. Brown is a man.
So... you are complaining because they have TWO guys who are studs that got steered to them through questionable (at best) 7-on-7 coaches and required 400+ phone calls from Mike London in the last year to get, and are practically a walking potential violation? Big whoop, they can have them. I'm bummed we had a few misses, but this class is still really good. The sky is not falling. Chill out.
Our coaches decided we wanted CJ and not Blanding. We knew we had no chance whatsoever with him because he outright stated that he wouldn't consider us (most likely influence from Thoroughbreds but no concrete evidence on that). CJ is plenty talented and the great thing about football is that it's a team sport. You can have 2 5-star athletes on the team, but if the other 9 on the field at the time suck, you won't be a good team. When you see us building a TEAM of talent and not just grabbing talented players, you should know our coaches have a plan for using them effectively.
Wait until Brown and Blanding get through LOLUVA "coaching" then half our class will be ahead of them in a 2 years.
haha.. I know where you're coming from and I agree with what your saying all over this thread but we need to win more and win big for 5 stars to come to VT. Yes LOLUVA has 2 but they were all but gift wrapped to LOLUVA and as hard as it is to say, some people actually prefer the douchelife... uh, city life, of doucheville... uh Cville.
Overall if everyone commits, even minus Harrison and Ford, this is our best class in yonkers. By far. The program is headed in the right direction and if we start winning like we should and our offense starts actually thumping people at least half as much as our defense does we will get those 5 stars kids in.
yes this is perfect our recruiting class is great. what all these coaches have done in a short period of time is amazing. Think about it... We have a Legit QB competition, a Legit RB competition, and a lot of talent in WR and continued success on the Defensive side.
I want kids to come to VT to play for VT and embody "UT Prosim" not just use it as a stepping stone to the NFL or in LOLUVA"S case to be the 5* recruit that slowly disappears and then gets punished year after year in Lane Stadium
You're forgetting Melvin Keihn
Say what you want about the Alabama fax girl's replacement, but it's a miracle I even FIT in this dress.
Link to Alabama fax girl?
I still blame uva when something doesn't go our way.
Chris Durkin in :-)
Right Handed Tebow!
I almost choked on my cereal.
Greg Stroman.....IN
Saw McKenzie picked UGA
Maybe we can beat FSU in basketball to get them back for stealing our VA guys. And likely Harrison
Will they give us a 25 point head start?
5-star Solomon Thomas commits to Stanford over Arkansas and UCLA with a tree.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2014/2/5/5301546/sol...
And the glasses. Don't forget the taped glasses. That's awesome, always nice to see a kid have an appropriate level of fun with his commitment.
Yea this kid gets it. I admit that I myself get too wrapped up in Signing Day. Glad to see he is having fun with it.
Terrell Edmunds in....14th commit
Hope we can pull in Ford to have something nice occur today. Glad to have the guys we get but it sucks watching guys we are waiting on to go somewhere else.
Well hey, every kid that doesn't choose the Hokies is one more scholarship available for 2015. From the looks of it, we're gonna need every available one we can get.
Let's give them an ACC championship run and an upset in Columbus to bring to the table. Can't hurt.
Ford would make me feel much much better. I think the chances he comes here are only getting better with harrison and Joystick going elsewhere, but he did make a scary tweet about how everyone seems to know where he is going...
Maybe Harrison gives us a surprise and stays with us?
That'd be a very nice surprise. Any info on him? As far as I saw he didn't have a 'decision' time per se so I guess we just sit and wait?
He announces at 12:30, it would take a Kevin Jones type miracle however.
I saw on Bitter's post that Harrison's time to announce was TBA, is that him waiting on other WR's that could possibly commit to FSU? Does this bode well for us? am I reading too much into an 18 year olds actions?
I think it does somewhat depend on some 5 star WR that may pick FSU (i forget his name, sorry), but I wouldn't hold my breath that he still doesn't pick FSU. You never know though.
Here's hoping that Torrian is working the phone and chatting with Harrison.
This is what good programs do. When they have high profile success, they immediately capitalize on it. FSU has been to 2 BCS bowls in a row, one a Natty Title win, and they're going even HARDER on the recruiting trail than they have been in the past because they know they're a hot item.
All I have to say is that I wished our coaches had done the same when we were in the middle of our most recent run in 2010 and 2011. Those 2 classes of recruiting blunders are why we're as down as we are right now. Thankfully, we've moved on from the main problems with the recruiting in those classes.
Ermon Lane
I think if anything, Andy's articles the last few days have shown how you can have good classes in recruiting not pan out, and bad classes in recruiting far exceed expectations.
To all the recruits picking VT, I hope you follow through on your commitment.
To all the recruits picking other schools, good luck to you in those schools. If you picked UVA over us...then I have to worry about your decision making skills.
To all those watching waiting for good things, if it doesn't happen the way you hope, don't fret. There's potential in every class.
This right here explains the UVA QB situation.
Do we actually want any of their QBs?
Quin Blandings?
*Turns on ESPNU* "FLorida State #4 recruiting class"
...salt in the wound
did the same thing, watched like 30 seconds then changed the channel and came back to thekeyplay
....and a fifth of their class is from VA, MD, and NC
Alec Eberle, 3 star offensive lineman, 6'4" 270 lbs: Atlee HS, VA
Brock Ruble, 3 star offensive lineman, 6'8" 315 lbs: Dematha, MD
Derrick Nnadi, 4 star defensive lineman, 6'1" 305 lbs : Ocean Lakes, VA
Rick Leonard, 3 star defensive lineman, 6'7" 260 lbs: Middletown, MD
Arthur Williams, 3 star defensive lineman, 6'4" 280 lbs: Fayetteville, NC
Lorenzo Featherston, 4 star weakside defensive end, 6'7" 220 lbs: Greensboro, NC
JJ cant even bring in the height that FSU can recruit to their football team.
Brock Ruble, 3 star offensive lineman, 6'8" 315 lbs: Dematha, MD....Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. That's a big boy.
According to 247, FSU's incoming class has ***9*** players 6'6" or taller. That is equal to the number Tech has on its BBall squad.
Get real used to this. With Florida and Miami crapping the bed, the balance of the panhandle is titling towards Trailerhassee. They back.
I don't think they particularly care about UF and Miami.
They won the National Championship last year. They were already back
besides, Miami only recently stopped losing to the LOLUVa annually last year.
As far as recruting goes, I think FSU only recently passed Florida and Miami in the class rankings. They had fluxuated over the past few years. With Florida having its first losing season, FSU's national title, and the threat of the NCAA sanctions floating around Miami for what seemed like 2 years, FSU will be on top for awhile. Thats what I was saying.
Is it sad that Miami might have a lower rated class than they were pulling in under the NCAA investigation umbrella. I guess people are finally figuring out that Golden and crew aren't all that.
To the victor goes the spoils. To get the best, we have to be the best and that means we have to beat teh best. I think our current class with this current staff can do that.
I think we will have big recruits coming for sure, maybe not this year but in years to come. Often times we forget the time these coaches had to recruit since being hired. Lets give Lefty, Moorehead, and Grimes(although gone) credit for hitting the ground running. A lot of good quality Offensive recruits were in our grasp, some slipped away some committed.
But the main thing is that I think this has been the most entertaining/heart wrenching/ active recruiting year/class we have had in awhile and it all started with the hiring of 3 new coaches. Add the Beast Searels to the mix next year and we will be stealing recruits from Texas, Georgia and even UF.
Its always a great day to be a HOKIE
Travon McMillian is in....15th recruit to the class
Isaiah Ford committing at 2pm today. and Harrison is most Likely going to FSU.. I don't think I can wait till 2, if he (Ford) doesn't sign with VT I'm going home to "Jack and Johnny" to cry like a little baby
It would be absolutely devastating to our recruiting class if we miss out on all 3 big name receivers we were in the running for.
As good as everything else in the program is, even if our OL gets incredibly beastly, we aren't going to do anything if we don't have anyone who can catch the ball.
If you are really going to cry like a baby than I suggest you make sure Jose is also at home. Much more effective "grief counselor" to make you forget all your troubles.
Welcome to Hokie Nation, Chris Durkin! Also, I'm adding his dad to the list of people I never want to fight. Dude's huge.
*Edit* Keep in mind, Chris is 6'3" 230 lbs.
Seriously. Did he play somewhere? He looks like he could suit up and still go.
Seriously, does he have eligibility remaining? Can he come play LB?
meh, that's pretty much what i look like these days...
Listed on Baseball-Reference at 6'6" 247 holy cow
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=durkin001chr
Oh, okay, it's the 'roids... (don't kill me, just joking. Mr. Durkin is big.)
This is a photo of Gheorghe Muresan having to jump to high five Durks Sr.
Oh I'll take a former baseball QB all day ... Hopefully this kid picked up some stuff from his pops. I just imagined a 6'3" 230lb Russell Wilson throwing on the run... Niceee!
Don't need WRs. Durk JR is going to pound the rock.
Don't Reid and Fisher both have to re-sign a letter of intent?
Melvin Keihn is in as the 16th commit
So.... can we expect any surprises?
I'm not sure you understand how surprises work...
Okay, you got me there.
On the bright side, since we didn't get Nnadi, Mckenzie and Scott, we won't have to worry so much about making the numbers work. Excited to watch all of the new Hokies over the next few years and good luck to recruits we missed out except when they play the good guys.
Corey Long @CoreyLong 37s
Just days after getting his dream offer from Virginia Tech, Isaiah McKenzie signs with Georgia.
Corey Long @CoreyLong 13s
Which proves that no one dreams of spending a winter in Blacksburg, Va.
------------
Ouch... and F that guy
Don't sweat idiots like this dude. Everyone who is anyone knows that winters and summers in Blacksburg are magical.
Only because they can occur within 48 hours of each other
At least football season doesn't end until January, unlike some places he could have chosen.
It's probably just because Corey Long is soft. I seriously doubt how cold it is in winter in Blacksburg had to do with Isaiah's decision.
He's an ESPN stooge!
That might be the most beautiful gif I've ever seen
my mind is blown
Just in case one isn't good enough. He gives you BOTH! Not very neighborly if you ask me.
But I was trying to mask my laughter so badly at my desk that 3 coworkers came over to see.
Winter here in Athens hasn't been that much fun this year either... as far as Athens goes.
s someone spending the winter in Madison Wisconsin, I can confidently say I dream of Blacksburg winters. I forget what warm feels like.
Gotta love NSD. We exhalt and moan the decisions of 18 year olds. Come Saturday when we have our first Junior day we turn our attention to 16-17 year olds.
Eric Gallo becomes the 17th member of the class
"Ranked as the No. 8 center in the country"...
Nice!
Question: have we landed a single 5* recruit this season??
Negative Ghostrider
No, it's a legitimate question. Plus it would help ease the pain of sleeping on a bed of hot coals (see my post in another thread).
Methinks you missed the movie quote....
Yep. My bad. Sorry about that.
How many did we even pursue though?
247 Sports only has 33 total five stars in this class
Rivals has the same number
ESPN limits it to 15 total
The only one that I know we really were after was Hand. I think there was early interest in Jabrill Peppers but that fizzled almost a year ago. Same thing with Jalen Tabor out of DC.
The one I was surprised that Grimes didn't push to get into the discussion on more was Damian Prince, the O lineman from Bishop McNamara in MD.
Just a reminder folks...none of these kids have stepped onto a college football field to play in a game yet. You'd think we just lost every game in the 2014 season the way some people are reacting. Let's wait and see how the recruits pan out before we panic or rejoice.
To be fair, this is the *Exact* same thing that people were saying the last few years as recruting was really crapping the bed. "Oh you don't know if any of these kids are going to be good or not, lets see how it plays out." Then it feels like the exact same people turn around later and say "Oh, well, of course we're losing we don't have the talent because we weren't recruiting well."
So, while I agree that this year was better than the last few, signing only what 1 of the in-state top 10 is an issue and it does need to be addressed. No, the sky is not falling, no we will not lose every game next year, or any of those other extreme things, but the opposite is also true: everything is *not* 100% fine. Things do need to be worked on, things do need to be improved. Missing so many signing day decisions so often *is* still an issue.
People seem to treat everything like a black and white issue, and it's never the case. It can be both. It can be both our best class in years with good hopes for the future and the identification of several areas of improvement like getting top in-state talent and closing with guys on NSD.
Complacency is the reason for the last couple of years, both in recrutiing and on the field. Now that things are turning around, it's not the time to get complacent again, it's the time to keep getting better every year and keep improving. There's always work to do.
I wasn't saying you couldn't be happy or unhappy with the recruiting, just that we should try and moderate it. No running around like chickens with our heads cut off, out of happiness or despair. We can be excited, or disappointed, but I think either way should be taken with a grain of salt.
Sorry for hurting someones feelings?
I think you're mssing my point. I agree with you that people shouldn't be throwing themselves off of bridges, or whatever. But I'm also not seeing a lot of that. There's maybe a handful of people who are over-reacting, but that happens in sports.
What I'm disagreeing with is the "wait to see how these recruits pan out" notion. You don't need to see that to be able to identify and address areas of improvement for next year. You don't have that luxury in college football, you don't have time to wait. If you wait, then everyone passes you by and you have an even bigger challenge ahead of you than if you had just been pro-active. This philosophy is the *Exact* reason why the program has gone through what it has over the last couple of years.
I don't think we need to wait 3 years to identify that when a Defensively Oriented school from Virginia almost completely misses on the top 10 Virginia recruits who are loaded with defensive talent, it's a problem that needs to be addressed for next and future years.
I think we're just arguing over semantics- I'd love to bring in top recruits too. But I think this is a very good class still, and I do think it's fair to see if they can contribute or not before deciding if this class was as good as most people think.
Believe me, if I had it my way we'd bring in every 5* recruit and they'd all make huge impacts for the football team and it'd be great.
Minor and McMillian make it 2 of the state's top 10. Just unlike most years, we didn't sign anyone in the top 5.
I think the bigger issue, more so than missing recruits, is the number of guys who have either left the program for whatever reason or have had their careers limited or ended by injury. Bitter did a great write up on it earlier this week. I'm bummed some of these guys went elsewhere, but I think what the message is be excited for the guys who are coming to Blacksburg. They may be the ones bringing that Crystal Ball back, fuck their star rating.
I agree that we should be excited about the guys who are coming, but shouldn't use that as an excuse to not address areas of improvement in recruting that will help bring in more classes of even higher claiber in the future. That's my only point. Don't throw yourself off a bridge, but don't consider the problem "now fixed."
As we saw 5 years ago with "Why should we do anything about the offense - we're winning 10 games!" Complacency is the devil and good is the enemy of great. Don't wait until things are bad and you have to fix them, find things that can use fixing now and make yourself even better.
A wise man once told me "when you stop getting better you stop being good"
We should always be looking to improve. The second you get complacent, you've begun the failure.
Michael Santamaria just signed.
5'8 150. Let's hope he doesn't get hit.
Kids got a foot!
He's going to need two, I think.
This kid is the real deal kicker - don't let his size fool you. Go look at his film. He can flat out kick the ball...accurate as heck too.
Very interesting that we're giving him a scholarship day 1.
"Rated as a 5-star recruit and ranked No. 13 nationally by Chris Sailer Kicking"
****Duplicate effort****
Leg for effort.
Reavis is in as the 19th member of the class
If I'm counting correctly, it would be exactly 25 from this point if all remaining targets sign.
Reavis is in
I love this kid already!
Virginia Tech felt like home to me. It was a home away from home, basically. I could definitely see myself there for four years. I committed early. I was getting tired of the recruiting process. I didnt want to waste any other coaches time. I knew where I wanted to go, so I just went ahead and made my decision."
looks like Ford is in!
Yep Isaiah Ford in as the 20th member of the class. Big news there.
So when can we expect to receive Drew Harris's LOI? He is still coming to Tech right?
/sarcastica
It is actually rumored that Drew Harris does not actually exist. He is a mythical creature.
So is he Manti T'eo's girlfriend's brother?
Booyah. Another Ford is in the house!
Thank god for Ford
Isaiah Ford is in!!!
Uh oh, Isaiah Ford removed from Hokie Sports NSD Ticker...
Ford is removed from the Hokie Sports ticker....
They deleted the tweets from VT_Football too. The plot thickens...
Tyrell Smith is in.
"Recruited by Stacy Searels"...What?
Well they can't exactly say "Recruited by Jeff Grimes" now can they...
They did on another OL recruit who sent his LOI in already...Jeesh!
Hopefully to let him make his announcement at 2
Thats what I'm guessing. Looks like someone in the Athletic Dept jumped the gun after the LOI was received when he wanted to wait to make it known to the world.
Somebody get Bitter on the line.
D.J. Reid is in, per Andy:
Yay! #21....or is it #22? Ah, NSD, proving to make even simple counting exercises difficult.
Also running on the Tech site as the 21st member of the class now that Ford has been taken down.
Where is Holland Fisher?
I want him signed, sealed, and delivered.
Jaylen Bradshaw is in.
I have a feeling this kid will end up being one of the stars of this class. Sleeper. Book it.
Xavier Burke is a Hokie- looks like we've got our next QB.
ohh noo hokies extra's coverage isn't working :(
Steve Sobczak is also in.
Steve Sobczak is also in...
So that's Bradshaw at 22, Sobczak at 23, and Burke at 24
He's in a library, that's a good start.
Tennessee has 37 signed players in this class...
How in the bloody hell?
Prep, some won't get in. Greyshirt ect ect
Fisher, Ford, Harrison (I know), and who else still.....
shawn payne
Cam Phillips?
Phillips
can see on AB's updating blog
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/columns_and_blogs/blogs/andy_bitter_virgin...
Man this Hardees commercial is making me so hungry
Uh oh, guess what day it is?
They just showed the Battle of Bristol trailer on the signing day live feed...
I'M SO PUMPED
Two shouts for converting TE's!!
Three shouts for playing both ways!
Like Dadi Nicolas playing WR/TE, but in reverse.
Sorry if it's already been posted but it looks like we have a time for the Harrison decision
Don't we all already know the Harrison decision?
pretty much. FSU
that's shitty
Derrick Nnadi beat him to the offer, it looks like. Maybe he should call up Bud Foster?
(540) 231-BADMOTHERF**KER
Got hosed by Nnadi signing with them. Probably headed to ECU or Miami now because of it.
***Sad part of this whole thing is that this guy was so in on FSU that they were the only official visit he took during the whole process***
I just did this a recruit in NCAA 14 last night and feel bad about it even though he's not a real person.
Had to make room for a 5 star ATH named Kevin Fuller, though, so don't feel all that bad...THERE'S A FIFTH FULLER OUT THERE SAYS NCAA 14!
I'm excited to be spending the next four years in your digital Blacksburg. It's been a dream of mine since the digital Vince went there years ago. Hopefully I'll get to play with my digital brother, Kendall.
Wait a minute! I too have a new recruit named Fuller. Did you just Nnadi/McKenzie me?
I have a Kurt Fuller but I had to create him in the create a prospect menu during the offseason. Scared the hell outta me cause after i created him he didnt even consider Tech but I swayed him.
I love create a prospect! I made a DT who was 7'0" and 400lbs named Hodor Hodor. It's excellent.
People can talk about how Beamer does (did?) recruiting all they want, but I don't think you would ever see this staff pull something like this.
Dibs?
That would be good, but apparently just a faulty fax machine according to the Fayetteville Observer. His coach has talked to Jimbo, and they still want him.
A friend and former coworker just texted me and said that the Hoos jumped us in overall recruiting. Please tell me that's not true.
They can talk recruiting all they want. Ask them how a #DecadeofDominance tastes? 0-10 and still counting.
fat fingers...
0-12?
* Corrected
haha, was just commenting. It changed before my very eyes
Recruiting rankings only matter if they translate into on-field success. So far, UVA is far below us in that category.
At least according to ESPN, they have. Disappointing, but it's never stopped us from beating them in the past.
http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings
We have quite the lead on them according to 247 which has quite a difference in the rankings of prospects at least of the ones committed to us.
Gotcha. Guess it just goes to show that recruiting can be a bit of a crapshoot and that we just trust that FB&Co have done their work on the guys we're targeting.
ESPN is the absolute worst when it comes to recruiting.
Your friend is quite the troll. LOL - good times. No this is not true.
They are ranked higher than us by ESPN, but way lower by Rivals
ESPN Recruiting LOL
Yes all this makes me feel a little bit better but I figured it would help us in the edge of recruiting. Nah, he's not a troll he's just weird. He says he's a fan of both Tech and the Hoos as well as LSU. He's also a big believer in rivals and thinks that cavs outrecruiting us will translate on the field.
Remind him of who their coach is....
"He's building. The team's young. Give him time."
Sounds like a desperate wahoo.
So far, Horse on a Treadmill > Thoroughbreds.
Sorry. He thinks it will "eventually" payout in the long run on the field. He's also a Hokie fan too.
Comment removed in consideration of the faint of heart.
Go Hokies.
Regardless of opinion, this is unneccessary.
a) Let's leave the hate speech at the door. Bisexuals are people too. straight, gay, bi whatever floats your boat.
b) If you're a bisexual dude by definition you are gay so you are not in denial. You just enjoy the ladies as well.
c) let's just focus on recruiting and VT football
Previous comment removed in order to make room for warm, fuzzy comments about Hokie football.
proper context or not, that's a whole lifestyle that you are negatively commenting on even if metaphorically.
regardless, I just don't think it needs to be on a blog about VT football and sports.
Not exactly downvoting cause we're "faint of heart." Shoot, I cut the hearts out of guinea pigs and mice pretty regularly. However, your post did violate a good chunk of the posting rules Joe outlined and was overall just unnecessary.
It's all good. I apologize for the post. I didn't intend to offend. I was trying to make a bold analogy for the UVa and VT football fan. It was unnecessary...as are about 99.95% of all my posts.
Leg for apologizing..
Yikes
Doesn't really matter. We have been beating teams with higher recruiting classes for 20 years
and on a side note. When they do the class rerankings 4 years later ours are usually pretty high and that is the important ranking.
247 Sports has us at 24 and LOLUVA at 33
http://247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/CompositeTeamRankings
Rivals has us at 21 and LOLUVA at 40
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all
...and yes ESPN ranked them ahead of us, so this shows you how subjective the ranking can be.
Technically 247 has us at 18 and UVA at 36. http://247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/TeamRankings
The composite rankings take the results of the major recruiting sites and their rankings of the players and combine them into one.
Yes. Thanks. This helps.
Hoo Cares?
Ask him where Greg Stroman, Cam Phillips and Travon McMillan were THOUGHT to be going, and where they ended up. Ask him why a 4 star DL whose brother went to UVA (Mihota) signed with VT. Outside the guys who were betrothed by 7X7 teams to UVA, we kicked their asses.
is Chris Durkin a TE yet? it's been a couple hours....
Right Handed Tebow is a QB. H-back isnt even an option for the team player.
It looks like we are getting a high number of recruits from PA this class. In years past this only would have happened over JoPa's dead body; guess that was very true.
What are the other targets out there for us, other than Ford, Harrison IMO, and cam phillips??
Bitter's blog:
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/columns_and_blogs/blogs/andy_bitter_virgin...
Hokie CPA this morning...
Vinny Mihota
That's good, but not joey phillips good
I raise you a Billy Ray Mitchell
I heard Michigan had an unofficial record of 12 decommitments for this class. Things are going pretty well for us today, sports fans.
Rutgers has last I heard a couple days ago 12 decommitments. Most of them their top recruits as well. Rough.
That's what happens when you can your OC a few weeks before signing day and the future of your head coach is up in the air
Where is Jim Weaver? Sounds like the Greenberg saga.
That makes me extra bitter about losing to them in the Sugar Bowl.
It's not even like Hoke was some hotshot coach on the rise. Turns out he's better than Rich Rod and that's about it...
grumble grumble
On top of this class, they also recently lost the commitment of the top RB in the class of 2015, Damien Harris.
Nice try Drew. We know its you in that wig.
Javon Harrison is about to pull the rope-a-dope of NSD! Just wait, just wait...
I must now root for FSU to go 0-12 this season after all their starters are declared academically ineligible in a mass cheating scandal. May God have mercy on their souls.
Huh....so the FSU hat and his entire family draped in garnet and gold really DID mean he flipped to FSU...crap.
Fisher is in. Glad to see that one.
Eat your heart out, Saban
Did they try to get him?
Bama started recruiting him heavily late in the 2013 cycle.
Holland Fisher is in!
I must say I really hate seeing ESPN give LOLUVa any sort of affection on TV.
never watch ESPN for the commentary
Did anyone else hear that Ford has put on 6 lbs since being enrolled? Gentry is doing WORK.
Noice!
He definitely needs all the lbs he can get. Saw him the other day out there with Leal, Cline and Meyer and he looks pretty skinny compared to the rest of them. Rogers was out there too and he looks like a wrecking ball.
I am mad I am the only one to upvote this gif
Yea he looked skinny on the show. He should be over 200 by the spring and maybe in the 205-210 range by the fall.
That West End, it'll get after ya...
I did and that is awesome. What I did hear as well that is somewhat concerning is that they did not try to sell me on anything and they did not wine and dine me. Now while this worked for Andrew I imagine that a little bit of selling and wining and dining would be good and help with most kids as long as we do it for all the recruits walking through the door and not just the higher recruited kids.
Hopefully he can get a little more arm strength out of him over the next few years. We have weapons, just need the ball to get there.
Juding from the film study that French posted, it looks like he has no issues getting the ball where it needs to be.
Andrew Ford is very impressive.
Javon has signed with FSU per Andy Bitter
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/02/wr-javon-harrison-flips-commitment-fsu
Just a heads up:
Brace yourselves for the Michael Santamaria "sailing kicks through the uprights" jokes that are going to become a mainstay for broadcasters in the coming years.
Which is an upgrade over the kicking game the last couple of years, which has just been a joke.
And by joke, I mean headshaking embarrassment.
....Especially since the kicker rankings seem to be done by Chris Sailer Kicking
I am happy with the class overall, but I can't see NSD itself as anything but a disaster.
I can't say that I blame a kid for picking FSU over VT right now considering how bad the last two seasons have been but disappointing to have SO much in-state talent signing elsewhere.
Sure we can take the unheralded guys and develop them up to be stars, but to get where we'd like to be (that is a shot at the National Championship) we aren't going to be able to do that without bringing in the top talent.
We didn't get the top talent, yeah, but we didn't exactly get a bunch of nobodies either.
That's why I said that I'm happy with the class overall. It's top 20, which is respectable, but with the talent in state that we lost to UVA (for example) it could have been that much better.
We picked up solid 4* linebacker and are about to pick up a solid 4* wide receiver and both players fill a position of need. While signing day could have been a little better I don't consider it to be a disappointment.
Read your own image, and take a deep breath. This day clearly isn't a disaster - we've got a great class coming in, that patches a ton of immediate holes on the roster. Our O-line has depth and talent across the board! We have tons of good QB prospects for proper competition! And we still got great defensive players. Our defense has been consistently awesome WITHOUT these couple of studs we missed on - it will continue to be so. Offense is where we all agreed we needed help and that's where we got it. Would those 5-stars have been nice? sure. But this class is still really really good. pump the brakes.
I said I'm happy with the class, but the news from today = disaster.
Keeping this class together ~= disaster. Losing Nnadi sucked, but we flipped Ford, and he just would have been icing on the cake. A disaster would be something like losing 2 or 3 of the o-linemen to various B1G schools, and not landing a single guy from Florida. Or maybe having none of the qb prospects qualify, or something like that. THAT would've been a disaster. If you're happy with the class we brought in today, the day is, by definition, not a disaster.
I guess I'm not making myself clear.
I fully expected most of the guys that signed today to sign with VT. Essentially all of the surprises were negative...so I meant that the news that we received on NSD (losing Nnadi, Harrison, McKinzie etc.) = disaster.
Leg for taking the time and effort to try and explain your position clearly.
When you put it that way, I can't argue really with it, even if I wouldn't necessarily use the term disaster. But hopefully this class won't be lacking, and we can forget about the lack of positive surprises today.
I think we have some great talent in this class.
Guys like Ford, Durkin, Walker, Williams, Keihn, Fisher, Reid, McKinzie are all talented dudes that will do a ton for us going forward and the #fab4 makes the loss of Grimes easier to swallow.
But today was disappointing. Was really hoping for Nnadi since I figured Harrison was gone.
Something about your avatar just doesn't fit with the word 'disaster' when referring to NSD. A tsunami that kills thousands of people and does $billions in damage is a disaster. Losing a top recruit to the defending Champs is unfortunate, but 'disaster' is far too strong of a word. You're not going to make yourself clear to us by using overly strong words. Repeating those same words with slightly different words around them doesn't make it any more clear.
I'm just going to have to change my avatar then, because I'm not very calm today :)
I'm well aware this doesn't compare to a tsunami. I've spent plenty of time on the Gulf Coast doing Katrina relief, and I'm in no way making that comparison...it's hyperbolic for sure.
Saying "In the world of Virginia Tech football recruiting this wasn't a great day" doesn't express my disappointment in terms of missing on the talent that I was hoping we'd land today.
I understand. I'm not exactly jumping off the walls because of this class, but I'm not disappointed by it. Sure it sucks to miss on a couple but that's going to happen every year at ever school. I'm sure even 'Bama missed on a couple. That's how it works. I know you're disappointed...I think probably several people here are to some degree. You just came across as REALLY disappointed. NBD, we're all friends here :)
I was in an off-site meeting and couldn't look on my phone and got ALL the bad news at once, so I didn't take it all that well.
Either way, hopefully the guys we got are the building blocks for something special.
the way i looked at it, there were 6 wild cards going into today. we landed 2/6 of them. far from a disaster IMO. could have been better, sure, but not awful.
also, we offered McKenzie a week ago. landing him would have been nice, but i don't think we should have ever expected it.
if you take the better rating from the main services, we landed 13 4 star players today. I'm good with that.
3 RB
2 QB
2 WR
1 QB/WR
2 S (was Fisher a 5 star somewhere, i don't recall?)
1 DE
1 LB
1 DT
13 4* players is a HUGE step in the right direction from the past.
That said, the players we lost out on today would have been upgrades over what we already have and what we're bringing in, at positions of need, which will sting for a while.
I understand what you're saying, but my point is that just making it the finish line with this class is a win. No news is good news. Only one of our commits (Harrison) was poached, and we made up for him by flipping another guy at the same position (Ford). With a class this talented, I call that a win, regardless of what happened with the uncommitteds.
It's makes me sad to write this, but we'll never consistently pull in the top talent from our own state unless we luck out with a few 2 star recruits who end up being the best players in college football and lead us to a National Championship. If we had 10-win seasons for 8 straight years and we couldn't even get a top 10 recruiting class nationally during that span, then what makes you think that we can do that now? Unfortunately, all of the loses in big games has eroded respect for our program. At this point, the best we can hope for is to continue to sign a top 30 class, and hope that one of them turns out to be like Michael Vick. We've found out that 10 win seasons aren't good enough to win the recruiting battle against other schools. We need a national championship at this point in order to be a legitimate factor in recruiting on the national stage, which in turn will put us in with the other elite teams that are in the National Championship conversation year in and year out.
Cam Phillips just submitted his LOI!
Cam Phillips is in per hokiesports.com.
First order of business is to get him to change his name to "Kam". The Hokies usually have good luck with that.
I have Phillips and Ford as remaining. Who else am I missing at this point?
Payne.
To revive an old meme:
I watched Cam Phillips play in Maryland, the kid is great receiver with great route running ability. He reminds me of Boykin
Let's hope he has better hands than Boykin did during his first couple of years. All that talk of "big hands" and he couldn't catch the ball that well until his last year.
shawn payne is in according to hokiesports.com
We may not have scored the top talent in VA, but that was the top talent in the nation. Losing out to the likes of FSU and Bama on top recruits is tough to deal with but should be expected. That being said, we still got OL depth, a couple of playmakers at WR to go along with a young Stanford, our future QB, and two studs at RB. Plus guys like Fisher, Reavis, Minor, Kiehn, Walker will give Foster and co. plenty to work with.
Great balanced class. We got some weapons on offense that we desperately needed. The defense got some big time players and some guys that I think came in under the radar that will be good. I hope to see some of these guys playing in the fall especially at RB and WR. DL is a good possibility as well. Cheers to a great class and beating Nnadi and Harrison in the ACCCG.
Wow my Ghostery addon has this page showing 46 trackers. Don't think I've ever seen a site with more.
No Ford yet....
Rivals is indicating him to VT
Sweet heaven, Bitter just tweeted. Ford to VT....AGAIN!
HokieSports now has Isaiah Ford on the Signed list.
Isaiah Ford - so committed to VT, we signed him twice!
Ford announcing.