As many of you know, the Hokies have made the effort to ramp up recruiting since the 2013 coaching purge. Tomorrow the Hokies will be hosting their first class of 2015 junior day. Prospective future Hokies come to Blacksburg to see the facilities, speak with the coaches, and sometimes players do commit during the visit.
Recruits visiting include Kai Locksley, a 6'1 185 QB from Baltimore. Rivals ranks him as a four star player and he has offers from Florida, Auburn, and Florida State among many others. He is being recruited by Aaron Moorehead. Locksley tweeted this earlier:
On my way down to Vtech for my first visit of the winter/spring, see what these hokies all about! — Kai Locksley (@LOCKSnLOADED_3) February 7, 2014
As we confirm additional recruits visiting, we will list them here. Lots of big names have been mentioned on Twitter from the DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area.
Comments
Kai Locksley is also Mike Locksley's son. Mike Locksley, who went 2-26 at New Mexico, is the OC at Maryland under Randy Edsall.
Maryland has owned us this year; don't fault me for making fun of them whenever possible...
247 has him predicted as a terp...I wonder why
Yep, seems like Maryland would be a likely destination. But if you had to work for a jerk like Randy Edsall , would you send your kid to play for him (even if you were the middle man?)
Mike Locksley was/is a notoriously shady recruiter.
You know you're doing a bad job when the UNM fan base thinks you're doing a bad job. The definition of success there has been so badly skewed by years of losing seasons, that it would've been seemingly impossible not to meet expectations. All he had to do to keep the fan base off his back was beat NMSU (also notoriously bad at football), and not publicly embarrass the program, and he could do neither. He probably could have survived the two 1-11 seasons if it weren't for a fist fight with one of his assistant coaches, and one of his son's friends getting a DUI in a car registered in Locksley's name. If I remember correctly, there was also an age/sexual discrimination complaint filed against him by a woman working in his office. I think it was later redacted. Anyways, he is absolutely loathed in a city that was dying to celebrate even the smallest football success, and it is inconceivable to me that he got another coaching job at the D1 level.
Wow... ... On the plus side, his son is giving VT some love
I remember all this, which is why it didn't surprise me that Edsall hired him.
Actually Edsall and Locksley have known each other for a long time. This is why ex-VT QB Ricardo young transferred to UNM before going back to the Twerps.
I honestly didn't pay any attention to what happened to him after UNM fired him. I had no idea he was on Maryland's staff until I read this thread. Makes the Maryland loss even more confounding and painful.
I believe Locksley is from Maryland and played at Towson, so there are "legit" reasons why someone would hire him there.
C'MON Down!!!!!
6'1 161 corner DuWayne Johnson from HD Woodson in Washington DC will be coming to Blacksburg. He is rated as a three star corner by Rivals.
DuWayne Johnson?
Close enough!
Looks like he's doing the Haka Face
Could of smiled a little.
If your name was DuWayne Johnson, you wouldn't smile either.
Check out DJ's offer list from 247Sports - he'll be a 4* before too long -
http://247sports.com/Recruitment/DuWayne-Johnson-35393/RecruitInterests
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!
Per Michael Clark at Scout.com, Matthew Burrell, a top offensive tackle recruit rated as a four star by Rivals, will be at Virginia Tech on Saturday. Burrell is a 6'4 288 lb tackle from Woodbridge and is being recruited by Stacy Searels and Bud Foster. He has offers from Florida State, Alabama, LSU, Michigan and many others.
QB/DB/KR?
He'll make a GREAT tight end!
Same positions Tyrod played in high school (at least in big games like Phoebus and the playoffs), fwiw
Gary is short for Garold.
6'3 285lb tackle/guard prospect Ellis McKennie from the McDonagh School in Ownings Mills, MD will also be in Blacksburg this weekend.
He is also an Aaron Moorehead recruit.
You can see his highlight reel on Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/877687/ellis-mckennie
Dayaaam.
Two years in a row of legit Oline recruits?!
Dare I dream?
Yes, Hokies need to Dream Big!! That makes you want and go after higher rated recruits! That's the ticket!
I love all those pancakes in the highlights... Just nickname this guy IHOP
we need these OL recruits.
There is a theme here. A bunch of these recruits are Aaron Moorehead targets. #CHOPPINGWOOD
5'11 176 lb corner Ashton White (Friendship Academy in Washington DC) has arrived in Blacksburg. White, rated as a high three star by Rivals, committed to Virginia Tech in December.
He is also an Aaron Moorehead target (with support from Torrian Gray.)
Tremaine edmunds visiting too. #alltheedmunds
Correct. https://mobile.twitter.com/maine_savage23/status/432007807219826689
Some have said he's the best if the Edmundses.
Settle will be there
Moorehead is probably our best recruiter already. We probably need to pay him up or he'll go to a bigger school
Probably gonna catch flak for this, but...STEP ASIDE STINEY!
It's easy to forget Stinespring is the recruiting coordinator and is probably directly responsible for the second and now third junior days happening.
I thought it was us winning games and sending guys to the pros and #ChoppingWood that had more to do with it than Stiney.
Re: winning games - we've had two mediocre seasons in a row and yet we still pulled in one of the best, most coherent recruiting classes in many years.
Re: #ChoppingWood - yep, the individual position coaches are doing their jobs, but it's not just Moorehead. It's all of them, and they're all buying into the coherent plan that has emerged in terms of geographical assignments and global recruiting strategy. Stiney is as much a part of that as anyone else.
Yep - Stiney tried for years to put this recruiting structure in place. It took the arrival of Shane, followed by Loeffler, Moorehead, and the recently departed Grimes to add support for implementing the new plan. It's pretty obvious that Searels has already bought into it and is already recruiting.
CFB is also doing far more than he has in the past like attending games and doing more visits.
God bless you Aaron Moorehead....chop that wood!!
Derek Brown from Katy, Texas will be there.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2912633/
I assume a Searles connection? Why in the world would he go visit UVA too? Do people in TX even know that they have a football team?
Maybe Searles encouraged him to check out uva(lol) during the trip to make VT look that much better by comparison. It's actually brilliant salesmanship.
Stonebridge DT Aaron Crawford is coming.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/570259/
Mook Reynolds and CJ Freeman from Greensboro, NC (Northern Guilford) are coming.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/1866675/highlights/111456388
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2623075
BeamerBall reporting that the Hokies are expecting 45 recruits in Blacksburg today. Top defensive tackle Tim Settle is one of those 45 according to multiple reports, however we are going to work hard to give only primary source (ie, from the players twitters or the beat writers) information as we receive it throughout the day. Once we confirm a player on site, we will post it here.
You and the guys are already killing it when it comes to TKP recruiting, French. Thanks for keeping us updated and thanks even more for being reliable! Props!
Man how cool would it be if Chancellor, Worrilds, and Anderson were there to greet them?
http://247sports.com/Player/Sterling-Johnson-36641
His highlights are essentially 8 minutes of him being a beast.
The only highlights Frankie B needed to see for the offer were the blocked kicks.
Johnson at VT....
Notice how when they give recruits the jerseys to try on, they're always maroon jerseys?
#allmarooneverything
Reminds me of Kevin Bronson. Quick first step and a powerful bull rush.
plays piano and sings?
NFL-size DE right there. 6'5" 274 lbs. Damn.
If he's good, we need him bad! Legend, 2 Fords, makes for a great new start!
Legend being the best name possible as VT can use another Legend!
Play it John and sign up!
HOKIEMON!
I just want to put it out there that I've seen this before and I really don't like this meme. I know it's a joke, but these kids are people, not characters in a video game. If I were a recruit and I saw this, I would feel disrespected.
bah humbug
Adam Friedman (@RivalsFriedman) got this picture of Tim Settle (the number 1 DT recruit for VT) and elite tackle prospect Matthew Burrell together in Orange and Maroon. This is a good picture.
I notice in the back ground they have the CFA Bowl vs Tennessee poster. Hopefully they have something promoting the biggest college football game ever, somewhere. Either bringing it up, or have a poster, flyer, video something to these kids for they will be playing in it come 2016!
They have the giant posters all around the football area in Jamerson.
They should also drive by the Bristol Motor Speedway before they head home. I saw a huge sign posted on the side of the stadium for this game already.
#AllMaroonEverything vs. #AllThrow-upOrangeEverything
Quarterback Kai Locksley also in Chicago Maroon and Orange.
Not sure how to embed on my phone but this is definitely a good start on him.
https://twitter.com/locksnloaded_3/status/432265517391699968
HokieNinja I went ahead and embedded it for ya. I haven't figured out how to embed either on my phone.
Thanks.
I'm enjoying all the updates to this thread.
Settle and Burrell again.
via jcshurburtt's Instagram http://t.co/SZeYBtcnT4
These kids are 17...
And are massive! Thats a 6Ft dude there with.
Some real size in this group which is fantastic! Looks like a good start to signings in 2015.
It's nice to see, but don't hold your breath with those two guys. Burrell is almost a lock to go out of state and the odds with Settle are not much better.
Its way early but I do agree with you. Like I said we have the best shot with Darvin Taylor at DT
The kid on the right is Brian Chaffin, 6'2" center from Charlotre who was offered today.
These are some serious road graders.
Let's load the wagon, boys.
Brown seemed to think this would be a pretty good OL group as well.
The Hokie in me LOVES this image but the designer in me can't stop noticing the terrible lighting on the Hokie Stone wall behind these behemoths. Should have used a diffused LED strip on top and bottom to wash the whole wall with light and not just these three areas.
Looks like the coaches are putting a lot of interest in these kids
Great thread. How is this site free?
My thoughts exactly.
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Call me crazy but I think we are the one of the favorites for Settle and Burrell. Long way to go, but we seem to be off to a good start in 2015. Need to get Ferrell and Sweat on campus as well as Kevin Toliver II (Isaiah Ford's teammate who is currently committed to LSU but could decommit, he's the number 1 recruit in the 247 composite rankings.)
Hopefully he'd want to play at DBU
We are very much not a favorite for Burrell. He has been actively cheering against us in the UVA game the last two years. Considered to be a big UF lean.
Well it looks like he had a great visit; getting these guys on campus to see things in person can only help our case.
way too early to get your hopes up. These are some of the kids first visits. Still got a LONG way to go with recruiting so keep a level head folks. But today was a great start of what I believe will be an excellent 2015 class.
I hope that Tim realize he would Settle just fine in Blacksburg.
i see what you did there...
Good feedback from Kai Locksley
Melvin Keihn is already working on him to make another visit.
And, you know it gets me fired up when I see two outstanding offensive line prospects talking, especially when one is already in house and knows what a great place Virginia Tech is to play!
Re: The Start of the Recruiting Cycle. I haven't been this (likely foolishly) optimistic about anything since the lead singer of The Cardigans told me she loved me back in 96.
What a tease!
My older sister was obsessed with them
Wait why did you say "foolishly optimistic" regarding recruiting??
Because several of these top end guys are being heavily recruited by elite schools. By all accounts they had great visits, but there is great competition for many of these players.
Does anyone know why we haven't offered Trevion Armstrong (4 star wr) yet? From everything I've seen he really wants to go to VT. Seems like we would have already offered.
I am not sure if he has an offer, but his 24/7 profile has him in a VT jersey for whatever that is worth.
4 star? Looks like he's now a 3 star everywhere. I'm sure his game has measurably decreased in recent weeks to warrant the drop (which just goes to show how ridiculous it is to worry about stars -- especially high 3* vs low 4*).