@BrianDohn247 @RivalsFriedman @CoachPryVT pic.twitter.com/V1q5ijYHG9— Tavorian Copeland (@Tavorian_) June 28, 2022
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@BrianDohn247 @RivalsFriedman @CoachPryVT pic.twitter.com/V1q5ijYHG9— Tavorian Copeland (@Tavorian_) June 28, 2022
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LETS GO!
HOKIES
LETS GO
AND HOKIES
I have to admit, I like what Pry seems to be building here. Build from the inside out and we could be in a position to make some noise in a few years.
Love his height/Length. May grow into an edge rusher, and you can never have enough of those. Top 20 player in va helps too
And now we out here getting Ivy League guys over UVa
I thought the Ivy League didn't hand out athletic scholarships
They don't, but like a lot of DIII schools there are always various alumni sponsored academic scholarships out there that will find their way to coveted athletes.
It means he has the Smarts too. And I will take that, he's teachable
One more thing, I like this recruit because of our relationship building with other recruits from the same school or other schools in the area. This will go a long way for us. I like what Marve and Pry are doing on Defense, I'm looking at more Sacks!!!!!
Appomattox though? It is a good get for sure, but not a real hot bed for talent.
And?
I'm glad our coaches are putting in the effort to recruit good kids from anywhere, and are willing to establish relationships with coaches in areas that aren't necessarily hotbeds. Our previous staff only reached out to coaches around the commonwealth when they had a decent player, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, causing the issues with recruiting they had, so its great if we're actually working to fix that,
Fair enough dude, and I was not saying that was not the case. I'm from central VA, so just saying there is only a handful of meaningful recruits (and yes, two VERY meaningful recruits for VT from my hometown of Lynchburg in Cornell Brown and Logan Thomas). All I was saying is that it's not like we would be establishing a pipeline from a school that puts out a lot of D1 talent, as what I felt was suggested. I'm glad Pry and the guys are recruiting these schools, because yes we are in a better position to land the 1 or 2 D1 guys they put out every few years.
The school will not be a pipeline but it is work to make the state a pipeline. When you are in every school all the time, you have early eyes and connections when they get a D1 player.
This is true. We won't be pulling P5 talent out of these smaller schools every year, BUT when it shows up, I want VT to be the one that gets the first "you gotta see this kid to believe it" call.
The other benefit of regularly fishing these smaller waters is, like recruits, you never know where your next superstar coach is going to come from, either. It's not just building relationships with the kids and their families. I'm sure Pry is also watching for emerging talent for the sidelines/staff offices to replace his assistants when they get their opportunities.
I ran a business fulltime with some decent success before heading back to work. I tell you what, things that came in handy at the right time were things I setup 3-4 years prior. Relationship building isn't about a big or small school, its about knowing people in the right places who can help you elevate. Someone at the school be it a coach, or pla-yer might have a family member at another big time school who is rated 4 - 5 stars, and we may have a shot only because of the work we put in today.
Recruiting is like a hamster wheel, you gotta keep churning. Keep at it. keep going, keep building. When I was in school from 1995 - 2000 not many players were highly recognized other than Cornell Brown and maybe Druckenmiller but we kept developing (another Pry verbiage) and eventually landed Michael Vick in 1998.
I'm telling you, Pry is doing it the right way. we will get the big fish soon
Now some of you might be saying "what about Fuente? Why wasn't Fu able to do it" this, and that. Everyone has different styles and sometimes it just not a fit.
Lets give Pry a chance to do his thing.
I'm going to add on to this. By doing a quick glance at our current commits for this cycle nearly every one of the incoming recruits has other P5 offers. This didn't happen consistently with Fu. IMO the quickest way to raise the floor of a program is to make sure that all of the dudes you're recruiting can compete at the P5 level. The quickest way to raise the ceiling of a program is exactly what you're talking about here:
With Pry it absolutely feels like there's a long term plan in place (rebuild the VA relationships, recruit P5 talent, keep grinding on the hamster wheel to get yourself in the conversation for top 100 talent). Will it work? I honestly don't know. There's no guarantees in college football. But I will say that it feels good to have a plan and methodology instead of just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks (like TX2VT)
Getting recruits with other P5 offers didn't happen consistently under Beamer either.
Beamer back in the day was recruiting guys from VA who weren't nationally known because recruiting wasn't what it is today. He could grab some 2/low 3 star guys from VA with few offers who were actually diamonds in the rough. Even Michael Vick's top offer list was something like VT, Syracuse, ECU. Now these kids are being found and are high 3/4 stars with a ton more competition.
By averaging the recruiting services of the time, Vick would have been considered a high 4-star (~97.09). Probably had no shortage of offers.
Recruiting offers weren't as publicized back in the day- according to Tom Lemmings 1998 All American Report, he was the #10 player in the Atlantic region and was projected to take final visits to ECU(12/5), Syracuse (12/12), Clemson (12/23) and Virginia Tech (1/16). Pretty sure he had an offer from UVA.
True, but UVA was Curry or bust. Vick wasn't being recruited heavily. If Vick was coming out today, we would be fighting off Bama, OSU, Georgia, and just about the whole who's who of college football. Recruiting was much more regional in those days, except for a handful of blue bloods who could truly recruit nationally at that time.
I don't disagree with you're premise but we fell ass backwards into Vick. He would have gone to UVA if Curry had chosen UNC earlier, but Curry's signing day flip left UVA with nothing (thank you Ronald Curry).
I respect his decision
Thats a big boy!
Welcome to the Hokie Nation!
Pry's defenses have always featured excellent LB play, and he's shown a knack for finding the right fits for those LB spots in his system. This is an exciting commit for sure.
Good size and brain smarts. Should pick up the system well mentally and be a good fit physically. Really excited!
That is one big, smart LB. Reminds me of a couple of Edmunds brothers.
Ok, now I'm excited about this commitment!
Maybe posted elsewhere, but he won the national Watkins award. Seems like a good kid. Great to have at Tech.
Link
Outstanding...I love this!
Thanks for posting.
Virginia Tech is a winner the moment he signed with us.
Very impressive award and no doubt very deserved.
Thanks for sharing this! This is the kind of stuff I like to hear about. Congratulations to Tavorian on wining a big award! I'm looking forward to following more about him on and off the field. Hope he can achieve all the goals he has set for himself.
New thread pls
This seems pretty on topic...
I agree. It did scare me seeing an old commit thread resurface though.
typically we prefer to generate new conversation in a new thread instead of resurrecting one that's months old. since we're already commenting here, it's fine. but a new thread with "Signee Tavorian Copeland wins national Watkins award" and the link/excerpt is generally preferred
I honestly didn't think I had the legs to start a new post. I don't post a lot. But looks like I do!
gooble gobble one of us
next time!
Spaceman Spiff, FTW!
https://wset.com/sports/high-school-sports/appomattoxs-tavorian-copeland-wins-national-watkins-award
Nice. That article says he wants to study neuroscience and wants to be a Rhodes Scholar. Maybe he could be VT's Myron Rolle.
I feel like you were trying to comment with the same link so someone would tell you to drink, so I won't say it! Get back to work!
You caught me! Honestly, I didn't see the link. Guess I need to get my eyes examined.
It's that damn red ryder bb gun...didn't your dad warn you?
Look at that offer list! This kid is a genius!