"There were many higher-ranked recruits going at it in the trenches Sunday, but less-heralded players made their mark anyway. Virginia Tech signee Emmett Laws, despite being the shortest defensive linemen on the roster, won all day long with leverage, power and quickness. Whether in the one-on-one session or in the team session, he continued to make plays in the backfield."
First DT mentioned. We are getting a good one and it couldn't come at a better time. Hope he can contribute next season.
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Chanz Wiggins got a shout out as well
Mark it down - one of the highest upside receivers we have ever recruited. He could be a true difference-maker with his overall potential. Great kid and has the athletic potential that you can't teach.
Hard to see Laws redshirting next year, in spite of our tremendous depth at defensive line.
Speaking of DL depth, when was the last time we had a position group as deep as our D line?
RB room under Fuente. (Ducks). Hey, it was very deep.
Only problem was... none of them were P5 caliber
I'd argue it was more like a mile WIDE but only 6 inches DEEP! (phrasing? /s )
I enrolled at VT in 2008, by I'm sure there were some other absolutely insane position groups before then as well, especially on defense.
Royal, Hyman, Morgan, Harper, Clowney
This was the first time VT had a legit stable of WR's. We may have had a Davis, Wilford or John Burke (TE), Andre Smith (TE) as one-offs, but to have this many WR's was a welcomed treat.
Shawn Witten was on that roster too, and Richard Johnson, they were decent for the 4th option.
Don't forget about Ricky Hall. He had a good year in 1999.
The '03 and '04 Recruting classes should be appreciated for what a high percentage of players became impact players..more like 60% hit rate vs. the normal 30-ish%.
Literally every WR in those 2 classes was a major contributor and most of them had some time in the NFL.
That was elite level talent evaluation by the VT Staff.
And then we just stopped recruiting WRs for a few years.
WR depth is so crazy good you didn't even name the best WR out of VA since Percy Harvin. Adams could be one of the best WR ever to put on a VT uniform.
Plus there's more guys after that who could totally be contributors or are already contributing a little bit: XTB, Adams, Heath, Baylor, St. Germain, Wimbush
Always good to have a deep D.
And...... with that
Not necessarily deep, but having Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips on the same team and Coale and Boykin were amazing. And even though they didn't play the same position, having two Edmundi on the same team felt like our overall defense was stronger. And I agree with the comment above, having RW and DW on the same team is amazing as well. I love some of our teams of the past, but seriously looking forward to seeing if Pry can put some incredible players on the field for us in the future!
Heard this crazy rumor about Boykin.
His hands were like, big.
LB used to be solid and deep; after Hall and Adibi there was Rivers and Martin
Ben Taylor and Jake Houseright
Probably my favorite two.
Hall and Adibi were replaced by Brett Warren and Purnell Sturdivant. Both guys who waited their whole careers to start for one year and were a key part of a very special season. Though it was largely special because it was easily the most inexplicable 10 win season of the streak... and we won the Orange Bowl that year.
Just wanted to give those two guys a shoutout. Not intended as a corrective dunk.
Yup those two as well. I knew there was another notable duo in there somewhere. Also Tweedy and Grimm were in there somewhere too, i just can't remember the years, everything just kinda runs together anymore.
Edit: and Jack Tyler too
Sturdivant was a monster. Pretty wild that a guy like that couldn't get on the field for years.
He would've been a day one starter on any team we've had since 2018
Wasn't Sturdivant the guy with the really short wing span,
I'm not sure about that, but he was jacked. Squatted like 600 lbs or something like that
I am not at all surprised by this. Emmett Laws is a 5 star in a 3 star body. He's an absolute game wrecker who will be impossible to keep off the field from day one. He might be the best recruit in this class, and the only argument against that is because Kemari Copeland looks so good.
Very excited about Laws. His rating was always going to be capped by his size since they base this stuff on the NFL draft (their choice, not mine) and his size profile isn't "the norm," but worth mentioning that arguably the best DT in the sport's history, Aaron Donald, also doesn't meet the normal size profile.
Corey Moore wasn't big enough to play DE in the NFL, didn't stop him from kicking ass in college.
Corey Moore wasn't big enough at the time, but 10 years later they were playing guys a lot closer to his size.
Gave clown show Walt Harris the blueprint for moving the ball on Bud Foster. Chip the DE's... beat the hokies.
No doubt. That MF'er Walt F-ing Harris had our number. He was untouchable. Was so happy to see him go. I thought we would never beat Pitt again as long as Wart Harris was there.
Yep- he caused Bud to change his whole scheme. He knew that he would see zero coverage from Bud- Bud gambled that college QB's couldn't make those throws under pressure. Harris simply kept in a RB or TE to chip the DE's long enough for his QB's to throw it against man coverage. Sure it helps he had Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitz, but he saw the vulnerability in that defense before others did. The kicker is that he proved to be a really really shitty college coach over his whole career.
So true. I thought Walt was a genius for what he did to Bud and would move on to Stanford and do better things. He then proceeded to proverbially shit the bed and become obscure in the coaching realm.
Corey also was shot in the leg in 2001 which put him on the Bills PUP list. I can't remember if this had a major impact on his shortened career though. My memory has gotten a little fuzzy over the years.
I have the feeling ill be using this meme a lot in game threads.
M-O-O-N, that spells moon.
Any The Stand reference gets a leg
Is it possible that we can have "the law" and Laws(lemar law) playing beside each other on the Dline?
A lot of smoke around Law. Excited to see what he can do at the next level.
I expect a ratings bump for Andrew Hanchuk as well. Knee injury stopped his rise in the rankings before his senior year (Link Here).
On paper, Pry and JC have done an excellent job in flipping the DT room.
Wow. Thought he was an OL. I'll take that size on either side though
On signing day, Pry made it clear that he was to be a DT. Pry likes to have two two different types of DTs. One more similar to Nose Tackle that lines up just off center; this tackle should be big bodied and eat up OL. And a second that can penetrate.
Hanchuk would be the NT-type. He talked about his physicality and size and ability to take up space. On contrast, Laws (much smaller but quick) would be the penetrating-type.
Laws DOES go round here Lawdog, saavy?
Wiggins is getting called out quite a bit over on 247 as well, one of the only "3" star players getting noticed.
He can play. Super excited to see what Mines can do with him.
Mines should be Prys top recruit every year.
KG representin'!
Watching this UA game - couple things jump out from the first quarter... Laws is always in the backfield - dude has some work in him. Wiggins with a good catch. Pry got a shoutout for the work he's doing.
2Q - Laws is consistently double-teamed
He got worn down, but conditioning is always an issue with these all star games. He can't enroll early, so he will need to work on his conditioning on his own until he can enroll. It is a big opportunity. Even with the transfers coming into the program, Laws is so disruptive that he can find snaps, particularly on passing downs, pretty soon if he is in shape and has ACC strength.
Probably my last UA PSA. Laws' tank is empty - definitely not making the impact he did earlier, even now under single coverage. Wiggins can catch, however not sure I see the work (route runs, blocking, YAC). Both will definitely benefit from coaching and weight/endurance training.
Wiggins route running and blocking will need work, but he can be an option in the Felton role if he can go up and win a 50/50 ball, something Felton sort of struggled with (and Drones didn't give him many playable balls.)
Oh. So he's the Dimitri Knowles type?
I was thinking maybe a Damon Hazelton type until Mines works with him and turned him into a first rounder type.
Everything you mentioned is very common in high school players. Mostly fixed by putting I work (a little coaching required)
Dude looks the part. Good catch getting his hands on it and not trying to body catch it. He's looks fast in that clip, I am not sure what we will do with a big AND fast WR, it's been awhile
Can't judge how good he is until they tell us, on broadcast, what size gloves he wears.
XXL sized hands need not apply.