We have 18 commits per the recruiting services and 20 spots on the 'Big Board'. So, it's possible, they've had blank spots in the past, but I think they were related to a last minute transfer flip. No chance of that happening this time since the transfer window isn't officially open right now.
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There were four or five kids they were still working to flip so might be connected to that. One is an OL that decommitted from GT after GT flipped an OL from FSU.
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Jeff Overton was thought to be the favorite to repeat but they gave it to Gideon Davidson at Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg. They are both RB/DB guys. Davidson had more yards, less TDs and five less INTs. Davidson also was a 3A guy while Overton was a 6A guy which in VA are very different levels of competition. Curious if the Hayfield scandal played a part.
We will get to see a lot of Davidson though as he signed with Clemson.
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I haven't been able to watch all of the commits, but I just want to reiterate that this is such a cool way to get the players and their families involved. It's a little cheesy, but you can see how excited everyone is about it.
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I agree, I think the draft is cheesy but announcing the commitment and talking to the families is really cool. Then we get a good interview and tape breakdown from the host
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Is there a good translator for what the numbers represent? Like, what's expected from an 83 vs an 85, 87, or 90? At what value is a prospected considered to be a potential starter vs a role player, and at what value is a prospect considered to be a key contributor?
And why does the scale start somewhere north of 80? The data analyst in me hates this.
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87-90 should become starter/key contributors by Sophomore season outside of maybe OL. The current depth at position also plays a big role but that can change year to year now with portal.
85-86 should contribute either special teams or limited role by Sophomore season.
Below 85 are projects, most would be PWO but not sure how the new roster rules impact that.
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Four-stars (90-97 rating): These are players that we believe are the most likely to produce college careers that get them drafted. By the end of the cycle, it will be populated by prospects that meet key thresholds. Some four-stars might be a longer burn than others, but they have separated themselves from the rest of the pack and almost always for more than just one singular reason.
89 - This grade should be valued as much as a four-star 90, and opinions are likely split as to whether or not that prospect should have a fourth star. Anyone holding a grade of an 89 when the rankings go final at the end of the cycle is a prospect that we feel strongly about. These are prospects with redeeming qualities that we think can get drafted or work their way into an NFL camp. They project as multi-year starters and impact players at the Power Four level.
88 - These prospects have what we are looking for in certain areas, but maybe lack something in others. They too project as multi-year starters at the Power Four level and potential difference-makers with NFL upside. For example, he could be an edge rusher with great tape and on-field production, but below average measurables. These are likely individuals with a higher floor. If a prospect has a grade of an 88, they are considered a top 600 player in the class.
87 - Any prospect found here usually has one key trait that signals long-term potential. The floor might be going to be lower than some of the prospects ranked ahead of them, but they have a higher ceiling than the prospects below them.
86-84 - These are the prospects that we don't view as future NFL players, but can play – and start – at the Power 4 level. There will certainly be individuals that out play their projections, but this range is reserved for multi-year contributors and depth additions.
83-81 - Group of Five starters, FCS impact players
80-70 - Group of Five depth players, FCS starters
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Each site has their own rankings explanation, and this graph only show the consensus/composite rankings for 24/7. But essentially all 3 sites have pretty similar rankings (just add 10 points to the ESPN grade).
Rivals scale is the SAE to the other's metric, but they've been doing this a lot longer than anybody, so they're not changing.
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10-20 high potential for watching NFL/college games one or more times a year
20-30 will likely join a fantasy football league at some point in their life
30-40 joins message boards to discuss football teams. Begins to do draft research for fantasy league most likely.
40-50 regular contender for fantasy football playoffs with occasional championship. High leg count.
50-60 you actually played football at some point, potential ceiling is middle school or JV starter
60-70 solid starter on varsity team. Potential ceiling is dreaming about the playing years and swapping stories about the big game with your buddies.
70-80 your bread and butter walk on for college athletics. Potential ceiling is being featured in multiple episodes of Hard Knocks when you make it to the league.
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This was the issue with him - a tweener. Good LB instincts but not the ideal size. My guess is they see how he can bulk up to hopefully keep him at LB before making any position switch.
Edit: Vince Hall was only 6' tall, but he weighed in the 230s somewhere.
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Good project for the S&C coaches then. Hopefully he can get up over 200 and contribute because given how things have gone at LB I'll take instincts / positioning over athleticism. Weve seen the athletic out of position LB wayyyyyy too much
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I don't have the "rating formula" or anything, but I would say yes it definitely does. There are certain height/weight expectations for different positions - the main one we hear about are our short DTs and they usually get dinged in the ratings. But it fits our scheme so I've gotten pretty used to it.
I'll take instincts and work ethic all day long and twice on Saturday.
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Junior year he was strictly a Linebacker but this year he played all over on defense. Safety, corner, linebacker. Was used on blitz packages quite a bit.
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Enthusiastic parent of the class goes to Jeffrey Overton Sr., father of Hayfield High RB Jeffrey Jr., who said this on the #Hokies signing day live stream today: "We're coming to run some motherf$@&rs over!"— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 4, 2024
Oh I like that!
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This is a night and day change in philosophy from previous years. So I'm interested if that turns out to be true.
And yes reaching hardly ever works out, but our track record on OL transfers is also terrible. We've so far had 0, 1 and 1 portal OL in Pry's first three classes (yes the first class counts, Elko got 3 OL starters from the portal). Those two portal recruits couldn't ever crack the two deep and never got anywhere close to the field (Cunningham pending his 2nd year)
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1st year was because our OL coach was against taking transfer portal players. I would HOPE that with the smaller numbers taken in the HS ranks that means we take several OL this year in the portal
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I can't believe we haven't fugured out that OL is simply numbers- sign 3-4 a year- seriously. You need numbers in that room- kids that played OL in high school- tall kids you can put good weight on. Get 15 of those and see which 8 can play for you. unless you are bama, this is the only way to go.
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Unfortunately this seems like how it will be with Crooks. Doesn't appear to have the recruiting chops (and coaching seems to be just OK from an outsiders perspective).
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Well this was a nice surprise. Unless his ball skills are next level I see a redshirt in his future, he's gotta put on like at least 15 pounds to be ready for ACC play
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If you look at the rankings, though, we only have 19 recruits with an average of 87.25. Syracuse is at #38 but on the back of 34 commits with an 86.15 average. Our average rating puts us in the mid 30s and that is without the help of any top end guys bringing up the average. We jumped 5 spots today just by getting 1 more recruit with a 90 rating and have plenty of space for some later signees and transfers.
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There's some good players in this class and solid evals. Also as far as hitting positions of need we crushed it, multiple DB's WR's and hit on 3 solid LB's. Losing Outten does suck and yes the class won't be a game changer with high level talent. But it is a solid haul and continues establishing the relationships with high schools within the radius.
The one position I'm not satisfied with yet is OL. Love Stallard and Wright is solid. The rule of thumb is 3-5 OL per class though. And if it's only 3 you've better make sure those are high choice evals. After last class being 3 and the previous one already reduced to 3, I'm not elated that this class only has 2. Our record in the portal is sub par to put it lightly so I'd really hope for at least 1 more high school OL add before spring signing day
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"There's some good players in this class and solid evals."- Absolutely there is - but like Strength and Conditioning- every P4 school signs good players and evals. VT is not special in the weight room anymore, VT is not special with solid classes now. We need to get into the top 25 in the rankings if we want to win more games, IMO. We need big improvement in recruiting that we were supposed to get with Pry that hasn't materialized yet. Yes he is not signing 2 stars with offers from the Citadel- granted, but he needs to improve, IMO.
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I feel like this is another raise the floor class, but not as good as last years, but we need to have some raise the ceiling players. Any class without 4+ 4* to me isn't going to cut it long term. The last time we had a consensus 4* was Doug Nestor and Bryan Hudson who both were really good and payoute (injury issues) and Jr walker, who got some paying time, but wasn't great. Getting two NFL players wouldngona long way to help.
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I am always happy there are young men who want to come to Tech to play ball. Hopefully our coaches can inspire and coach them from novice ball players to mean nasty hardened instruments of war out to destroy their enemies on the field while playing with puppies and getting a quality education off it.
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Okay, it would have been nice to nab one consensus 4 star/elite player but I think we got a solid stable of high 3 stars like 6 or 7 of them are getting a 4 star nod from at least one recruiting service.
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Kind of puts the 2016 team into a different light when you could see what an actual good offensive scheme could do with good recruiting.
Fuente could have been so good if he could have recruited worth a damn. But he couldn't be bothered to even give minimal effort, and cost him a career.
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That staff could evaluate better than almost anyone in the country but as you said they couldn't give a damn to continue recruiting them until signing day. It was incredible how many guys they found as 3 stars initially that shot up the rankings through signing day.
That Michigan national championship team has like 3 or 4 former VT commits or heavy leans on it.
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I still maintain that his problem wasn't effort (no real basis on that though), his real problem was correctly ID'ing the players that would fit his offense well. It seemed like he and Corny couldn't adapt to player capabilities and rather had to luck into getting the capabilities in players that fit the scheme they were going to run anyway.
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Yep, wasn't trying to argue - your timeframe just made me curious what the rankings were. I was surprised, I honestly would have thought the more consistently higher years would have come in the early and mide 00s rather than in the twilight of Beamer's career
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I bet if those years happened now we would've been like top 10-20 consistently. Rankings were definitely not as accurate then. High school recruiting rankings was not the industry that it is now.
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I still don't understand what happened between the 2019 and 2020 classes. If Fuente and staff just flat sucked at recruiting, shouldn't it have shown up in the first 3 classes instead of the 4th (very suddenly)?
I've spent way too much time trying to understand it over the years, but I can only think of 2 factors:
1) we won more games and had a lot of hype in 2016 and 2017 that helped the brand but then ran out after 2019
2) Guerry left (but was he really so important that we dropped all those spots?)
I wish it made sense
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1. Negative recruiting- mack brown, dabo, franklin telling recruits Fuente was looking for other jobs. 2. Fu's demeanor around closing and the state of Va caught up to him more with each passing year.
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I wonder how much having Bud Foster around helped keep those VA HS relationships going. And once he retired at the end of the 2019 season they started expecting more from Fuente.
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There was definitely a buzz around Fuente early as an offensive and QB guru that resulted decent recruiting without (apparently) much actual effort recruiting.
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I still don't understand what happened between the 2019 and 2020 classes. If Fuente and staff just flat sucked at recruiting, shouldn't it have shown up in the first 3 classes instead of the 4th (very suddenly)?
Staff turnover & vibes:
Foster and Wiles left. They may not have been 'ace recruiters' but they knew every high school coach in the state, and had instant credibility.
Chuck Cantor - who did a lot of the heavy lifting around recruiting operations and strategy - left in April 2018. Recruiting for the 2019 class was already underway, so the staff was able to close there (especially with Foster/Wiles on) keep that alive
Vibes were off in 2018, when recruits talked to guys on the team, the guys on the team told them the culture wasn't great.
Leading up to 2020, all of the pipelines had dried up because no one on the staff had been recruiting players for the 2020 season. At this point, Fuente needed players, he was grasping at straws, so he hit up his texas connections, was able to fill out a roster there (albeit with questionable talent). But that's not a sustainable. And that's when the bottom fell out.
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Was 2020 the year where they didn't allow on campus visits part of the year? I want to say the team barbecue they usually invited all the recruits to got cancelled.
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Don't remember the exact timing of the Kill vs Corn bout - the pic was right after the whole Baylor stuff, I guess meant to show unity among the coaches
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I think this year Brand is moved after spring or during the season then we've got 4, which is totally fine. Used 3 this year and Ryan will be a true freshman, Davi a r-fresh
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This isn't uncommon, our defensive backfield was littered with high school QBs back in the Beamer era. A lot of HS may not have a true QB on the roster, so they put their best athletes at QB because that gives them the best chance to do something good with the ball. These guys may not be P5 QBs, but they're still great athletes. I'd expect one or both of them to get some QB reps and then get talked to about other positions.
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I would not expect either to play significant snaps as QB at VT. If they do, they make major leaps in their QB play (and hopefully they can). I expect one to remain a backup and one to transfer positions. If they want starter time at QB, I would expect they transfer to G5 or FCS. Both Watson and Belfort have better HS tape.
Brand and Ryan are good running QBs, and average around 100 rush yards a game (137 ypg for Brand in 2024). Ryan, imo, is better than Brand at passing. Brand does have some crazy passing stats from his JR year and won a state title, but is better at throwing while rolling to his throwing side than in the pocket or moving to the opposite side. Ryan is a better pocket passer and has decent deep ball, but is slow at making decisions and releasing the ball.
It's a shame Falzone decomitted. He has a better HS tape than any VT QB commit or player...
Caveat: these are just my opinions based on watching HUDL highlights. And I'm no expert on anything.
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The ACC didn't sign a single 5 star... All the 5 star players went to the SEC & B10. Let that sink in for a moment lmfao— Bri 🤎🦒 (@bubblybrielle) December 5, 2024
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Some think the problem is that VT is not rich enough.
Others think the problem is that there is a thumb on the scale to have certain conference teams in the playoffs and that those top tier athletes that have NFL dreams need to be in those conferences.
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Sad but true. Thanks to E$PN's short sighted greed killing the sport, only the $EC and Big can afford 5 stars now. We will either get an invite to the P2 or wither and die.
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And this is why I probably will not watch another college football game on TV again. The sport is basically dead to me. I will listen to the radio feed of VT games over the internet (if VT Sports gets their shit together, stream kept dying during UVA game).
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This, except for I'll watch every VT game that I can. Any other game though? Pbbbbt.
I have zero, repeat zero, interest in the rest of college football. I don't even care about who'll be in the playoffs, not going to watch the selection show, not going to watch any of the playoff games. But I will watch the Hokies bowl, either on TV or from the stands.
And yes, I realize that there needs to be some semblance of a healthy college football ecosystem around the Hokies for us to have games to play, but at this point, I really have no fucks to give about it.
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To be honest, it's not just college football. I won't watch anything on ESPN now and haven't since the committee snubbed FSU last year. I also have an issue with their sports book and the fact that they report news that influences bettors - to me it's a total conflict of interest.
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Given Miami, FSU, and Clemson, it seems surprising that not a single 5-star came to the conference. I mean, Norvell WAS 13-2 just two years ago, so I guess that's what dropping to 2-10 does. Considering he fired both coordinators from the 13-2 season, maybe they were the recruiters?
Also, hard to imagine since Miami was at #4 in recruiting rankings last year. They're at 14 with 15 four star players, so that's not bad.
Hard to believe GT is at 18. Reiterates the unfulfilled potential post...
And FSU and Clemson at 25 and 26, down from 12 and 11 last year.
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Comments
THAT STACHE THOUGH
It's immaculate.
If he was a stripper cop.
Please Please Please have good instincts and be mean... please....
Any and every QB sack needs to be described as a "Mustache Ride"
this is the youngest 40 year old man of all time
He definitely looks like the guy at the end of the bar you don't want to fuck with.
safety
2 thumbs up.gif
I'm not big into singing, depends on the song I guess though
Oops, I haven't finished my coffee yet.
Obligatory #TX2VT
Are we expecting any surprises, good or bad?
If we're expecting it, then it wouldn't be a surprise 😁
We have 18 commits per the recruiting services and 20 spots on the 'Big Board'. So, it's possible, they've had blank spots in the past, but I think they were related to a last minute transfer flip. No chance of that happening this time since the transfer window isn't officially open right now.
There were four or five kids they were still working to flip so might be connected to that. One is an OL that decommitted from GT after GT flipped an OL from FSU.
Stuewe got the orange jersey somehow. First commit to be wearing the new kits in their signing day post.
His Dad was a baller for the Hokies ... perhaps he had some inside connections to the new orange jerseys
Possibly related to the timing of official visits coming before and after the jersey release?
Where does he project to? WR or DB or somewhere else?
Mines wants him at WR
apparently playing basketball too
Love to see DeMatha kids... Great program
At a position of need, no less.
Amen- LB and OL are in desperate need of an overhaul.
Waiting to see Overton signed to be excited on this class.
He was in the comments on the live feed, so I think we're good.
Edit: NVM, that was just someone commenting his name 🙄
Fuck I got excited thinking this was another Grimm brother... at any rate good luck and ball out young man.
Ya never know...
LOL, take your leg
Brand name
Reports were that USCe was making a huge push for him, nice to win against little Beams
Obligatory, sounds like a coaches kids, first in, last out kind of player.
Welcome home young man. Dad was a baller for the E&H wasps back during mine and French's time in Emory
3* suddenly seems a little low for him
Jeff Overton was thought to be the favorite to repeat but they gave it to Gideon Davidson at Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg. They are both RB/DB guys. Davidson had more yards, less TDs and five less INTs. Davidson also was a 3A guy while Overton was a 6A guy which in VA are very different levels of competition. Curious if the Hayfield scandal played a part.
We will get to see a lot of Davidson though as he signed with Clemson.
That's a big fella
Local from Cburg staying in the 540. Worked with Render some. Hoping for big things from the local kid.
All LOLUVA name though.
Who cares? I'll take all the beef. Wait...are we still doing phrasing?
Saw this young man play live this year, my god he is a massive human being. I hope we can coach him up, physical tools are there!
Sergio has been coaching him for years now. I hear he's an absolute asshole on the field like Jave Grove was. Excited to see him play.
Misplaced reply, but I'll say thanks for all the updates everyone!
Jeff Overton to sign at 3:15.
Are we expecting him to sign with us? Or still up in the air?
Def expected to sign with us. Dad has been posting pics of him this past week in VT official visit photos
Becomes important after the recent portal entries.
I haven't been able to watch all of the commits, but I just want to reiterate that this is such a cool way to get the players and their families involved. It's a little cheesy, but you can see how excited everyone is about it.
doesn't matter what we think, it's what they think and that's all that matters
I agree, I think the draft is cheesy but announcing the commitment and talking to the families is really cool. Then we get a good interview and tape breakdown from the host
Definitely got an argument for all-name team. Is that pronounced like "Knowledge"?
Yep
It's pronounced "Kevin".
Is there a good translator for what the numbers represent? Like, what's expected from an 83 vs an 85, 87, or 90? At what value is a prospected considered to be a potential starter vs a role player, and at what value is a prospect considered to be a key contributor?
And why does the scale start somewhere north of 80? The data analyst in me hates this.
87-90 should become starter/key contributors by Sophomore season outside of maybe OL. The current depth at position also plays a big role but that can change year to year now with portal.
85-86 should contribute either special teams or limited role by Sophomore season.
Below 85 are projects, most would be PWO but not sure how the new roster rules impact that.
Here you go:
I notice your link is to 247. Do all of the services use the same scale?
Each site has their own rankings explanation, and this graph only show the consensus/composite rankings for 24/7. But essentially all 3 sites have pretty similar rankings (just add 10 points to the ESPN grade).
Rivals scale is the SAE to the other's metric, but they've been doing this a lot longer than anybody, so they're not changing.
The scale actually starts at 0:
0-10 watched a football movie once
10-20 high potential for watching NFL/college games one or more times a year
20-30 will likely join a fantasy football league at some point in their life
30-40 joins message boards to discuss football teams. Begins to do draft research for fantasy league most likely.
40-50 regular contender for fantasy football playoffs with occasional championship. High leg count.
50-60 you actually played football at some point, potential ceiling is middle school or JV starter
60-70 solid starter on varsity team. Potential ceiling is dreaming about the playing years and swapping stories about the big game with your buddies.
70-80 your bread and butter walk on for college athletics. Potential ceiling is being featured in multiple episodes of Hard Knocks when you make it to the league.
TIL I could be a 50 rated recruit! I still have 4 years of eligibility and will sign on to promote just about anything for those sweet NIL dollars.
I'm in the 30-40 range. It's not nothing. I'll take it
Finished fantasy football 1st in the league and have the highest leg count, but I am affiliated with VT, so my rating is probably 45.7
What do we consider a "high turkey leg count"? Asking for a friend.
yours is average
26k is average? rip to my potential 50 rating
it's not the size of the turkey leg, it's how you use it
Says one of the six members of the six-digit club
Efficient and effective babeyyyyyy
I'm part of the six digit club,....I just keep everything after the decimal point to myself. 🤪
Guess i'm there with ya since we're side by side on the leg board
This kid is a wrecking ball. Has exceptionally good feet for a internal lineman. Got to see him a couple times this year.
He looks like he's 35.
That man has a mortgage, a minivan, and opinions on fescue vs Kentucky bluegrass
I was gonna say something about him driving a minivan and wearing a set of crispy New Balances.
He's gonna bring Members Only jackets back and he is really getting into these new submarine novels, nothing this good since Hunt For Red October
So he picked WWII over smoking meats. I did the same thing.
Why not both???
add bourbon to that list and Ill hang out with you forever
I can assure you, there's a never ending supply of WT101 in my house plus we make our own wine...
Because you have to pick one!
re: Brennan Johnson, Gotta be switching to safety or something right? 5-11 185 is a slot receiver build, not an LB,
This was the issue with him - a tweener. Good LB instincts but not the ideal size. My guess is they see how he can bulk up to hopefully keep him at LB before making any position switch.
Edit: Vince Hall was only 6' tall, but he weighed in the 230s somewhere.
Good project for the S&C coaches then. Hopefully he can get up over 200 and contribute because given how things have gone at LB I'll take instincts / positioning over athleticism. Weve seen the athletic out of position LB wayyyyyy too much
Does size affect his rating?
I don't have the "rating formula" or anything, but I would say yes it definitely does. There are certain height/weight expectations for different positions - the main one we hear about are our short DTs and they usually get dinged in the ratings. But it fits our scheme so I've gotten pretty used to it.
I'll take instincts and work ethic all day long and twice on Saturday.
Junior year he was strictly a Linebacker but this year he played all over on defense. Safety, corner, linebacker. Was used on blitz packages quite a bit.
Yeah, can't play even Star at this level at 185.
So I guess 3:15 is a formality, huh
Yeah, most of these guys will do another announcement at their HS.
Oh I like that!
Dan Rather.... " tell me Marshawn, what are you thinking when the ball is snapped"? Marshawn Lynch- "I'm going to come across a mother fuckers face."
I remember this clip. Might be the best sound byte of all time.
We need to get him a line to take full advantage.
No last second surprises? Gotta hope we add another OL and maybe DT (and any other talent still on the board is welcome too)
Portal. Safer for late adds than reaching for a low 3 star, IMO
This is a night and day change in philosophy from previous years. So I'm interested if that turns out to be true.
And yes reaching hardly ever works out, but our track record on OL transfers is also terrible. We've so far had 0, 1 and 1 portal OL in Pry's first three classes (yes the first class counts, Elko got 3 OL starters from the portal). Those two portal recruits couldn't ever crack the two deep and never got anywhere close to the field (Cunningham pending his 2nd year)
1st year was because our OL coach was against taking transfer portal players. I would HOPE that with the smaller numbers taken in the HS ranks that means we take several OL this year in the portal
I can't believe we haven't fugured out that OL is simply numbers- sign 3-4 a year- seriously. You need numbers in that room- kids that played OL in high school- tall kids you can put good weight on. Get 15 of those and see which 8 can play for you. unless you are bama, this is the only way to go.
Unfortunately this seems like how it will be with Crooks. Doesn't appear to have the recruiting chops (and coaching seems to be just OK from an outsiders perspective).
Coaches are actively working on DeLoatch
his commitment to cinci was a curious one imo. would be a strong pull for NSD
Got him!
I started wrapping Christmas gifts and missed the surprise announcement.
Flipflipflipadelphia.gif
Early Christmas present?
Nice in-state win.
Well this was a nice surprise. Unless his ball skills are next level I see a redshirt in his future, he's gotta put on like at least 15 pounds to be ready for ACC play
Let him eat at West End for a month and he'll easily be up 15 lbs.
To be fair we said that about Tre turner and it never happened D:
No turkey bacon this time
This flip took our 247 ranking from 45 to 40.
so are we happy about this class?
40th... no consensus 4 stars.... not elated if I am being honest.
I'm expecting/hoping for quite a few transfers.
If you look at the rankings, though, we only have 19 recruits with an average of 87.25. Syracuse is at #38 but on the back of 34 commits with an 86.15 average. Our average rating puts us in the mid 30s and that is without the help of any top end guys bringing up the average. We jumped 5 spots today just by getting 1 more recruit with a 90 rating and have plenty of space for some later signees and transfers.
There's some good players in this class and solid evals. Also as far as hitting positions of need we crushed it, multiple DB's WR's and hit on 3 solid LB's. Losing Outten does suck and yes the class won't be a game changer with high level talent. But it is a solid haul and continues establishing the relationships with high schools within the radius.
The one position I'm not satisfied with yet is OL. Love Stallard and Wright is solid. The rule of thumb is 3-5 OL per class though. And if it's only 3 you've better make sure those are high choice evals. After last class being 3 and the previous one already reduced to 3, I'm not elated that this class only has 2. Our record in the portal is sub par to put it lightly so I'd really hope for at least 1 more high school OL add before spring signing day
"There's some good players in this class and solid evals."- Absolutely there is - but like Strength and Conditioning- every P4 school signs good players and evals. VT is not special in the weight room anymore, VT is not special with solid classes now. We need to get into the top 25 in the rankings if we want to win more games, IMO. We need big improvement in recruiting that we were supposed to get with Pry that hasn't materialized yet. Yes he is not signing 2 stars with offers from the Citadel- granted, but he needs to improve, IMO.
I feel like this is another raise the floor class, but not as good as last years, but we need to have some raise the ceiling players. Any class without 4+ 4* to me isn't going to cut it long term. The last time we had a consensus 4* was Doug Nestor and Bryan Hudson who both were really good and payoute (injury issues) and Jr walker, who got some paying time, but wasn't great. Getting two NFL players wouldngona long way to help.
I am always happy there are young men who want to come to Tech to play ball. Hopefully our coaches can inspire and coach them from novice ball players to mean nasty hardened instruments of war out to destroy their enemies on the field while playing with puppies and getting a quality education off it.
Okay, it would have been nice to nab one consensus 4 star/elite player but I think we got a solid stable of high 3 stars like 6 or 7 of them are getting a 4 star nod from at least one recruiting service.
Yes, but recruiting in the 40's is Fuente territory. We can and should be in the top 25 IMO.
How many times have we ever been in the top 25?
consistently from 2000-2015
Decided to take a look - per Rivals from 2002 -2015 (247 doesn't go back as far, and rivals only goes back to 2002)
In that time span, we were in the top 25 in recruiting 8 out of 14 years, surprisingly with 5 of those 8 years coming after 2010.
2002 - 45
2003- 27
2004 - 41
2005 - 14
2006 - 32
2007 - 29
2008 - 18
2009 - 23
2010 - 23
2011 -33
2012 - 22
2013 - 23
2014 - 25
2015 - 24
EDIT: decided to keep it going with Rivals and see where they've had us
Fuente Era
2016: 49
2017: 28
2018: 22
2019: 25
2020: 85!
2021: 43
Pry Era Begins
2022: 39
2023: 41
2024: 46
Sidenote (TRIGGER WARNING): We all remember what happened in 2020 (photo is from Jan 16 2020)
Kind of puts the 2016 team into a different light when you could see what an actual good offensive scheme could do with good recruiting.
Fuente could have been so good if he could have recruited worth a damn. But he couldn't be bothered to even give minimal effort, and cost him a career.
That staff could evaluate better than almost anyone in the country but as you said they couldn't give a damn to continue recruiting them until signing day. It was incredible how many guys they found as 3 stars initially that shot up the rankings through signing day.
That Michigan national championship team has like 3 or 4 former VT commits or heavy leans on it.
Plenty of evaluation duds from Fuente too- Payoute, Hunter, Rivers, walker, Pickney, lofton, moss , pimpleton, every running back, etc.
Lmao fair. I'm mainly talking about all the guys we were supposedly in great shape to sign that never stepped foot on campus.
I still maintain that his problem wasn't effort (no real basis on that though), his real problem was correctly ID'ing the players that would fit his offense well. It seemed like he and Corny couldn't adapt to player capabilities and rather had to luck into getting the capabilities in players that fit the scheme they were going to run anyway.
yes, so most years. and we were better than this class in all but 2 of those years.
Yep, wasn't trying to argue - your timeframe just made me curious what the rankings were. I was surprised, I honestly would have thought the more consistently higher years would have come in the early and mide 00s rather than in the twilight of Beamer's career
I bet if those years happened now we would've been like top 10-20 consistently. Rankings were definitely not as accurate then. High school recruiting rankings was not the industry that it is now.
It is also crazy how many 4 stars we would get in a single class for somw of those years
Here' 247 with avg recruit rank for 2010 to now:
2010 - 28 - 87.20
2011 - 35 - 84.49
2012 - 21 - 86.46
2013 - 21 - 87.70
2014 - 28 - 85.99
2015 - 29 - 86.35
2016 - 42 - 84.85
2017 - 26 - 86.13
2018 - 24 - 87.46
2019 - 26 - 87.69
2020 - 77 - 85.31 ----OOOOF
2021 - 44 - 85.38
2022 - 36 - 86.60
2023 - 39 - 86.44
2024 - 45 - 88.14
2025 - 40 - 87.25 (ESD only)
I still don't understand what happened between the 2019 and 2020 classes. If Fuente and staff just flat sucked at recruiting, shouldn't it have shown up in the first 3 classes instead of the 4th (very suddenly)?
I've spent way too much time trying to understand it over the years, but I can only think of 2 factors:
1) we won more games and had a lot of hype in 2016 and 2017 that helped the brand but then ran out after 2019
2) Guerry left (but was he really so important that we dropped all those spots?)
I wish it made sense
1. Negative recruiting- mack brown, dabo, franklin telling recruits Fuente was looking for other jobs. 2. Fu's demeanor around closing and the state of Va caught up to him more with each passing year.
I wonder how much having Bud Foster around helped keep those VA HS relationships going. And once he retired at the end of the 2019 season they started expecting more from Fuente.
There was definitely a buzz around Fuente early as an offensive and QB guru that resulted decent recruiting without (apparently) much actual effort recruiting.
Staff turnover & vibes:
Leading up to 2020, all of the pipelines had dried up because no one on the staff had been recruiting players for the 2020 season. At this point, Fuente needed players, he was grasping at straws, so he hit up his texas connections, was able to fill out a roster there (albeit with questionable talent). But that's not a sustainable. And that's when the bottom fell out.
did wiles stick around? i didn't think he was retained by fuente, and went to nc state
He was fired after Bud's last game.
Was 2020 the year where they didn't allow on campus visits part of the year? I want to say the team barbecue they usually invited all the recruits to got cancelled.
Is this pic before or after Kill started swinging?
Don't remember the exact timing of the Kill vs Corn bout - the pic was right after the whole Baylor stuff, I guess meant to show unity among the coaches
2013 was the last time (per 247)
ignoring ratings, and taking a quick look at who they chose us over...meh. hopefully our evals are spot-on
We're taking 2 QBs in the same class? Am I missing something?
I think Brand will be a DB when it's all said and done but may the best man win
I think this staff likes taking 2 a class to promote competition
So I'd guess the staff would expect attrition rather than having 8 scholarship QBs on the roster?
I think that's the reality of the portal. It's less painful to lose one when you have two.
I think this year Brand is moved after spring or during the season then we've got 4, which is totally fine. Used 3 this year and Ryan will be a true freshman, Davi a r-fresh
This isn't uncommon, our defensive backfield was littered with high school QBs back in the Beamer era. A lot of HS may not have a true QB on the roster, so they put their best athletes at QB because that gives them the best chance to do something good with the ball. These guys may not be P5 QBs, but they're still great athletes. I'd expect one or both of them to get some QB reps and then get talked to about other positions.
I would not expect either to play significant snaps as QB at VT. If they do, they make major leaps in their QB play (and hopefully they can). I expect one to remain a backup and one to transfer positions. If they want starter time at QB, I would expect they transfer to G5 or FCS. Both Watson and Belfort have better HS tape.
Brand and Ryan are good running QBs, and average around 100 rush yards a game (137 ypg for Brand in 2024). Ryan, imo, is better than Brand at passing. Brand does have some crazy passing stats from his JR year and won a state title, but is better at throwing while rolling to his throwing side than in the pocket or moving to the opposite side. Ryan is a better pocket passer and has decent deep ball, but is slow at making decisions and releasing the ball.
It's a shame Falzone decomitted. He has a better HS tape than any VT QB commit or player...
Caveat: these are just my opinions based on watching HUDL highlights. And I'm no expert on anything.
The ACC is in a negative feedback loop of death
Some think the problem is that VT is not rich enough.
Others think the problem is that there is a thumb on the scale to have certain conference teams in the playoffs and that those top tier athletes that have NFL dreams need to be in those conferences.
You'd think after some of the stuff that has happened, Miami would be a school that has a thumb on their scale.
Sad but true. Thanks to E$PN's short sighted greed killing the sport, only the $EC and Big can afford 5 stars now. We will either get an invite to the P2 or wither and die.
And this is why I probably will not watch another college football game on TV again. The sport is basically dead to me. I will listen to the radio feed of VT games over the internet (if VT Sports gets their shit together, stream kept dying during UVA game).
This, except for I'll watch every VT game that I can. Any other game though? Pbbbbt.
I have zero, repeat zero, interest in the rest of college football. I don't even care about who'll be in the playoffs, not going to watch the selection show, not going to watch any of the playoff games. But I will watch the Hokies bowl, either on TV or from the stands.
And yes, I realize that there needs to be some semblance of a healthy college football ecosystem around the Hokies for us to have games to play, but at this point, I really have no fucks to give about it.
To be honest, it's not just college football. I won't watch anything on ESPN now and haven't since the committee snubbed FSU last year. I also have an issue with their sports book and the fact that they report news that influences bettors - to me it's a total conflict of interest.
All depends on which rating you are looking at.
247Sports rating: Clemson signed one. GT signed one as well.
On3 rates alot more 5 🌟 but dropped both ACC signees enough to make them 4 🌟 Composite Rankings
ACC also went 2-14 in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
A totally unserious conference.
Didn't GT and Clemson both sign 5-stars?
On 247Sports rating yes, on 247Sports Composite No
Given Miami, FSU, and Clemson, it seems surprising that not a single 5-star came to the conference. I mean, Norvell WAS 13-2 just two years ago, so I guess that's what dropping to 2-10 does. Considering he fired both coordinators from the 13-2 season, maybe they were the recruiters?
Also, hard to imagine since Miami was at #4 in recruiting rankings last year. They're at 14 with 15 four star players, so that's not bad.
Hard to believe GT is at 18. Reiterates the unfulfilled potential post...
And FSU and Clemson at 25 and 26, down from 12 and 11 last year.