🚨COMMITMENT🚨Virginia Tech #Hokies land DL Arias Nash from Mercer. The 6-foot-1 inch, 275-pound DT had 53 total tackles, 12.5 TFLs and 9 sacks this season. Tracker | https://t.co/yy6cmW34vF https://t.co/KTnNF4poUt— Matej Sis (@MatejS247) January 6, 2025
Nash was an FCS All-American by one outlet (FCS Football Central).Lone FBS opponent he faced this year was Alabama. Finished with four tackles, including one TFL, and two QB hurries.— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) January 6, 2025
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Comments
Same first step twitch as Peebles, but not as big. From people at ETSU who I trust, he was the most disruptive DT in the SoCon. He had several QB pressures against Alabama this season.
We don't need an All American, we just need guys that can play.
Dear College Football Gods, please don't listen to KingJames, he's a nice guy but he doesn't speak for us.
We would very much like to have some All Americans please.
Dear King James, All Americans can usually play.
Don't look a gift Horse on.a Treadmill in the mouth.
Good football in the SoCon. Usually talented guys and hard nosed football players who maybe are just a tad undersized. With Nash, Gilliam, Copeland, and Laws, our DT room could be top half of the ACC next year. A big improvement from a roster that arguably didn't have a starting caliber P5 DT on it a few years ago.
I expect Johnson and Hanchuk to be contributors on the DL as well.
I *really* liked how Hanchuk looked in the spring game
I think Johnson will need a little more time to add size, but while he didn't jump out as much as Laws, he didn't look out of place either.
Laws is probably about as big as he is going to get.
I was excited about the SoCon LB we got last year from VMI... until he showed up and couldn't play at this level.
VMI is one of the worst football programs in all of the FCS. And it sounds like Stone had some attitude issues.
I get your overall point about the levels of college football. That said, if the staff thinks they can get a better eval, and a higher floor but lower ceiling by taking a guy that has at least proven to be productive at the college level as opposed to a guy who was at a P4 program but never saw the field, I'm okay with that. That gives us a better chance to win now, which will allow us to elevate our HS recruiting going forward. If we take nothing but unproven P4 retreads, this staff could flame out and we could be starting over yet again.
See here is my thing. I'm not dogging any of these kids personally - I'm not dogging all of the FCS. That QB for Montana State could play for us for example. People are missing my overall point- which is the fact that VT has been mediocre to bad for a dozen years now. Not one year, not an anomaly. IF you want to elevate from that and not spin wheels, at SOME point in the programs evolution you have to recruit better than mid 40s and you MUST not assume every kid from Mercer will be Bayshul Tuten. that keeps you at 6-7 forever. Plugging holes with lower division guys keeps you treading water. For every Tuten, there are 5 guys that don't ever contribute. So where are we elevating? HS recruiting? not yet- we are recruiting like a 6-7 program- a 4 star here and there. Nothing spectacular. If you sign D2 guys in the portal, lighting is not going to strike to the point you are competing with Clemson. My whole premise is actually raising the talent on the team and not treading water.
This is a completely valid and defensible take. It is also free of hyperbole or snark, which makes it easier to process and agree with, and less likely to be misunderstood.
I appreciate this post, DC.
I agree that we need to raise the talent level. But unless we get a massive influx of cash, it's just not going to happen. We cannot compete year in and year out with the top tier of college football with our budget. We're going to have to hope to catching enough lightning in a bottle to have a magical year every now and then.
amen. spot on. Unless the "rules" change we have a pretty hard ceiling. It's a vicious cycle... if we find a diamond in the rough 3 star, he will leave for more money. If we don't win, we can't significantly elevate HS recruiting to compete with the portal. It's over unless something changes.
Yeah, you're right that we need to get better players. However, the fact is we are probably getting the best players we can on the open market. If we could get the P4 guys to come to Tech we would. If we can't elevate the program with the guys these coaches are able to recruit, then we need better recruiters. If we aren't willing to part with the recruiters we have, then we can't expect anything to change, as you have been saying.
We're on the same page.
I do think we've seen an improvement in high school recruiting, even if a marginal one. The average recruit rating is up. Not where it needs to be, but up. And, the staff seems to have an understanding of what it takes to build a balanced roster, which includes taking guys at natural positions.
Beamer and Fu were both guilty of signing highly rated athletes and then trying to convert 5 running backs to other positions. Sometimes it works, but not very often. For every Justin Hamilton, there are 5 Joel Caleb's.
The transfers this year have included some really talented guys with P4 experience, so that's an uptick as well. Let's keep it going.
Would love to see him put on an additional 10-15 lbs but as a senior transfer, idk if that's possible.
Good scheme fit and will be a productive player.
Hopefully we'll get to see what's possible with a REALLY good S&C coach.
Checking with DC on number of lower level guys in the portal! /s
You certainly are going to win more games bringing in guys from Mercer while Clemson and FSU are brining them in from the B1G and SEC and recruiting HS much better than you are.
Nice
Ahhhh, a fire hydrant for DT.
I remember those days.