Ali Jennings will play in the Hula Bowl on January 11th in Orlando.
Strong, Peebles, Tuten, Felton and Lane will be in the Reese's Senior Bowl Feb 1st 130pm CST.
APR will be at the East West Shrine Game on January 30th.
Rosters for the Trillion Tropical Bowl will be announced Jan 12th. Game is Jan 19th.
East/West and Senior Bowl are the ones supported directly by the NFL
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Haven't seen his name selected for any of the games. Same for Keonta Jenkins, and Moore.
Was he expected to be back to compete with Pop?
No, he was one and done all the way. He only had one year of eligibility coming in (cue jokes).
He's clearly not lawyering hard enough.
Nope, he was talked out of retirement to be a backup for one last year.
Part of me is happy for these guys, and glad that they represent VT well. Part of me looks at these games and thinks, "But they didn't want to play in a bowl game because they have to prepare for the NFL?"
Most of these guys are playing in the two games coached by NFL Coaches where they spend a week or more practicing and NFL scouts and executives are in attendance. The only two that sat out the bowl that aren't linked to these two games are Moore and Jenkins.
I understand the pre-combine "interview" that these games create. I think in a lot of cases, the best info some of these players have (not just Tech guys, but in general) is more game film. Show what you can do in real game situations, for the full game. The showcase games like the Senior Bowl, etc. have talent trying to fit into a new/different team with a week, maybe two, of prep. Their playing time is split between several players. It's not a true reflection of what they can do, and most scouts will tell you that, although any real evaluation at these games gets done in the practices. There's always the risk of injury playing in a bowl game (ex: Willis McGahee), but that risk is present in the Senior Bowl-type games as well. I just see it as a bit of irony that a lot of athletes opt out of what could be a better showcase for them. Maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon who misses the time before college free agency.
"a lot of athletes opt out of what could be a better showcase for them"... you bet 100% - in modern society, and now more than ever in college football- athletics is a way- a very lucrative one- to get paid large sums of money. If you are a d1 athlete, you are closer to that in the moment than a doctor, lawyer, astronaut, senator facing years of schooling, training, advancement to cash in. These kids want money and they want it now. They don't care about the team anymore. Bobby Knight and Coach K selling "if the team is great, your individual accolades will follow" is dinosaur mentality now. These guys want their millions. Ironically for 98% of them, being a lawyer is more realistic than NFL star. But now all you have to be is a college star to be a millionaire. That is what its about. Not showing out for VT in the mayo bowl.
A bowl game where maybe you get targets or not is just another iteration of what you did 12 times already. The real value is spending 1-2 weeks at practoce and meetings with nfl coaches and scouts to show a different side of yourself. Bhayshul tuten will not get drafted higher because he has another 100 yard gane in the bowl game. He may actually get drafted higher because of interaction and engagement with nfl staff for the sr bowl.
and by practicing with and against other draft prospects in front of those nfl staffers
As example, my understanding is Jennings has already had private sessions with 7 NFL teams while at the Hula Bowl prep.
Moore has played 4 years, what is he going to do in a single game that will get him drafted that erases the other 4 years? The time to ball out was every single game this year, one game at the end isn't going to move the needle.
I can't think of anyone that got drafted because of a bowl game.
If they are not there already- which I think they are- Non playoff bowl games are simply spring games against an opponent with a real clock vs. your own team and bogus clock rules, etc. That is all they are. It's certainly what they are for VT. Frank Beamer -a hall of fame coach- got murdered by VT fans for losing bowl games. Meanwhile we trot out no semblance of a D1 team against Maryland and Minnesota and it's- oh well, meh. Mayo Bowl tickets through the hokie club were $150.00 each. I went to the fiesta bowl for 40 dollars to see a playoff game. VT played their spring game team and fans paid to see it in 40 degree temps. At some point, that is not scalable. Bowl attendance is way down and will continue to do so with basically spring games. The only thing keeping it alive is ESPN needs content and irrational fans paying hard earned money to see VTs 4th string RB play in the bowl.
I think the lesser bowls are going to start dropping off if opt outs are allowed. As you said, for Minnesota it was a bowl game, for us with 14 starters missing it was a spring game and our fans didn't travel quite as much as historically.
Being in the stadium that night, I'd still bet VT fans were 20-23000 of the 30000 attendance. ALL of VT ticket allotment were sold (usually that's 10-15k). And then you have the secondary market where we got our tickets. So I dont think we had a dropoff in traveling. (Granted that # could've been higher if the opt outs hadn't occurred and/or if it weren't numbingly cold weather for the game).
I have no doubt that the majority of the fans were hokies. If it was a little warmer, and we were actually having starters I think the attendance would have been at least 10k higher.
This just is part of the pre-draft process. NFL media, NFL scouts, NFL coaches all go to these games. This is what they're prepping for.
Love this....didn't mince words. Short and sweet.
Trying to wrap my head around a player being out of eligibility.
Every announcement should be this simple and to the point.
Benji's response was gold
that is a fantastic response from Benji - I actually laughed audibly at that
No Hokies participating in the Trillion Tropical Bowl
Just a reminder
Reese's Senior Bowl is this Saturday at 230pm EST on NFL Network.
East West Shrine Game is Thursday at 8pm EST on NFL Network
Hokies have players in both games.
Article Here
APR recognized as one of the top 10 stand outs at the East West Shrine practices.
The Falcoholic's Senior Bowl Day One Notes had a good mention of Aeneas Peebles:
Lot of writers talking about the reps Jaylin is putting him, grading him very high. Very deserving.
APR playing at 8pm tonight
APR and the East won 25-0. It's the first shutout in 55 years in this game. Couldn't find stats on the game. Only saw APR on a handful of plays.
So APR was so dominant that the other team quit and he enjoyed a lot of the 2nd half on the sideline because he put so much fear into them in the 1st quarter
outstanding
Peebles blowing up the backfield
Out of everyone we lost this season this will be the hardest gap to refill. Peebles was a problem for every offense we faced.
Lane had a big catch on 4th and 3 for 19 yards early in actual game. Below is from practice.
Felton had a TD catch in the game.
From practices
Why were there VTs on the sides of of the NC State helmets?
Players take extra decals with them to trade with each other.
Dorian Strong clips
Love to see these guys showing out. Hoping they all get drafted and ball out next level. However, why the hell didn't all this talent result in more on field success? We clearly had struggles with O-line, LB and secondary play but it seems like there was enough talent on this team to produce better than .500 record. Coaching performance has definitely been called out and changes are happening but after seeing these guys perform I think the coaching was worse than I realized. Don't want to be negative on a post with great news about our guys but this just kind left me feeling like we really squandered an opportunity to move the program forward while we had these gifted athletes.
Agreed.
First and foremost, great to see these players representing themselves well, but it also has to make one question even more just how dysfunctional the Coaching is here.
There has been a lot of focus on defensive shortcomings, but there are pretty clear issues offensively as well.
Lane was probably the most explosive WR yet had less production as the year went on. Combined against Syracuse, Clemson, and Duke he had 5 catches for 22 yards.
Felton had some highlights but was largely the same player that he was when he arrived. Not much notable development.
It doesn't speak highly of any part of this Staff really.
My Hokie bias might be showing, but really hoping my Browns target both Tuten and Peebles if either are there late in the third through 5th rds
Makes me a little sad to hear all this talk about our receivers getting separation against top talent when we could not get them the ball when we needed a third down conversion.
Until Pop and Schlee were playing.
Maybe Bowen's route tree didn't match our WRs strengths?