Good Counsel (Olney, MD) star defensive end Dee Fullwood is set to announce his college decision on Saturday, June 28. Sunday evening Dee tweeted his top 5 schools.
MY FINAL TOP 5 SCHOOLS
IM COMMITING THIS SATURDAY
#BBN #HokieNation #Terps #OSU #dukegang
Where Am I Goin pic.twitter.com/6zqHXFUIp2— Dee Fullwood (@realdeewood) June 22, 2014
In Dee's latest top 5, Duke and Maryland replace Miami and Georgia Tech. And that's not all.
Ohio State has been eliminated from consideration. I spoke with Darius by phone at 8:15 Sunday night. At that time he was waiting to hear from the Ohio State coaching staff whether or not his offer was committable. At 10:00 PM he contacted me by text message informing me his offer was not committable.
Dee attended a one-day camp at Ohio State last Thursday and worked out for Urban Meyer's staff to solidify his offer. After the camp, he shared his thoughts with Miles Joseph of Land-Grant Holy Land.
Fullwood thought he performed well at the camp, but was a little disappointed he wasn't full speed near the end as he pulled his groin at the start of camp.
"I definitely wanted to continue to work on my game like I have been in the past couple of camps," Fullwood said following his camp performance at Ohio State. "I pulled my groin before we started one-on-one's, so I was a little bit slow today, but I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going and at least show them a little something. I think I did well in the drills and showed good effort."
After the camp, Fullwood had the chance to sit down with defensive line coach Larry Johnson to talk about where he stands with the Buckeyes.
"Every conversation we have he keeps it real," Fullwood said. "He basically let me know they're going to evaluate me and a few other players. They like to look at the film from the camps and get a chance to sit down as a staff and look over each play. He said he would probably give me a call on Sunday to let me know where I stand."
Dee visited Blacksburg again on June 14, this time with his father. He had an opportunity to familiarize himself more with Virginia Tech's campus, as well as spend time with former Good Counsel teammate Kendall Fuller, and Gilman (Baltimore, MD) product Melvin Keihn.
Comments
With the news that anOSU has been eliminated, I'd be fairly shocked if he picked anyone but the Hokies on Saturday. I'll await Moorehead's #ChoppinWood text eagerly this week.
Indeed, if Kentucky, Maryland or Duke is picked over us that's just a bit disappointing.
I'd say Kentucky should have us most worried. Still, from all accounts he seemed to really like Tech, and word was it was us or OSU before today.
#choppinFullwood
Please dammit, please dammit, please dammit.
We really need a win
And.....his phone is charged.
Reliable. I like it.
VT is in need of DE. Fullwood would be a great addition to HOKIENATION.
Lets all hope by the end of the weekend, our recruiting class is gonna be bringing us all Fullwood
So was this the player Moorehead was specifically referencing with his "commitable" scholarship twitter speech?
Yup, the top programs just swoop in after they see other schools offer and they put this non verbal commitment thing out there. I know the exact feeling as I ran into this situation when I decided to commit to what I thought was going to be my school. This was for soccer so I can only imagine what its like for football. But this is how it played out
I was ready to commit called coaches and told them they're #1 and I am really ready to commit any day, they kind of backed off and asked me why and what other schools I was thinking about. It was like they knew they had other players/too many commits that I wasn't as needed as before. I was told we would love to have you and think you would be a huge asset to the squad, but we would hate to see you come and sit for 4 years. With that said I was happy/mad that this was only brought up when I was about to commit... in the end I went to University of Akron and it couldn't have worked out any better.
Let's hope Moorehead can bring us some Fullwood !!
You gotta think we are in good shape here, with Kendall and Melvin on our side.
Yep, and we need a win.
Anytime a Fuller is involved, things work out. Melvin is another character guy (from what I've read), so it seems like he has a quality welcoming committee.
Question for French or anyone else that would like to chime in:
Is Fullwood a DT for the hokies or DE? How is his speed? He looks to be built like a DT.
When I spoke to him at the beginning of June he told me he was being recruited as a DE, but wouldn't have a problem with moving inside. I'll ask if that's changed the next time I talk to him.
Coach Moorehead, Kendall Fuller, Melvin have work to do to bring Fullwood to Blacksburg.
So his teammate Jabari Greenwood will announce with him and is thought by many to be a UK lock. This isn't looking good.
I thought Jabari attends Gonzaga
You are correct. Either way them announcing together with Tech not in it for Greenwood at all and Kentucky very much in it for Fullwood doesn't seem too promising.
I agree, hopefully that's not the case though. We shall find out soon enough I suppose.
Let me caveat this with I have absolutely zero insider information, but if you recall a few years ago Ekanem announced with several of his teammates, none of which went to Tech. Wouldn't get too spun up about it right now.
^^^^^
Yes- Ekanem was all about celebrating with his classmates. No show, no hats, no big 'look at me' moment. A true breath of fresh air. Been rooting for him ever since.
Fullwood, we want you at VT!
Yep but Sweat actually did not name UGA his leader. Don't know why UGA fans think that. He could still end up there however.
Original comment was edited, so I will edit myself.
I don't think he was trashing him, he was simply stating that he doesn't believe Fullwood would end up playing the DE position but rather DT if he comes to VT. Though maybe poorly worded, definitely don't think he was trashing. Would be a logical decision for Fullwood to go elsewhere if he felt he would get moved to DT at Tech where we do in fact have a lot of young talent.
Yeah, I struggled with the wording on that. I know it wasn't trashing, and I certainly know the intent wasn't to do so. The only other thing I could think of to describe was criticize, but to suggest we don't criticize recruits is just silly.
With that said, recruits DO read these message boards, and to read something that essentially says "its no big deal if he doesn't choose us, he probably wouldn't see any playing time anyway" in the days leading up to his commitment when we're still heavily involved... Its silly to think it, but its true, sometimes internet forums do sway a recruit one way or another, and I'd hate to eventually read that TKP is a reason someone didn't choose Tech. That did happen with TSL and it absolutely ruined the site.
I always read these kinds of statements, but I have yet to ever see actual evidence of this. It seems more like the users of these message boards have made themselves feel more important than they actually are, as if what they say or don't say is what gets a recruit to choose a certain way. Until I see a recruit come out and say "I did not like what the message boards said about me" I'm going to find these statements just silly.
There was a case on TSL, I want to say maybe 5 years ago, where a parent or coach sent one of our recruits a screen capture of a discussion about him that had some pretty strong criticisms of the kid from their pay side, which went so far as to question the kid's character and academic abilities. Within a week, the kid had either dropped us from consideration or decommitted (I forget which one), and made it known to those involved that what he read was the reason he did it. This was backed up (and continues to be backed up) on their pay side by their experts.
Here's a more recent example, in this current class actually. Kai Locksley, QB we're going after pretty hard.
http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/auburn-football-kai-locksley-qb-rec...
Plus Darren Evans said that he would truck some user on TSL a few years ago who was talking junk if he ever met him in real life. Everybody gets the same internet.
A famous one was Alonzo Coleman, a running back out of Halifax (high school class of '03, i believe). He got a late VT offer and was being trashed by one or more on TSL (again, it was long ago so the specifics are fuzzy). Hokie Jeff lost it and it was a weird scene. Coleman got wind of it and dropped VT from consideration, signing with Hampton. VT was far and away his biggest offer.
I honestly think that any comment on TKP that degrades a recruit should be removed as soon as possible.
I'm finding a common and typical theme here for TSL.
There is no question the recruit was PO'ed. Whether that was the whole reason he didn't sign with VT is debatable.
As for evidence of recruits reading this site, Mook Reynold's father has posted on this site. I'm sure his son has read some of the posts as well. Furthermore, most of the recruits follow Joe on twitter, and thus most can click on the link to read the site.
Whether or not any specific posting influences a recruit is moot. Keep it positive, VT wants and needs all it's recruits. Any negative statement won't be beneficial.
Also, nearly every recruit or current player that French has done film reviews for recently has retweeted the link. Probably a safe bet that they read it, too.
Is there a consolidated recruiting tracker somewhere? Something that shows all of our 2015 commits/considering/misses?
Look in the tracker, one of the guys started one.
Advice take-Sorry.
Couple crystal balls for Fullwood to Kentucky.
Guru on another Tech site says he doesn't believe Kentucky even made his top 2. Weird, guess we'll find out Saturday.
Wiltfong is probably the number 1 source for information at 247 IMO. I'm not a subscriber so I couldn't read it but I all of sudden like our chances if he does.
Him and another guy predicted us just a few minutes ago. Feeling better now.
Yeah, I think Amo, Kendall, and Keihn are coming after him hard and about to close the door hopefully.
As a subscriber, I can tell you that the tweet pretty much says it all.
And..... Wiltfong just flipped his ball pick to Kentucky.....
I'm absuming that he means Greenwood to UK, and hopefully Fullwood to Tech.
Chris Fisher, who covers Kentucky for 247 just predicted Fullwood to us. Definitely a good sign.
Excited if this happens, we are in dire need of some good news!
I will believe it after Fullwood signed his letter of intent.HokieNation has had way too many recruiting heartbreaks over the years.
I don't get excited as I used to with all the flip flopping before they sign the LOI. Better to have a verbal than nothing but I won't be as pumped for a commitment like I used to in the past, been scarred too many time as of late. Go Hokies.
Me either. No way, no how. In this case, I'm really wondering why he is not waiting a while. It just doesn't feel 100% to me here - no matter which school is chosen.
Can anyone explain to me why he would have to move to tackle for the Hokies? Surely he could still play end for us right?
I don't think people are saying he would have to but more of a he might move. We won't know this until Bud and Wiles see him first hand in practices. No doubt it would be better if he can play end since we have nice DT depth now with our new guys, but it's just going to come down to speed. One of the things is that he's already 240 or so, so when he puts on even more weight once he starts working with Gentry, can he maintain the speed bud wants in his ends. Speed is the reason Mihota got moved to DT as well.
Also fwiw, when I was stalking a Kentucky website yesterday, they mentioned that he might move inside as well.
Its way too early to tell. Some players can easily lose or gain good weight depending on what the coaches want. Some players are still fast over 240-250 lb. Ekanem is a solid DE despite being over 240.
Because if he's a legit 240 now, he would report to VT at 245-250 and they would move him to DT. History tells us this is what will happen to recruits that size.
Yep. This one doesn't hurt me at all, for exactly the reasons you are saying. I will likely be dead before VT has a 250+ lb DE. We just missed on the latest "moved to inside" guy.
He almost certainly heard that story as many times as we've seen it, too, which doubtless impacted his decision.
Mihota's immediate move confirms it in case anyone still had doubts.
wasn't james gayle 255?
Yup. And Ken Ekanem was up around 260 while he was dealing with injuries. Him and Seth Dooley are both listed at 245 now.
OK, I see I am guilty of a bit of exaggeration. Exasperation may be getting to me. Still, the 250 range sure seems to be the extreme upper limit for some reason. And if a lot of Hokie fans see it that way, it sure is easy for opposing recruiting coaches to put doubts into the head of a 240 lb 17 year old intent on playing DE.
And the big guys still out there are going to get beaten to death with it, unfortunately. If all we have is, "James Gayle was 255", I have to think we are in a bit of trouble. We have got to sell the idea of "just think how good we could be with a guy like you". And I mean SELL it like your hair is on fire.
Note to self: "Hmmm....why IS Buzz bald, anyway?"
I tend to agree with you, 250 is about the ceiling in Bud's scheme. However, I don't think it's a weight thing though, rather weight is proportional to speed. The bigger a player, generally the slower a player. Gayle was a freak athlete, big and fast. I was talking to French yesterday and he noted that Sweat is listed at 237 by 247Sports. He'll probably be a 245 - 250 type build once he goes through Gentrification. There's not a chance in hell he moves inside.
I believe that Fullwood would eventually play DT for us, but when I spoke with him I asked if VT was recruiting him to move inside and at the time he said Tech hadn't even brought it up to him.
Not when he enrolled
I interpreted this as 250 lbs as a Sr. in high school. So, McGuirk is absolutely right that VT hasn't recruited a 250lb DE. Rivals had Gayle at 220, Ekenam at 226, and Dooley at 230 when recruited.
But, Dee is only 238 and Mihota was only 240 according to rivals. So, not really sure.
247 has indicated a swing to KY.... any updated info?
Not really. I still think it's just about all in response to him announcing with his buddy who's pretty much a KY lock. Evan Watkins said earlier today that his sources close to Fullwood seem pretty split. He probably hasn't even made his final decision yet, and it's gonna come down to the wire.
That's a huge swing in Kentucky's favor. I kind of doubt that the sudden pick change since yesterday from Virginia Tech to Kentucky had to due with him announcing with his buddy. That info about him announcing with jabari greenwood has been known for a few days.
A huge swing?
There very well could be some information we don't know (I mean, it's college football recruiting), but some things to keep in mind are 1) It's the day before the announcement. EVERYONE is going to make their picks now, and the news of the dual announcement might be just enough of a hint for people at OSU, Duke, etc. to tip their CB predictions in KY's favor, and 2) A solid chunk of those picks are flipping from picks made 2 or 3 days ago, so that's not likely to be solid info. Long story short, I never put much stock in CB predictions, cause they tend to be about 50/50 from my observation. Either he'll pick Tech or he won't.
Just poking fun here, but John Madden agrees.
Oh well.
Lost Another!
C'mon seriously? I hope we pick up some big recruits the rest of the way. I don't even know who's targeted really at the moment except for Sweat but he has all the big kids recruiting him as well. Hard to see us beat them all out. Getting beat by uk is interesting though. It's not basketball and it's not like we have a concrete 2-deep at DE right now where he wouldn't get playing time until his junior year or something. Ah well. I hate following recruting....but can't help it.....
We're also targeting 4* DE Darrell Taylor and have a legit shot at him. There are a lot of other DEs we are going after, but Taylor and Sweat are the big ones and were before Fullwood committed anywhere.
Does losing Fullwood hurt? Yes. Would Sweat be a great pick up? Yes.
But don't get emotionally attached to individual recruits. Our coaches have a history of doing an excellent job recruiting and developing talent (especially on defense). Personally, I panic about OL...but I'll give SS a chance to set his feet (only been here 5 months) and establish relationships...but I digress.
Anyone remember Petey Smith or Hawatha Bell? Both were 4-star recruits we really wanted. Both hurt when they didn't pick us. Neither finished college playing D1 football. Meet Jack Tyler. All 3 were 2009 class signees. Not saying all situations work with a walk-on becoming All-ACC...but saying trust the coaches and let the situation play out and look at the class and team overall.
I panicked when we lost Hand to AL..but overall the 2014 class is awesome and filled a ton of needs.
I agree. Personally I preferred the possibility of landing the defensive prospects Josh Sweat, Darrell Taylor, Trevon Hill, Tremaine Edmunds, Damien Dozier, and Ricky DeBerry much more than Dee Fullwood. All of the aforementioned players appear quicker and more explosive than Fullwood. I would be satisfied if we were able to sign 4 out of 6 from this group.
Tech seems to keep striking out
Of the 113 Offers tech has made to the 2015 class, 57 players have already chosen other schools to commit to, and an additional 24 have been list Cool for Tech
Which leaves 32 players, some of which are really, really good. We couldn't take all 32 anyway, so some of them choosing other schools is not as terrible as it seems.
Man...if only we could sign 113 players...
This is why Sam Rogers had to walk on. He is worth 113+ scholarships.