Brandon McIlwain, a 6'1 204 lb four star quarterback prospect from Newtown, PA, has announced his top six schools.
My top 6 schools in no order #SouthCarolina #PennState #Auburn #VirginiaTech #Duke #Florida #blessed pic.twitter.com/SbTau3dyR1— Brandon McIlwain (@BFMcIlwainqb12) August 12, 2014
McIlwain, as you recall, had an outstanding camp at Virginia Tech back on July 14th. When he spoke with TKP's Alex Koma, McIlwain said he loved his visit to Blacksburg. "It was a great experience, getting to meet the staff and see the campus," McIlwain said.
According to McIlwain, offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler visited McIlwain in Pennsylvania last spring, and speaks to McIlwain on the phone weekly.
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Comments
Super duper!
It's so weird to see Duke in the top 6 for a major recruit. My brain just can't process how good of a job Cutcliffe has done turning that program around.
Well, when you have Peyton and Eli Manning on your resume, that'll perk some QB recruit's ears. And, yes, what he's done at Duke is extremely impressive. Unlike the Ole Ball Coach, I doubt he leaves for a bigger program. Seems like the exact coach Duke needs to keep afloat.
Not the coach the deserve, but the coach they need right now.
The problem with Duke is, they're not doing nearly enough to capitalize on Cutcliffe right now, and are absolutely destined to fall right back to crap the second he retires. Yes, I know they have a couple improvements coming to Wallace Wade (i.e., they're overhauling the bathrooms, and they're lowering the field to add in more seats, eliminating the track) but it really just isn't enough. They're getting guys right now because they want to play for Coach Cut, not because they want to play for Duke. They really need to dedicate themselves to not making Duke football, from the facilities to the staff, not be the absolute joke of the conference. Even after their upgrades right now, they're still going to be dramatically lagging behind the rest of the conference, which is just not good at all for them long-term.
David Cutcliffe is 59. That's 3 years younger than Nick Saban.
Coach Cut is a nice story, but let's be real and remember that its Coach K that brings in the big bucks for the university. They are interested in getting competative at football, but do you think it really is going to sink Duke if they don't?
I don't give 2 craps about Duke itself. I'm concerned with the power of ACC football and being a relevant legitimate power conference going forward. Having THE anchor of college football in your own division is not a good thing for the teams in the Coastal, so its in our best interests to make sure Duke is at the very least a marginally good team. We just can't have Duke falling back to the days where they were getting annihilated by even the mediocre programs in D-1 football.
Its very much the reason schools were leery about bringing VT into the ACC. They were worried (and justifiably so considering the moves we made after firing Greenberg up to the hiring of Whit) that we just didn't care enough about basketball and would be an anchor bringing the whole conference down. The same applies for Duke in regards to football.
Well unfortunately LOLUVA isn't going anywhere so that anchor will be in our division for awhile.
Except the ACC never has cared too much about football. Even now, the intuitive can see that the ACC expansion is based much more on leveraging basketball to enhance the TV revenue - which is the golden pot - than on challenging the SEC or B1G for football supremacy. As for Duke being an anchor, let's realistically look at Wake, UVa as two other 'anchors'. Then let's look at UMd, UNC, & NC State as three woefully underperforming programs over the last few decades. The ACC was leery of VT because they viewed us as a one trick pony that not only didn't care about basketball, but about any non-revenue sport, either. We got in, though, to stay. Repeat - to stay. As for Duke? They love all sports, probably football the least. They're coming around, though. The more we can see the tepid programs in the ACC improve, the better for the conference as a whole. Duke is moving into the tepid status, from the complete apathy designation. That should be something we appreciate.
I've been to three games at Duke. My high school stadium in PA is nicer than WW. Part of the issue is the actual structure: the field isn't great, the stadium facilities are lacking. The rest is the Duke fanbase. They don't care about football. They could spend $100 million revamping that place, and they'll still have 10,000 fans at a game.
Thats cause most of the fanbase lives in New Jersey
they deserve*
GO HOKIES!
Pretty solid group to be in.
This is the reason that I think Loeffler will eventually become a very good OC. He may not have best scheme, but if he gets great QBs on that roster and coach them up, his offense will succeed.
I don't know about this comment. You might want to wait at least until the middle of the season in this, The Year of the Heavy, before saying that Lefty "may not have the best scheme."
Never count your chickens before they hatch but...... fuck ya!
Franklin is killing it on the recruiting trail, it would be a major testament to this staff if they can steal a 4* QB from Pennsylvania away from PSU
Especially since Hackenberg may very well be in the NFL by 2016.
I dunno. I think Hackenberg's senior year Penn State will finally be Bowl Eligible. Wouldn't surprise me if he wants to lead them to a title.
Very true - even if he does stay for his senior year, that would still be an attractive school for McIlwain, seeing that he would be able to learn under a potentially great QB in Hackenberg for a year.
EDIT: Not implying that he should go to Penn State as he would be a great fit for us, just saying that Penn State is attractive - hence why Penn State is on his list.
Or he could come to Blacksburg to learn from a potentially great OC/QB-guru and have an anually top 5 defense to back him up as he progresses
Hey look, no tOSU, Bama, or FSU...so we've got that going for us.
True. But the ol' Ball Coach is a wiley coyote indeed, could be interesting.
Hopefully he looks at the recent success of Connor Shaw and Stephen Garcia ...
The Amish and their pitchforks may keep Saban away from this one...
It's not close enough for signing day yet. OSU will jump in late to try and steal.
The biggest competition on that list are USCe and Penn State. Gotta keep recruiting this kid hard and selling it to him. Especially since 2016 will be when Brewer is gone. Assuming that he's our starting QB this year and next, there will be another battle for that spot in 2016.
no doubt.
But, unless I see McIlwain's game wrong VT may be a better fit for a mobile QB.
(Depends on how our offense shapes up of course.)
Understandable, but all I've heard is that he's pretty high on USCe. 2016 is a long ways away though.
Brandon would make a great QB if QB doesnt work out.