I've decided to commit to Florida State University #GoNoles #FearTheSpear #FSU— Darvin L. Taylor II (@DT2_28) August 28, 2014
Thomas Dale had been a Hokies pipeline (Desmond Frye, DJ Reid, and C.J. Reavis in the last 3 classes), but Taylor opted for FSU. It's not a devastating loss, VT needs ends more than tackles this class and already has DTs Harry Lewis and Eric Whitehead onboard. However, perception wise it's a blow, and Taylor is a good looking prospect.
Shane Beamer isn't having a lot of success in Richmond this recruiting cycle.
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Not surprised at all, but it would of been real nice to get him, you can never have enough lineman, DL or OL.
Stings a little, but good luck to you, Darvin Taylor!
The recent news of Tabyus being a long shot to end up in Blacksburg after his prep year probably didn't help our chances too much.
No relationship, believe you are thinking of Darrell Taylor.
Ah, you are correct sir. My apologies
This is the first i'm hearing of this...what's the deal with Tabyus?
Didn't qualify and went to a JuCo in Pennsylvania, I believe
Dang...i thought he went to FUMA or somewhere....that's a bummer....
That's too bad. Best of luck to him
No real surprise here. Good luck to Darvin at FSU, hopefully we'll be seeing him and his teammates in due time in Charlotte (and hopefully handing them a loss).
What can you do, hope it works out for Darvin. I was hoping his friendship with CJ and the lore of early playing time would get his commitment. Especially with all the DT commits FSU has gotten in the last two years.
thanks goodness Josh Sweat is still available.
Sweat is a DE, Taylor is a DT.
everyone knows Josh Sweat can play multiple positions. He is a freakish athlete disguised as DE.
I can hear the E$PN announcers now...
"Lining up at defensive end for the Hokies is 5* recruit Josh Sweat, the converted DT/TE/QB/ILB/OLB/P/K/WR/RB/OT/Coach/Trainer/Popcorn Vendor. VT really has a reputation for switching kids away from the natural positions, don't they?"
We'd have to watch out at how many positions we put him at- he's so fast that he could end up sacking himself on a few plays...
I was watching the SEC/ESPN movie the believer last night. Didn't know Spurrier had been the kicker and the qb. This comment reminds me of that.
Sounds like a future TE...I mean QB.
Yeah but DT won't be one of them IMO.
If you went by 247, the writing on the wall has been there for quite a while. We were the leaders early on, but its been all FSU since they won the BCS title. We never really had a shot.
Yeah Taylor grew up an FSU fan and always wanted to play there.
Down vote if you will, but Shane Beamer has been underwhelming since he arrived in Blacksburg. I know a lot goes into the Running game (i.e. O-line) but look at the Run game since he took responsibility of it. He keeps teasing at who will dress and who will get carried and ONCE AGAIN, this year it looks like we are going to have the "Run by committee". Don't take this as an attack, I'm just a frustrated but hopeful fan. I will be at the Ohio State game with a group of fello Hokies cheering as loud as ever but Shane needs to step up. He hasn't lived up to his "HYPE" in recruiting he had coming from USCs. Richmond is VERY deep in RIVALS 100 talent and we have been terrible this year in getting local talent.
I know I will get some backlash but facts don't lie. Since he took over Run game its been a disaster.
Yep. Stiney has done his job in the 757 this year. Shane has underwhelmed in the 804 to say the least.
So breaking the total yards rushing record at virginia tech is undergwhelming?
EDIT: I know 2011 was Shanes first year as RB coach but I credit 4 SENIOR O-lineman and DW for that. Not sure if you remember but rumors were floating around that DW might have transferred from VT as he hadn't got much Playing time before the 2011 season, due to RMFW and Darren Evans.
He's talking about about David Wilson.
I don't think you can praise the OL when our running game performs well, and then blame Shane for when our running game performs poorly. That's all I'm saying. While DW was an exceptional talent, JC is clearly not in the same atmosphere. I think the sample size is a little too small to start pointing gingers at Shane. If he can't succeed with the influx of talent this year, then I will agree there is an issue.
pointing gingers? Is that like directing gingers in his direction to eat his soul? That's a whole new level of...I don't know what...
Hahahaha that's one of the better typos I think I've ever made. Not even going to edit it.
No one will deny your pussy touchdowns.
i KNEW this was coming. Greatest typo of ALL TIME
But was it REALLY a typo? Having experienced it live in person, it was definitely one of the funniest episodes of TKP of all time. It was almost more of a drunken rant gone wrong. Any chance we can track that one down? Is the author still in the boards?
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/42858#comment-42858
I mean, what could he/she have possibly been trying to type out when that typo/auto-correct was made?
My best guess is it was intended to be "But I'm not denying it, my point is that scoring touchdowns..."
I believe he said he was typing from his phone at which point it was determined that if it was autocorrected to "pussy" then he must use that word a lot.
Maybe the OP was a she?
In fact, if that was the case, it makes the whole thing even more
To answer the second part of your question I believe KennyHokie was one of the few to meet the fate of the BanHammer.
Joe's Gallagher!
I saw Pussy Touchdowns open for Three Non-Blondes at the Berlin Kit Kat Club in 1993.
I believe Angela Merkel was their agent.
The only problem I have with your argument against Shane is that you won't credit him for a great year because there was a great OL but you will fault him for a crappy run game behind an atrocious OL?
I think the issues with the run game were a direct reflection of the issues with the program and the run game is where the symptoms presented themselves. There are 11 guys on the field, a Head Coach, OL Coach, TE Coach, OC, QB Coach, and RB Coach all needing to be in sync for the run game to work. Simply putting at the feet of the RB coach is a little short sighted given all the issues we've had with most, if not all, of those people.
Does Shane have something to prove? I believe so. The RB rotations have been bad. I think this year will tell us a lot since he has talent in the backfield that we haven't had since DW left and we will see how he manages that.
I'll just say this... One of our BIGGEST problems at RB since Shane came in has been the noticeable lack of a power back. We need a bruiser like Humes or Evans who can just pound the ball all game long through the hole and drag a pile for the 3 tough yards a play to wear down the defense to open everything else up. I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything that David Wilson, Trey Edmunds, and JC Coleman bring to the team, but none of them fill this role, and as a whole, our offense has taken a big hit. Thankfully, it appears this issue was addressed with the most recent recruiting class, so we should very quickly see a return to the hard-nosed, run the ball down your throat offense we're used to. I suspect, by the end of the year, and certainly into the next few, this perception of Shane as a coach of RBs will shift fairly dramatically.
Agreed 100%. Although with all due respect to Trey and JC, Wilson was on another level compared to them. It does appear that Shai and Juice have a good chance to be the RBs Shane is looking for.
Good post, Hokiejoe87. I'm not saying I agree, but you presented a criticism tactfully and were not barraged by downvotes, which is good on TKP.
Make a post like that elsewhere and it's like:
I have a couple of thoughts on this. Yes, I've been frustrated by the weird decisions made in the run game in the last few years and the lack of production, but there's a bit more nuance to it. 2011 was awesome because we had an O-line that could do enough to open holes (despite He Who Must Not Be Named as a coach) and a ridiculous athlete in DW4 and proven receivers that stretched the field, but then the drop-off for 2012 was massive. That's not all on Shane, though. That's bad recruiting before he got here. Our top rushers (after LT3) were JCC (true Fr that year), Tony Gregory (oft-injured), Michael Holmes (kicked off the team after that year), and Martin Scales. It's not like Shane and Co. had world-beaters right there. Last year, we relied on a banged up group, with JCC dealing with a nasty double high-ankle sprain for most of the year, with Trey seeing his first field experience, all behind an O-line that was getting their first real coaching at the collegiate level. Trey got much better as the year went on. We also had ZERO fumbles by the RBs last year for the first time probably ever; that's good coaching. Even Billy Hite basically said there's not much an RB coach can actually do ("you can't teach fast" or something like that).
The intangibles that Shane brings are big. He was (AFAIK) the first of our coaches to ever utilize social media as a platform to gain visibility among recruits and promote our program, in general. He could connect in a way that our aging staff could not. Now there's a youth movement in our program, and all of our coaches (save the big man himself) are on Twitter and are using it as a tool to promote VT. That makes a huge difference, one that may not be obvious or quantifiable.
Sure, he may be having a rough time in the 804 right now, but is that really a fair metric? We're pulling in a lot of guys we want from all over the place right now. We just had the best recruiting year in recent memory, and we're in the thick of it for a lot of good prospects in the class of 2015.
tl;dr - Sure, questions remain about in-game coaching and such, but a lot of Shane's contributions remain hard to quantify.
Outstanding post, excellent points all around. The highlight for me is Shane's emphasis on getting with the times with recruiting. He's out there in cyberworld, and he's bringing VT with him. Someone may comment on the results not being all they want them to be, but for the love of...
At least he has us level with what our competitors are doing in that area now.
Give him credit where it's due, the running game was great in 2011 and up until this cycle, he's been an ace on the recruiting trail. The running game was anemic in 2012 and 2013 and the running back play was part of the problem. Talent is no longer the problem in the backfield. As for Richmond this cycle, I'm not sure how we missed out on these top guys there. I do believe Shane is a good recruiter, but it still remains it's a thing that's happened.
I just want VT to have a stronger presence in 804 Richmond. UVA has a huge Billboard in downtown. VT needs to pour money into the 757 and 804 to sell our Program to these kids from a young age.
VT IS pouring money into the 757, not really sure about the 804 however.
UVA, downtown Richmond:
They've got a billboard, we've got a Cup.
Honestly, the Mike London sales pitch is going to die out in no time. Even UVA is advertising on its own website that they're selling fewer season tickets than ever.
Ehhh, I think VT spends as much time as they need to in the 804 already. I grew up in Richmond and went to Hermitage HS (graduated in '06), which has produced a lot of great football talent - Shawn Barber, Jamie & Darren Sharper (I know, I know), Duane Brown, Fontel Mines (ended up at UVA) and more recently, Curtis Grant & Derrick Green. In other sports, Chris Copeland & Queen Harrison are also alums. Off topic a little, Queen is one of the most down to earth people I've ever met for someone who has world class talent - we graduated the same year and it's also kinda cool to say you were in the same government class senior year. Anyway...
Historically, the thing about the 804 (hell, pretty much all of VA) is that top talent doesn't stay in state. Really, it's a few schools in the area that pipeline their guys to VT, like Highland Springs that produced Macho Harris. Macho is one of the few exceptions of a top recruit who stayed in state and he was a huge get for the Hokes. He put on one of the greatest individual performances I'd ever seen in person during the VHSL playoffs against Hermitage - in the 4th quarter when they were down, Highland Springs put him as the sole guy behind center, direct snapped him the ball and he ran wild despite the defense knowing exactly what was coming. It took a goal line stand for Hermitage to pull off the win there, but Macho still ended up with over 200 rushing yards in that game I think.
But to sum it up, I don't think that having an increased presence in the area will change much - really, it's up to VT to become a perennial national championship contender. Only then will all the top guys in-state consider staying, but it's still not a given. Being 3-3.5 hours from home may still be too close for some guys, and you're never going to change that as an influencing factor.
Shane has not done too well this year but just to play devils advocate he has landed the following that will play this year: shai, cj reavis, nigel williams, deon clarke, augie conte, Jonathan McLaughlin, joel caleb, & desmond frye. Potential major contributors in 1-2 years: Holland Fisher, Raymon Minor, & DJ Reid
Yes, and even though this is awhile ago, he did coach Lattimore at USCe.
Shane may of help recruit Lattimore but wasn't the RBs coach at USCe.
So he had zero part in his training or development?
It's likely he had no role whatsoever in his coaching and development. Shane was the recruiting coordinator as well as the coach of the "Spurs" and safeties for their defense and their Special Teams Coordinator. He also coached CBs and OLBs, but never anything on the offensive side of the ball after he left Mississippi State.