Josh Sweat, the No. 5 ranked prospect in the 2015 ESPN 300, plans to announce his decision the first week in December at Oscar Frommel Smith High in Chesapeake, Virginia.
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/on-the-trail/post/_/id/610...
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From purely a fan's perspective I'm feeling really good about our chances with Sweat. Hopefully Dalton commits a week from today and then December starts as well as November started recruiting wise...
Unfortunately, FSU fans seem to be pretty confident he will sign with them. I suspect it is only because of how well they've been recruiting their D-line. You are right though, I feel pretty confident he will end up as a Hokie.
I'd say it's about 50/50 right now. #Sources say VT is the team to beat, but visits are gonna be huge.
I was disappointed when he could make his initial visit, but I think it's worked out seeing as we have the final visit on his calendar. I think that can be pretty huge.
Picture this:
- Sweat signs with VT
- Crablegs Winston comes back next year.
- VT plays FSU in ACC Ship
- Sweat sacks Winston 8 times
- VT Wins
- Sweat and Dalton eat crablegs for celebration dinner.
FSU is already setting themselves up to kick out Winston with his hearing as soon as the playoffs are over. They can only take so much embarrassment from him. Cover ups only go so far. He is gone after this year.
He is withdrawing the day after the the season ends. They wont have to kick him out.
Does their national title come into play too?
Considering our history with DL recruits of this caliber, I'm going to have to remain in "hope for the best, expect the worst" mode...
I think sweat is waiting for other recruits. It feels like Dominoes are set up...
It feels like this is a middle school dance and all the recruits are waiting for one of the others to be the first to make a move. I was hoping the Austin Clark flip would be the first domino to topple the rest. Hopefully Dalton or Sweat picks us early in December and opens the floodgates on a great recruiting year.
Dalton makes his decision known next Thursday.
Josh Sweat would be a great early Christmas gift to Hokienation.
I'm not sure if I can take another big time recruit seeming to be leaning towards us only to flip to FSU lat in the process. *eyes cut towards Derrick Nnadi.
Considering Sweat is a better player than Nnadi, it would be sweet, to say the least.
Fixed that. I know it's easy to have some bitterness toward Nnadi, but dude has gotten playing time at FSU and has looked very, very good early in his career.
yeah, time to let it go people. He picked another school. Best of luck to him.
I stand by what I said.
Nnadi, while a very, very good player and would have been a great get for us, was only a 4* recruit.
Sweat has been ranked as the #1 recruit in the nation all along for this class.
This isn't saying Nnadi sucks, its just saying that while he's a great player, my opinion is that Sweat is better.
Fair enough. At this point it's a matter of opinion either way. My viewpoint is that Sweat, even as the #1 overall recruit, earned that distinction playing against high school competition AND he recently suffered a significant injury from which we do not know how he will recover. His potential is huge, no doubt, but it's still just potential. On the other hand, Nnadi is already having a fair amount of success playing at the NCAA level for the #2 ranked team in the country.
Is that YOUR opinion or is it your confirmation of others' opinions?
Sweat certainly has more potential than Nnadi. As important and good as Nnadi was coming out, Sweat has the potential to be an all-time great pass rusher. Pop in the tapes and look at the results of some recent DEs in the same mold.
Do you mean to compare Sweat to Hand and not Nnadi? Nnadi was recruited as a DT I believe but not sure where he is lining up for FSU though. Sweat would make more of an impact at VT than Nnadi, I do agree.
As many recruits as we are still in the running for (Dalton, Sweat, Settle, Deberry, among others) and those that we wish we could flip (Toliver, Alexander, et al) the numbers are going to get very interesting. If those guys that we want commit, don't be surprised to see the negative side of recruiting happen to us. While I don't think we will pull an offer, we might ask someone to greyshirt that doesn't want to and see them commit elsewhere.
How about we deal with that when we cross that bridge? For now, the team needs talented recruits to compete in the ACC. Teams like FSU, Clemson, etc. always make room for star recruits. Thats why they have been going to BCS bowls while others go to lowly bowl games.
Dalton, Sweat, Settle, Deberry - if we get any two of those guys I will be ecstatic, if we get 3 or all 4 I might not be able to contain myself. The coaches can figure out how to make room when and if it becomes an issue - No worries there.
Here's hoping for a great finish to what is already a solid recruiting class!
For starters, I'd be shocked if we landed Deberry. But we'll have enough guys prepping and enrolling early that the numbers will work out just fine. The numbers always work out.
I'd be shocked if we landed many of those players, whether we are the favorite or not at the moment. Recruiting is an unpredictable thing. Regardless, we currently have 21 commitments. Numbers work out, but as often as people say, "Man, I'm glad we don't play with recruits like that" when looking at the conditional offers and pulled offers, I won't be shocked to see a player or two decommit if we end up with 25 commitments.
I think out of the 4, DeBerry is the one we have the smallest chance of landing.
But its not nothing. Especially if we get Sweat/Dalton/Settle and maybe a Tolliver or GTaylor. DeBerry may want to join that group.
I'm interested to see if we get a visit from former Michigan commit Kirkland. He liked us last summer and he just scheduled visits to UT and Ole Miss. We could use a MLB.
Would Deberry be a DE or LB?
I feel great about Dalton. Perfect fit, and UNC's defensive approach doesn't empower defensive ends the way it used to or the way the Hokies defense allows them to use their speed as playmakers.
There has been so little talk about Sweat since the injury (at least in the Virginia Tech-related media scope) that I just get the feeling he is going elsewhere. I don't have any information at all- but it just seems like the lack of chatter means focus is elsewhere. I certainly hope I am wrong.
For the first time in a long time, I hope French is wrong. Sweat would be a great weapon in the Battle Of Bristol.
Honestly I feel a lot better about Sweat now than I did at the end of the summer. The lack of chatter, IMO, is a good thing for VT.
I feel good because it's Oscar Smith.
I haven't heard anything about Sweat from anywhere
Sounds like his recruitment took a back seat during the initial stages in the recovery from his injury. I don't view this as either a good or bad thing for VT. What I do consider to be a good thing, though, is that he's deciding in about a month, and we're his last visit.
Has there really been talks about him regarding any other schools though? Haven't heard much from his side at all as of late.
We need to get Ken Ekanem talking to him. If I remember correctly, we were the first school to show our faith in him after his injury and things turned out pretty ok there..
I assumed the lack of chatting is a good thing since he's visiting elsewhere and then VT last. Id rather it be left as he was leaning here then have him visit here last
Sweat has been quiet on all fronts since his injury. Focused on rehab and catching up on schoolwork after missing a week of class. He and his family have the right priorities in life IMO.
I think it's big for us that we get the last visit.
as for #'s
We only had 23 enrollees for 2014, so at a minimum we can count 2 early 2015 enrolles toward the 2014 class. Plus a few of the 2014 class were also early enrollees who counted back towards 2013. So we're really looking at 5+ '2014' slots being available for early enrollees in this class.
That means a theoretical max of 30 or so 2015 recruits, as long as at least 5 are EE. Right now we have 21 commits, and of those there's a couple of them that might not end up here because of academics. There's also a guy in the uncommited group who might have to prep. So even if we get commits from all of our remaining top targets: Dalton, Sweat, Gaines, Settle, G Taylor, a JUCO OL, and flip V. Alexander that's only going to put us at a class of about 25-26 players.
Beyond the class-by-class limits there's the 85 overall limit to deal with, but I don't have the time at the moment to look into those #'s.
But, it is certainly reasonable to expect some attrition to go along with the senior class. Scholarships will be open.
My biggest worry is that all the talent this cycle is going to defense except OL, Cunningham, and Burke (and I wouldn't be shocked if Burke ended up on D.) I don't think the offense is DEEP enough at the skill position to not have talented guys coming in and pushing Hodges, Ford, and Phillips. I think there is significant pressure on Bradshaw and Holland to make an impact next season, especially with Parker, Stanford, and Knowles all kind of taking a step back this year.
Don't forget about McClease who is a RB.
I completely agree with the D vs. O recruiting. I also feel as though the staff must like what they saw out of some of the younger skill position guys on O.. I think that they like some of the athletes but wanted them to benefit from red shirting. I don't know how true it is but I've heard that Kendrick and Bradshaw and few others ( i think TM) look pretty good. Maybe some TKPers have more info on that.
yeah, it would be nice if this class was more balanced. But I love that we are making up ground on the OL & DL.
I guess Cager (WR) is still a take, but it doesn't really seem like we're going to be one of his finalists, so we're probably only looking at the current 4 skill players on O. I think Taybus Taylor plays LB for us (if he makes it on campus) but he's a potential RB, and Edmunds could possibly grow into a TE.
TE Burke
WR/TE Cunningham
WR/RB Fox
RB McLease
Bud's pretty high on Littlest Edmunds playing backer.
When was the last time we had a Backer who was 6'4" - 6'5", 230 - 245lb? A guy that size who can play the position the way Foster expects would be awesome. But I wouldn't give it a 100% chance.
Guarantee Edmunds is a linebacker. And he will be a good one.
I do not think he'd have problems handling or being intimidated by a big RB.
This was my concern going I to this year. Our linebacker corps seems to have been pieced together with walk ons players shuffled from other positions. We have missed on a bunch of good LB from VA for too many years. I can't wait for Edmunds the youngest to suit up.
I think Motuapuaka was a really good get (had a Stanford offer), and Minor was also a big time get. But as you say, there was only one player (Chase Williams) who had any experience and that wasn't much.
Jamieon Moss has been good on special teams coverage as well.
Yes, forgot about him too.... btw walked by him at the preseason event, and there is no way he is the 6-1 listed. More like 6-3 I'd say.
Makes me think it would be nice if Bud could rotate his LBs so back-ups could get more PT.
Still pushing hard on Felton Davis 3. Outside shot at Bryce Love.
I think we need a QB.
Only possible QB commit in this class is Swag Kelly.
Who was seen on twitter recently wearing a VT pullover.
Hadn't seen that, good catch is she part of the deal too?
I put this on another thread:
https://twitter.com/AFC_Nicole/status/530914305362132992
I am unimpressed.
Or Kai Locksley. Either would bring their own drama.
He's not the only one we are working on! We are looking to flip some very good committed guys!
Not true. Rivals reported that we offered 4 star QB/Athlete Jordan FULLER from NJ.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Jordan-Fuller-14...
* Hokies Internet Melts Down
Wait what?!?! Fullers are a big position of need for us in 2016.
Class of 2016
Isn't he class of 2016? Or at least that's what his profile says.
Now apparently the word is that Kelly does not have an offer, at least not until he visits VT.
Where have you seen this? Can you post the link? I'd like to see it too.
I think the attrition may be starting, this tweet does not seem like RVD will be back next semester.
New apartment.
You are jumping quite a few spots to get to the conclusion you've reached.
Moving back into the athletes dorm to be closer to the film and weight rooms?
Considering how offense-heavy last year's class was and how paper thin the defense is this year, I don't see much harm in stocking up on defensive players this year. I think next year we'll see a much more balanced class, probably with just the offensive line taking more than 2 or 3 guys at any one position.
As far as josh goes, I believe if we can land Dalton we will begin to see some major dominos fall. So here's to hoping Wiles is recruiting his arse off right now!
Hopefully Parker makes a big comeback. Most thought he was going to be one of our better receivers coming into the season. If Stanford stays he should get back his form. A player a lot have forgotten about is Kendrick Holland, his tape from HS was very good and he was injured before being able to make a run at playing time. Bradshaw is there as well, it was my opinion he was really going to be a sleeper in last year's class. RB position will be fine, several guys redshirted, McClease is also coming in. And how many will we get back from injury? Line and QB is where we really dont know what we have. Or maybe we do and its not good, not sure.
Did we have a RB redshirting this year? I honestly can't think of any since we burned the shirt on Jerome Wright.
McMillian.
DJ Reid .
Yup, these are all reasons why this is I defense-heavy class
I stand corrected. Reid is very interesting because he would seemingly be a candidate to have seen the field this year given his age after a prep year. I guess he needs more seasoning in pass protections.
It's still difficult for me to wrap my head around how our stable of RBs has dwindled this season. It went from worrying that we had too many for a balanced rotation to wondering who the heck they'd try to put in next at RB.
Apparently Georgia feels good as well. So... basically nobody has any idea and won't until after his official visits.
Same with DeBerry. Long way to go in this next month, big month with Dalton, Sweat, DeBerry, and Settle all reportedly wanting to decide by December 20th.
From what I understand, VT and Georgia are his top two, with FSU not far behind and OSU on the outside looking in.
UVA, you may notice, is nowhere to be found.
I heard thats why most uva fans get the galaxy note or the large iPhone. The larger screen shows all 14 ACC teams, even uva at the bottom
It is nice being able to see VT listed when I look at the ACC Standings on my Note 4
*sigh*
Its like Bizzaro World looking at the standings.
It all has to do with the flipping of the magnetic poles and the alignment of celestial bodies. It has thrown a curse of sorts upon the collegiate athletic landscape. Mississippi schools are good. VT football is struggling while VT basketball has a top 20 class and a bright future ahead. Duke has a 2nd 8 win season in a row to show it isn't a fluke. Florida may win the SEC East and Lane Kiffin is successful. Hell, even in the NFL last night we had a WR punt the ball while playing defense (da fuq?). Some of this stuff is clearly temporary and some of it will be more permanent. Clearly VT football will rebound and Kiffin will falter once again. VT basketball will be more of a successful fixture in the future landscape while Mississippi schools will remember they are, well, Mississippi schools.
I've heard OSU isn't even looking in anymore, but yeah. VT, Georgia, and FSU guys (staffs maybe as well) all feel good about him, even before he takes his officials there...
http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/collegefootball/356555843994/0/col...
Still in lead supposedly
The visits will be huge, but VT has positioned themselves about as well as they possibly could have at this point.
Well, I can think of a few things that we could've done better...
[Edit: just realized that the comment is almost 2 weeks old. Point still stands, though]
For what its worth, I'm starting to hear that Sweat's visit to FSU didn't go as planned, and the feeling in Tally is that he will be committing to and signing with VT shortly.
Don't have a single source to back that up, but its what I'm hearing.
No-source news is my favorite kind of news!
It's that reputable source news crap that always gets us Hokies.
Well my source is telling me that this Offense is struggling. But you gotta take those sources with a grain of salt.
My sources confirmed the same thing
#sourceonatreadmill
Is this better for you?
5-star VA DE who visited FSU alone bringing 7 family members to Virginia Tech visit
Let's add this to the emotional roller coaster of this November.
I find this funny though:
FSU clearly understands that UVA has lost 10 straight to Beamer.
I think they're just admitting what we've all known for a while.... there is only one real program in the Commonwealth, and it resides in Blacksburg.
Is this not mainly because its relatively cheap to get 7 people to VT rather than all the way down to florida?
Either way I'm unfortunately getting optimistic again...
Would FSU not pay for that though? I don't know what is legal or not for the university to do in travel expense, but I would assume they would be covering that.
Yea idk what's permissible with recruiting expenses either. But it seems like FSU definitely has the pockets to foot the bill for 7 if they were allowed to.
IIRC, on an official visit, the school is only allowed to pay for expenses of parents/guardians in addition to the recruit (and even then, I believe the amount they are allowed to spend has a cap). An entourage of 7 would absolutely not be allowed.
Does anyone know why he visited FSU alone?
They were running low on crab legs so they didn't allow him a +1.
Ended up being too far for his family to go. They would have to get up at 2 or 3 AM (he left that morning) or fly, which would've been too expensive for the whole crew to do. Not being able to make a visit that has been scheduled for a while now cannot bode well for them. Seems like they would almost never get to see him play.
If it wa$ about hi$ family not $eeing him play, I am sure the boo$ter$ at F$U would find a way to them to hi$ game$
Are you $ure though?
Neither he nor his family strike me as wanting to play that game, just from what I've read/heard.
Clicked the link, and proceeded to read through some of their comments on Tomahawk Nation just to see their feelings. The comments they made about our program aren't what hurts, what hurts the most is that most of the comments made about the state of our program are fairly accurate and not without merit. Just insult to injury there.
We made the EXACT same comments 3-5 years ago. They struggled but pulled in top ranking class after class. I know VT won't pull in a top 5 class anytime soon, but there is hope that VT can rebound. Although, I think it will take a change in offensive philosophy and better line play.
From ESPN Recruiting trail. Doesn't sound as good for us as what other sites are saying.
I'm sure the losses don't help our case with recruits, but I've got to think that any rising junior or senior in high school looking at the Hokies has to be aware that there is a good chance Beamer will retire before they graduate.
Very interesting, that's not what others are saying at all, including some ESPN guys. Link?
ESPN recruiting is such a joke. OH EM GEE, jimbo is talking to Sweat's mom. No way?!?!?!
I would put more value into what 247 posts.
And that's saying something...
Upvote because regardless of no #sources I need some hope. Hokie Nation needs hope.
Hope you are correct, we need some good news around here.
By soon, I'm assuming you mean when he announces sometime next week?
As bad as this season has been if, albeit a lot of IF's ,but if we can beat UVA and get Sweat I will be feeling a lot better about the future..
If We land him, will that shift your view on removing coaches? Cause I'm sure if Beamer is gone, so is he.
His commitment would be huge perception wise and also give everyone a boost in the "wake" of the last couple weeks which includes losing Dalton. Part of me thinks there is no way he would come here vs Georgia or FSU and we are being set up for another big last minute disappointment. On the other hand UVa has signed some big recruits that you would think they have no chance at given their history.
I am betting he is coming though. He seems like a nice, low key kid who does his own thing and wants to say close to home and feels most comfortable here. I actually think if we need to worry it is about Georgia not FSU.
http://usatodayhss.com/2014/nations-top-recruit-josh-sweat-visiting-flor...
Here's another article about Sweat if anyone is interested. Note even this hints that FSU seems to be behind Tech and UGA...
Well considering my birthday is on December 6 (my 21st actually), a Sweat commitment would probably be the best present I'll receive. So Sweat, the ball is in your court; make it happen!
Yeah, apparently the FSU and Georgia visits were underwhelming, with the FSU visit much more so...
Georgia still feels pretty good, though few feel good for them, and FSU is pretty much clinging to its success as the sole reason for him to go there.
Hope we wow him and put ourselves out front for good.
derrick knadi's father went to tech and derrick was at tech all the time. he still ended up at FSU. I'm going to wait until Sweat signed his LOI before I start yelling GO HOKIES.
I'm pretty sure he plans to enroll in January so I'm sure wherever he delcares to next week will be where he attends.
Once he announces his commitment to VT I will start yelling GO HOKIES because he is one of those guys to make good on their word!
i'm super tired this morning so all i saw was
and got so amped for like half a second.
FWIW, TSL insiders are saying he's a FSU lean right now.
I don't think that's worth anything. They also said we lost Mook. Let things play out
Hokie5284 isn't a TSL insider. Someone just posted what he said on twitter, that's it.
No, they're not. One guy "heard something on twitter" aka, the same Hokie[whatever random numbers go here] guy who said Mook was a lock to flip to Ole Miss is spewing crap again. No idea what he's trying to accomplish, but until someone else comes out with something more substantial, or Sweat actually commits to FSU, I'm not reading into that at all.
Well thats good to hear. Didn't realize the expert was more like an 'expert'
If Chis Coleman, CZY Hokie, Will Stewart, Pete King, or Evan Watkins start saying they're hearing rumors about Sweat leaning a certain way (which they have - VT), then it's time to listen. Until then, all we can do is sit back, yell our butts off at the game, and see where the pieces fall.
Also, everyone going to the game, please yell your butts off a little louder for me, as I'll be "trapped" in CA.... darn.
Glad to hear this. That Hokie#### guy is a blowhard. I'm debating whether he's actually a hokie or a LOLUVA troll...
Definite DB. Been wondering where he gets his Intel. Sadly it seems he has a flock of people that follow him and hang on every word he says.
Seems he may have been on this site at one time. Appears to get blocked a lot, 247 and others too. He definitely hates on TKP.
Iv often thought the dude was the former member with the dreaded Bender avatar and his offensive post, threads, and trolling.
Did you not enjoy being told to bite a hypothetical shiny metal ass on a regular basis?
It's not even that. It's more like "ex spurt".
Do we really need to proliferate rumors and hearsay from other sites just for the sake of it? If it's legitimate, sourced information then it's a different matter, but I don't think TKP is the place to post updates of what another fansite's message board is discussing.
We need Sweat like a fat kid needs a diet... And that is serious! He's an instant game changer immediate starter and should help make our Defense top Top 5-10 next year if we STAY HEALTHY!!!!
Having scoured the internet, what else should I be doing on Thanksgiving, this is the consensus...
He either had a great visit or an underwhelming visit to either FSU or Georgia... or both. So as of now FSU is the leader, or Georgia is the leader, or VT is the leader, or nobody is the leader and it's wide open...
I'm pretty comfortable in saying that I still don't think that anyone has a clue and won't until the morning of his announcement...
This post = college football recruiting. Leg for you.
We gave him a hell of a show. I think...
I dunno about you guys, but smackin the crap outta the opposing QB all night looked pretty darn fun to me.
Every single recruit mom was up and jumping by the fourth quarter of the game tonight.
One was jumping from the start.
#SOURCES
Any updates or insight? It was a great showing from the fan side and team side.
Not only that but again, like the OSU game, it was another great showing by our defense (and DE's especially) in a prime time TV slot. It certainly doesn't hurt. As much trolling was done by the announcers and Bomani Jones on Twitter during the 1st quarter about how bad of a game it was, it turned out to be a damn good game and I'm sure ESPN was glad we got that slot.
"You ever heard of Smith's Landing? Yeah, I got you."
I didn't give you consent to use my tweet! /s
?
/s = end sarcasm
So I guess this turkey leg belongs to you, then
Dang I really rovell'd that.
Seemed like an awesome atmosphere from the pre-game scuffle to the raising of the commonwealth cup.....again. Great showing for his official and last visit.
So, has he officially announced a time and date for decision? I'm already pumped at the possibility!
Early December I believe around December 2nd. but I could be incorrect on that.
You are correct. Sometime next week. At this point, I remain cautiously optimistic but I thing we have a legitimate shot. Have to close.
Last I had heard, he was going to announce on Friday December 5th.