I heard on the J. D. Howell podcast that Holland Fisher may have trouble with his academic eligibility. He might be pulling a prep year (a la Drew Harris). Anyone know anything about this?
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The podcast: http://podcast.espnblacksburg.com/010213-Hour21.mp3
Yeah, that's been the scuttlebutt for a while now.
Another reason to push hard for Malcolm Cook, the uva soft-commit now visiting VT. He's good Fisher insurance. And people have really raved about Cook's abilities after his year in prep.
Speaking of which...
what happened with Drew Harris? Did he qualify and enroll at VT? Heard if we doesn't he'll have to JUCO...meaning we won't see him in a VT uniform (as we don't take JUCO transfers who didn't qualify earlier).
Are you sure about that?
I know if it happens, it is very rare, but I remember talking to one of Tyrod's receivers from high school, Todd Nolen, he didn't have the grades but the coaches apparently told him if he went to FUMA and met the eligibility requirements his offer would still stand.
Only problem was, he just never quite got the grades he needed to be eligible.
FUMA isn't a JUCO
FuMA and Hargraves are prep schools, you go there to increase your SAT so you can get in with your HS GPA (or vice versa, I can never keep it straight which one of those you can improve on). That's what Harris has been doing, but if doesn't get the SAT score, he will need to go JUCO (mostly schools in Kansas, Mississippi or California) which means he can't get in at VT because he will lack the HS GPA and SAT.
Gotcha...
didn't fully understand the distinction. I still find it difficult to believe that there are schools that have a much lower academic standard for incoming athletes than we do...
It is not a very clear area.
But I have gleaned two things over the years of following recruiting:
1. Because we are a "technical" school, we have an extra math requirement than most colleges. I think kids need to have passed Algebra to get in. This cost us Knowshon Moreno, who was ready to commit to us until Kevin Rogers informed him of this the night before his decision.
2. We have a standard that says if you can't get in out of HS (or prep school), you can't get in. I'm not sure how rare that is, maybe it's ACC wide. You don't see many JUCO's in ACC, and you can be a JUCO who could have got in with HS scores, maybe you went JUCO because you didn't have the recruiting interest you wanted. UNC, for instance, had Sylvester Williams as their big DT this year who was a JUCO kid, but only played one year of HS ball. He may have had the grades to get in, but nobody recruited him so he went JUCO. So maybe the JUCO rule is ACC wide...
i think that not taking JUCO kids is more of a philosophy, not a rule. If it were a rule, VT/ACC would have a policy for ALL sports, not just football.
James Griffin Good, Big Jimmy Williams Bad
Ricky Hall may have been JUCO, too. Just depends on a need, mutual interest, and a right fit.
And to clarify a little more on prep vs. JUCO.........you don't lose eligibility at prep schools like at JUCO. Prep is like an extra year of HS.......that costs a lot of money. JUCO is cheap. I could be wrong, but I think the price to take classes at a junior college is just a little bit more than community college.
I would love to know (or maybe I don't) how some kids afford prep schools, and why some kids have a huge change of heart after they go to prep school, qualify for the school they are prepping for, and then sign with.......I dunno.......a UNC or Klempson........pretty sure there are some examples of that......
I think prep schools have significant financial aid.
all those troubled rich kids are paying for all the football players.
Kevin Macadam was a JUCO as well, but I think he was also a HS qualifier.
ACC Rule On Nonqualifiers
Here are the rules on nonqualifiers, which would apply to most, if not all, JUCO players:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/acc/genrel/auto_pdf/ACCEligibilityRu...
I believe they also briefly talked about him, and my understanding is that he has qualified. I have high hopes for him. Still, everyone seems to believe Trey Edmunds will be the one that really stands out. Coleman, Edmunds, and Harris are probably the only 3 backs we'll need in any rotation. We might consider relegating some of the other HBs to Special Teams or other roles.
I predict we will see a lot of Coleman lined up in the slot next year to make up for the fact that we have more playmakers at the RB position than we need. Coleman would be effective on jet sweeps and screens if there was effective OL and WR blocking in front of him. With DJ Coles back, it could work. All of that depends on what kind of OC we get and what kind of offense he runs.
Coleman
Although he's not as fast or dynamic, JC could be used alot like De'Anthony Thomas was used for Oregon this year--out of the slot, kickoffs, and getting 10 carries a game. He's too small to get more carries than that and be effective I think.
The only way I see something different is if we have effective blocking from the OL. His speed would be a nice wrinkle to catch teams flatfooted. Or he needs to bulk up more. Unfortunately, his frame can't hold much more weight while keeping the speed.
I never understand this sentiment
"He's too small to get more carries than that and be effective I think."
There are backs his size all over the place that are really, really effective. His biggest comp to me is Dion Lewis, recently of Pitt. Behind a big OL, a small back can be very effective. Lewis is 5'8", 195. Maybe JCC is 5'7", 190. Lewis is currently on the Eagles roster.
I've got two thoughts on JCC:
1. He was really poorly utilized this year. His inexperience didn't help, but we didn't commit to him. I thought the problem was that he DIDN'T get 10+ carries a game.
2. He's not Dion Lewis. Again, inexperienced, but maybe his skill just isn't good enough. Many times he fell at first contact, he failed to push for that extra yard for a first down, he ran into the back of one of his (non) blockers.
JCC may never turn out to be anything at VT, but that is probably due to Edmunds/Harris or our inability to commit to JCC or JCC's skill level.
It will not be due to his size.
Think Jaquizz Rogers while he was at Oregon State
Agreed. I think JCC would be a great fit in the slot and as a change-of-pace back, especially with our potential RB corps. next year.
O'Cainspring took a lot of criticism (warranted, no doubt) for the plays they called (overuse of the WR screen knowing the wideouts can't/don't block, running plays off the wrong tackle/guard with the wrong RB, etc.) but more glaring to me is the plays they didn't call. In my recollection, about 75% of the time we ran a jet sweep to Marcus Davis, one of the fastest and definitely the most athletic player on the team, we'd gain at least 8 yards. However, the play was ran maybe once or twice per game, if that. Moreover, often we'd run the play with Dyrell Roberts instead of MD7 and see little to no gain.
I know how the readers of this site and most Hokie fans feel about our current offensive playcallers and hopefully Coach Beamer will make the right changes. Maybe next year with a good blocking WR like DJ Coles on the field, we can run JCC or Demitri Knowles on the Jet Sweep and have success with it.
UA All American Bowl
I heard that Fisher was one of the top performers through the week. Also, Fuller and Teller are playing right now on NBC. Both in black - Fuller #5 and Teller #57.
They had a story on Fuller during one of the commercial breaks. He received Army Bowl Defensive Player of the Year honors!
Can't wait to see him unleashed by us!