I went down the rabbit hole during lunch today and wound up on the 22 person recruiting class the Hokies signed in 2011 (http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Season/2011-Football/Commits). Only four members established themselves as entrenched starters over their career, and only 5 more have a chance to do so this season. Over half the class is already a bust either because of injury (bust is a harsh way to put it), transfer, legal or on-field performance.
Starter (4)
Kyshoen Jarrett
Corey Marshall
Luther Maddy
Dadi Nicolas
Contributor (4)
Ronny Vandyke
Ryan Malleck (I'm sure I'm going to get flack for listing him here.)
Michael Branthover
Demitri Knowles
Prognosis Inconclusive (2)
Darius Redman
Kevin Asante
Bust (11)
Kris Harley
Boye Aromire
James Farrow
Christian Reeves
Dewayne Alford
Jake Goins
Michael Holmes
Justin Taylor
Robert Lockhart
Chris Hall
Injury (2)
Matt Roth
Michael Cole
Comments
It sucks that. Michael Cole got hurt. He was such a promising player. (Not to mention local).
I have a sad seeing Michael Cole's name on there :-/
When people wonder why VT football fell back as drastically as it did, all you have to do is point towards the debacles that were the 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes to explain why. Can't wait for the fruits of the staffs labors the last couple years to really start showing. We're in for a pretty significant upswing very shortly, and it can't come soon enough.
Kris Harley- man, the kid had talent. It is a shame he couldn't harness it.
always seemed to me like Kris was the type of kid that was a game day performer. He needed to be hungry in a game situation to find success, but otherwise was fairly slack in practice. It's a coaches worst nightmare because you know he has talent but you don't know if you can trust him to perform in the game.
I had that same problem, I just coud not get in the zone for practice. Too many starts and stops and listen to the coach and other mental interruptions.
Once the whistle blew for a game though, the zone was sitting right in my skull.
I was mature enough to talk about with my coach though.
Later he told me he figured out when I was in zone or out, I walked different.
The zone, huh? You mean the....... Danger zone?
Apparently.
He was just way too inconsistent. I remember watching him in a scrimmage. He would make a huge play, and then get wiped out by a 3rd team guard 3 plays in a row. And then someone would chew his butt and he would make another huge play, then right back to being dominated. It was baffling because he was such a perfect fit for the system.
The Highlight of his VT Career:
Wow, photoshop has come a long way. Didn't know they let you do videos now. We definitely didn't play Cincy in 2012.
Could DeWayne Alford make it on the inconclusive list. The guy is #2 on the depth chart ATM or did I miss some news?
EDIT: Did Lockhart ever even sign his LOI? I thought he switched to Miami on NSD. A quick google search shows a Robert Lockhart that went from VT to Miami and is now at Nebraska but says he is a Class of 2014 signee, which would be when he transferred.
He gone
Offensive line. We probably should have tried harder to recruit offensive line.
I'm also pleased that we passed on a QB. No sense wasting a spot on trivial positions.
VT had two sign the year before.
I got it, he was complaining no QB signed that year, I pointed out 2 were signed the year before, so having a year with no QB signing is not some huge issue.
Imagine how it would look if Corey Marshall hadn't done a complete 180...
More than a few people had written him off this time a year ago.
I'd be interested to see the corresponding star ratings for each player coming out of high school added to the OP list. I think Jarrett was a 4* but aren't our other 3 starters either 3* or less?
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Season/2011-Football/Commits
4 Stars
Kris Harley
Kyshoen Jarrett
Corey Marshall
3 Stars
Ronny Vandyke
Christian Reeves
Michael Cole
Jake Goins
Dewayne Alford
Michael Holmes
James Farrow
Boye Aromire
Matt Roth
Robert Lockhart
Chris Hall
Wedley Estime
Michael Branthover
Luther Maddy
Darius Redman
Demitri Knowles
Ryan Malleck
2 Stars
Justin Taylor
Kevin Asante
Probability. It'll get after ya'.
I would consider Malleck a multi year starter. No? Started more than half of the games in 2012, missed 2013, and then started every game he played in as a R-Jr. in 2014. I know Bucky has quickly become "the guy" at TE or in the slot or even split out wide, but as bad as this class hurt us, Malleck would be a starter in my eyes.
Why did you put him only as a contributor, you seemed to know that some people would address that as an issue? Just curious. Thanks for putting the list together.
Yep, Malleck was so important that his injury in 2013 apparently sunk the entire offense.......
To me, Malleck and Hodges play completely different positions. Hodges is a z back/h back. Malleck is a true Y.
I'd put him and Van Dyke under 'injuries' or 'too soon to tell' for this very reason.
I'd also include another longer-term evaluation segment - 'made it to the NFL.' That should wait til after this coming season.
I remember when Boye Aromire was the talk of the VT boards when we got him.
It's the combination of the 2011 and 2010 bust classes that led to our recent demise. The great news is, our 2013-14 classes have contributers galore.