Rising senior OLB Tavante Beckett of Chesapeake's Indian River HS has been hoping for a Hokies offer for months now, but he could scarcely believe his ears when one finally came his way.
Both Bryan Stinespring and Bud Foster came by his school in person on Tuesday to give him the good news, and it seems the exchange left him a bit dumbfounded.
"I was just so surprised, I looked over at my coach like 'huh,'" Beckett said. "He just goes 'you know that means they're offering right?' I was just so happy, I couldn't believe it."
Blessed To Say I Have Received An Offer from Virginia Tech Today #HokieNation pic.twitter.com/ipmFn4hzDh— Tay (@Tavante4) May 5, 2015
Beckett has long considered Tech one of his favorite programs given the school's stellar reputation in the Tidewater region, and his visit to the team's Junior Day on February 7 only confirmed that belief.
The Hokies had long hinted that an offer was forthcoming, but Beckett admits he was getting a little impatient with anticipation.
"Virginia Tech has always been one of my favorites, but the wait got to me a little bit," Beckett said. "But there's no love lost there, I still really like them."
The fact that both Stinespring and Foster made the effort to come and see him to make the offer in person helped smooth over whatever tension might've existed between the two sides.
"I didn't know what an honor it was to have Coach Foster be there for the offer until later, that was a really big deal to me," Beckett said.
He says the pair made it perfectly clear that the team is ready to start aggressively pursuing linebackers in the 2016 class, and they're hoping he'll join Victor Greene as the second OLB to commit this cycle.
"They say they're starting to offer a lot of linebackers, and they're hoping to get more people on board and fill some of these open spots," Beckett said.
As he starts to ponder the prospect of grabbing one of those spots, he first took the opportunity to share the news about the new offer with his friends currently playing for the Hokies.
While he's since transferred to Indian River after a sudden move, Beckett has longstanding ties to Tech players like J.C. Coleman and Jaylen Bradshaw from his days on the field with them at Oscar Smith HS. Beckett says they were relieved to hear that their team is finally making their interest in the rising senior official.
"They were all just like 'yes, finally,'" Beckett said. "They really want me there with them, and they always said they knew it was coming."
YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM TURRRNNNNTTTTT! BEEN WAITING ON THIS DAY! https://t.co/GOjC9chYp9— J.C. Coleman (@jc_coleman4) May 5, 2015
They're apparently not alone in that respect.
"There were a lot of people in this area that think it was about time that I got (a Tech offer)," Beckett said. "A lot of them think that now that I have it, I'm going to commit, but I'm not ready yet."
But with the spring evaluation period still ongoing for schools around the country, Beckett says he's hoping to wait a bit and see what other interest materializes before making any final decisions.
So far, Delaware and Marshall are his only other offers, but Beckett feels confident that more are coming soon.
"Lots of colleges are coming by these days, and lots seeing my film, and they might not take as long to offer, so I just want to see what happens," Beckett said.
To fend off the advances of Beckett's other potential suitors, the Hokies are hoping to get him back on campus as soon as possible. While a summer visit doesn't seem to be in the cards for Beckett, he says he's absolutely ready to catch some games at Lane Stadium this season.
"They told me they'd let me know when I can get back there, but I'm ready to go," Beckett said. "I really want to see J.C. and Bradshaw practicing out there, checking out the old teammates at a couple games this season. Plus the atmosphere is so crazy there, I love it."
With an offer now in hand, Beckett says the process of planning those visits and the rest of his recruitment process feels considerably less taxing.
"It was really tough and stressful, and everybody saw how it was affecting me, but now I'm just so grateful to have (the offer)," Beckett said.
Comments
Eagle 19, this is base, please check in.
Eagle 19!?
Eagle 19, do you copy?
(Eagle 19): Mommy?
....I don't get it?
When i posted that there was a pic of him planting Eagles player number 19 with a perfect form tackle.
Oh I didn't even put 2 and 2 together. Haha.
"Stressful wait" and then does not even know for sure that he wants to come here sounds a bit dubious to me. So basically a typical 16/17 year old, has no clue what they want...
You make it sound like that's a bad thing..
"Beckett feels confident that more are coming soon"
Well since VT offered a defensive player you know the other offers will be flooding in now..
We are just now starting to pursue 2016 lbs? Did I read that correctly? This recruiting shtick is really strange to me. I have followed our recruiting for a long time and it never gets less confusing on our tactics. Almost seems we turned this kid off.
no we are sending out the next batch of offers since the ones originally offered aren't considering us, committed to us, or committed elsewhere.
I believe I read that VT has more than 100 offers out right now for 2016 -- and 20 or so scholarships. Unfortunately there are plenty of kids lower on the totem pole (or not at all on the totem pole) that would love to get a VT offer. Those kids get their offers later in the game when the kids higher on the totem pole appear to be headed elsewhere. It's nice to sign kids that also have VT as their dream school, but the mission is to win football games not make every kids' dreams come true.
There's nothing new about this or unique to VT (or even football) about it. It's called life.
Totally agree with what you described. Was mainly questioning the statement he made that our coaches said we are just now pursuing 2016 lbs. I can't hardly believe that to be totally true. I'll just have one bourbon, one scotch and one beer and think about that glorious can of dork magic that will be openers on the scarlet and gray.
That doesn't mean they are just now pursuing linebackers. It means that up until this point, they were pursuing linebackers selectively rather than aggressively.
They've got offers out to over 100 kids. I doubt they forgot about linebackers.
they seem to have forgotten about DE's
That stood out to me. Confused by the "might not take so long to offer." Technically speaking, any other school that might offer took longer than we did. Hard to expect a school to just hand out offers to 2016 prospects right away...unless its the SEC where they can just take it back later.
Time to offer means time in between initial contact, and the offer. Not just a chronological timeline of who offered first.
I understand that. Just doesn't seem right since we are the first power 5 team to offer. Others schools will see we offered and pay him more attention. They also will have a better grasp on their needs at linebacker by the time they make initial contact. We might have taken a while to offer, but 2016 is a good ways away right now.
It just sounds like if say Clemson realizes they missed on some linebackers 5 months from now and then gives him an offer the next day, he would be more impressed.
Regardless, I have 0 control over the mind of a teenager and I should stop reading into it and go get some work done.
He's very patient and smart on his highlights.
Making tackles in space, one-on-one is a tough job for a LB.
But he waits like a snake until he senses it's time to strike and then 'BOOM.'
I saw him play quite a bit last year and he has very good instincts. I was wondering why his offer list wasn't bigger earlier!
His list was short because we hadn't offered him yet. Let's see what happens now, when the other D recruiters take notice, uncoil and strike.
I like how he hits people and then they stop going forward.
You are right. Or backwards.
Looks like he plays with a touch of Nasty when it comes to laying the wood. VT needs a few like him...
Damn! That dude is nasty. He plays with attitude and arrives at the football with bad intentions. "I block kicks too" made me literally lol.
I like his cover skills and ball instincts. He plays the run like a linebacker and the pass like a safety. Perfect against the read option everyone is going to. He might be a little short to be a traditional outside LB, a little small for the middle, and not fast enough to be a safety but he has good qualities of all 3. im sure they can make him successful, if anyone can its Bud.
Did someone say undersized, versatile linebacker?
*Bud pops out from behind a bush*
Kid is real...
The offers have started rolling in.. Wiscy and ECU. Maybe his stress will go away now? ;)
These recruit updates are great! I literally NEVER go to TSL anymore. There is no point to it.
One suggestion: at the end of the update, maybe list school, height, weight, 40 time, other offers.