Hokies' Staff Getting an Early Start on 2017 Recruiting Class, Both Up North and Close to Home

The Hokies' 2016 recruiting class may be far from finished, but Tech's staff is still slowly starting to shift their focus toward the new crop of rising juniors.

Over the course of the last month, the team has started sending out a bevy of offers to prospects in the class of 2017, as well as devoting increasing amounts of attention to others that could earn scholarship pledges down the road.

But, at the moment, the team has shifted its focus away from the Commonwealth. Instead, the Hokies have started turning their attention up north to start building relationships with players across the Mason-Dixon line.

To kick off the week, the staff offered a pair of New Jersey prospects that do their work down in the trenches. Center Cesar Ruiz of Camden HS and defensive tackle Fred Hansard of The Hun School, both rated as 4-star prospects by the 247Sports Composite ranking, got the good news from Tech on Monday.

"I'd visited their campus for a Junior Day this winter and I loved it, I've been waiting for an offer from them ever since," Ruiz said.

Ruiz says he was blown away by his visit once he got to campus in February.

"I just thought 'wow, what an amazing school, who wouldn't want to go here?'" Ruiz said. "I could tell you a million things I loved about it, I don't think I could tell you one thing I didn't like."

Ruiz notes that those positive features include Tech's famous architecture and, of course, its food.

"I was really interested in the Hokie Stone, and how every building was made of it," Ruiz said. "The athletics facility, the locker room were both really nice. And I can't forget the food."

Hansard had a similar reaction to earning an offer after his own positive Junior Day experience.

"Their campus was beautiful, the facilities were great, and I've definitely been hearing from them for a while, so it was great to get the offer," Hansard.

For Hansard, the reputation of Tech's defense is what really sold him on the program.

"I know their defenses are unbelievable, and I remember them beating Ohio State," Hansard said. "You always take notice when someone beats a national champion."

Ruiz and Hansard got the news from Cornell Brown and Charley Wiles respectively, and both were quickly pressed by staff to return to campus.

Hansard says he's "definitely" considering camping at Tech this summer, and Ruiz says he's also considering the prospect.

The pair is specifically looking to continue to show off their skills to college coaches entering their junior seasons.

"I have really good upper body strength, on film you always see me drive my man 10 or 15 yards back," Ruiz said. "Whenever we run dives or goal line plays, you'll see them running behind me."

On the defensive side of the line, Hansard says it's his combination of size (he already stands at 6'4" and 310 pounds before his 17th birthday) and quickness that he wants to show the staff.

"I'm really quick for my size and I've got good feet," Hansard said. "Coaches always say it's hard to find guys that move like me at my size."

But the Garden State prospects are hardly the only rising juniors the team's interested in.

In fact, the team's offered a pair of Pennsylvania prospects in recent days, sending an offer out Tuesday to DE Damion Barber of Harrisburg HS and extending an offer to WR/S Paris Ford of Seton-La Salle HS in Pittsburgh.

Offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler led the charge in some of his old stomping grounds from his Temple days, seeking out Ford's coach to personally extend an offer.

"It was so crazy, my blood was rushing," Ford said. "It was so great to be offered personally by Coach Loeffler like that."

While Ford's main position in high school is safety, it seems that Bud Foster will have to fight off Loeffler himself to keep Ford on the defensive side of the ball if he picks Tech.

"(Loeffler) told me he liked what he saw as soon as my tape came on," Ford said. "He said he got in an argument with the defensive coordinator, he said he wanted me as a receiver instead of a safety and that he'd fight to steal me."

While Ford concedes that he rather play safety, he admits it ultimately "doesn't matter" where he plays at the next level.

Even still, Ford notes that the lure of playing defensive back at a school with an impressive pedigree at the position would be hard to resist.

"He told me about their tradition there of getting guys to the next level, and I'm definitely trying to get there, so I was very interested in that," Ford said.

Tech is hardly a hometown school for the Pittsburgh product, but he says he's still heard plenty about the Hokies thanks to one of their players from nearby Washington, Pa.

"I know they've got Shai McKenzie down there," Ford said. "I don't really know him, but he followed me on Twitter right after they offered me. I've definitely heard of him, his name is very big around here."

Ford, who's rated a 4-star prospect by the 247Sports composite ranking, stands at 6'2" and 180 pounds as just a sophomore, so the Hokies are surely hoping McKenzie can help convince him to take his talents south.

"I think my ball skills are second to none," Ford said. "I'm a two-sport athlete, I also play basketball, and I think that really helps me. I can do it all."

That's attracted the interest of local schools like Pittsburgh and Penn State, as well as schools from farther afield like Michigan and UCLA.

But Ford says he's still giving the Hokies plenty of consideration.

"They gave me a bunch of papers about camps and stuff, but I'm not sure which I'd go to," Ford said. "But there's one on June 20 I could make it down for."

Once he left the Steel City, Loeffler swung by Harrisburg to offer Barber as well.

"It was a really good feeling," Barber said.

Barber says the Hokies let him know they "wanted to offer me badly" a week ago, but chose to wait until Loeffler could visit to make things official.

At 6'3" and 220 pounds, it's no shock that Barber says Loeffler was impressed by "my size, my ability to create plays" and now the Hokies are pushing hard for him to get on board.

Barber's northern roots means that he's never gotten down to Blacksburg before, but he plans to change that this summer with a visit to a camp at Tech on June 14.

Yet for all their interest in the talented prospects up north, the staff is also keeping their attention closer to home in North Carolina.

Last month, the team offered Ryan Jones of Charlotte's Ardrey Kell HS, another 4-star prospect according to the 247Sports Composite.

"I found out from my coach and I was so excited," Jones said. "I hadn't really gotten a lot of mail from them, but it hit me that I must've been doing something right."

Shane Beamer, one of the recruiters for the area, quickly made Jones a priority, and found the prospect an attentive listener about Tech's tradition.

"They're a winning program that's been around for a while," Jones said. "There's never a down year, they're always in a bowl."

That interest helped Beamer convince Jones to attend the team's spring game, and he came away impressed by his first visit to Blacksburg.

"It was amazing," Jones said. "I was shocked at how many people were (at) the game considering it was just a spring game."

Beamer showed him around the team's facilities for the bulk of the day, but North Carolina standout Mook Reynolds also resumed some of his old role as recruiter-in-chief in making Jones feel welcome.

But he wasn't the only 2017 prospect from the Tar Heel State on hand for the game. The team also welcomed CB Jacobe Clement from Charlotte's South Mecklenburg HS.

"I loved the atmosphere and fan base," Clement said. "I feel like although it was raining they played with a lot of intensity. The trip was nice and the facility was beautiful."

Beamer and Torrian Gray chipped in to show Clement around on the visit. They have yet to offer Clement, but the visit convinced him that he'd be very receptive to earning one.

"I would love to be offered by them and have the chance to play there," Clement said.

Clement feels that if he improves his "technique, tackling and speed" an offer could come his way.

"Leaving this season I want to be looking at at least a 4.4 to 4.5 40(-yard dash) time," Clement said.

Jones has similar goals going forward.

"I want to get my speed down to a 4.4 or high 4.3, but keep my weight maintained," Jones said. "Right now, I'm in the low 4.6 or high 4.5."

Jones says he currently fluctuates between 195 to 200 pounds, and with a 6'1.5" frame to go with it, it's no surprise that Tech interested.

What's less clear is where the team sees Jones playing if he were to come to Tech. Like Ford, both wide receiver and safety appear to be on the table.

"They haven't really told me where they like me yet," Jones said. "Most places like me as a wide receiver, but some like me on defense, like Vanderbilt and N.C. State."

Jones says he has experience playing safety, but some programs even think a move to linebacker is a possibility.

"It's no problem, I just want to win, and help the team win," Jones said.

Jones says both the aforementioned Wolfpack and Clemson keep in contact with him the most, but he's still keeping the Hokies in mind. As he was leaving, the staff "said I could stop by any time" and he's considering on taking them up on the offer sooner rather than later.

"I'm not really sure (when I'll visit)," Jones said. "It'll probably be soon though."

At the rate the staff is going, when Jones does return to Blacksburg, he won't be the only 2017 prospect to make the trip.