This is more of a public service announcement.
The recruiting strategy in Backsburg has changed, we as fans do not understand it at first, but we need to trust it.
We have 3 former SEC recruiters now on staff (Loeffler, Grimes, and Shane) and Stiney running the recruiting operations. We are going to be involved with kids that previously may have not looked at us, that being said, we are going to have more moments like yesterday when everyone stops work and listens in on the radio to hear what college a 17 year old chooses. But you know what, schools like Bama, USC, TX, LSU have been experiencing this for years. We are just now entering the arena.
We are going to be more competitive and we are going to be in more races with more high profile kids. We will lose out on some, but we are going to get some.
This is something that a lot of us will need to realize too. We also are now telling kids they have timelines on how they can accept our offers. Things are changing in Blacksburg.
Comments
I definitely see us going after QBs we wouldn't even try to land a year ago.
Eh not exactly, we've gotten some pretty high profile QB's in the past:
Marcus 5*
Glennon 4*
Tyrod 5*
Logan 4*
granted some of those listed above OBVIOUSLY didn't work out, but nevertheless, they were still high profile.
All quarterbacks from Virginia. We are going outside of our classical recruiting area to grab high profile quarterbacks. That was never done before. I love it!
Fair enough, this is true. That is definitely Lefty's doing
Marcus was 5* based more on name than anything if you ask me. Not that he wasn't talented, but he was given the benefit of the doubt. Glennon had Royal up at Westfield which helped him look even better. Tyrod deserved his ranking. And Logan was a 4* TE.
Marcus was definitely deserving of the 5* rating. The kid was an insane athlete (some will argue more athletic than Michael), he was just a shithead too. With Logan, as much as people like to think, he was not a TE. He played QB in high school, and VT recruited him to be a QB. His arm, size, and speed gave him that rating.
His ranking was based on him as a TE. He was the top TE in the country by most rankings. Look at his profiles:
4* TE from Rivals - http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Logan-Thomas-71573
4* ATH from ESPN - http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/57429/...
5* TE from Scout - http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=3483458
4* S/QB from 247 - http://247sports.com/Player/Logan-Thomas-18885?Institution=22050
247 is the ONLY site to call him a quarterback. He even said that VT was NOT recruiting him to play QB and that if they were when he was being recruited, he wouldn't have committed to us.
Funny thing about the TE ranking is that he NEVER played a down as a TE in high school!
This is true, but his attributes led to him being recruited as one. That was the point I was trying to make, not that he was a TE in high school, but that he was recruited as one. We often see players that are DTs in high school moved to DE in college or from DE to LB, WR to DB and vice versa when they never played those positions in high school because it's naturally where they fit.
I thought he played TE his Freshman and Sophomore years and then was moved to QB for Junior and Senior years?
He played WR as a FR/SO
How many of these guys we got or targeted would we not have targeted with our old staff
All of the ones outside of VA (or maybe NC)..... So, pretty much all of em.
I did like that the presentation that was given to the BOV on the new practice facility included a line specifying the need for "ACC and SEC quality facilities" or something along that line. Good to know the university is on board with pursuing more than just ACC dominance.
I saw that too, and it is making me wonder if the campus administrators are preparing for a possible lateral move to the SEC? I know publicly Weaver have professed undying love for the ACC, but privately, I have to wonder.
All eyes will be on the Maryland's lawsuit which, according to this Washington Post report, is still on-going. If the court rules in the favor of Maryland and overturn the ACC's exit fee, it may spell trouble, and this is definitely something everyone needs to keep an eye on.
No the ACC members (Maryland excluded, Louisville included) just signed that grant of rights agreement through like 2030. If we left for the SEC the ACC would still have rights to our TV revenue. Or at least that's how I interpreted the article when everyone signed it.
The recruiting has definitely picked up with the new coaching staff. The older staff relied on their Va connections, which was fine as long as you had what you needed in-state that year. But O-Linemen have always been a problem, and the best ones often snagged by LOLUVA. Linebackers to some degree as well. And how may great QBs did Tech miss out on in the last 10 years!? Good thing Tyrod worked out, because the cupboard was (and still is) bare.
With one of the most successful programs over the last 10 years, our recruiting hasn't matched our record. I think this is about to change. Thankfully the new coaching staff has set the bar higher.
The fact that we're recruiting in places other than Virginia and Delray Beach, FL feels like a breath of fresh air to me.
I agree, especially with the offense line. It seem Virginia and Florida have always been good for Virginia Tech for skill positions, but to find offensive linemen have proven to be thorny. Hope the new staff are hitting the Rust Belt states hard for linemen.
Western Pennsylvania all the way