I'll be shocked if Brown doesn't pick UVa. His cousin, Corwin Cutler, is headed to UVa after a prep season. By all accounts, Brown enjoyed his visit to UVa, but he was a strong UVa lean beforehand. If he'd strung out the process, and taken his official visits (including one to Tech), the staff would have had a better chance to swing him. I think an early commitment bodes well for UVa.
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Its going to be rough on him adjusting to a new coaching staff for the 2014 season. Probably tougher still watching his NFL dreams collapse as #loluva takes yes another talented kid and ruins them...
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Seems there was some back and forth with a girl and Andrew on twitter last night about Turtle maybe being in big trouble, and the two of them having a hard time getting a hold of him. There is more than just below:
Brown or Nnadi: Someone commented once that they don't get along and would end up picking other schools. If we only get one, who would ya'll like to get?
Or if you don't like that question, what do you really like about Brown?
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Agreed, a kid will fight more and put all his effort in if he wants to be there.
I thought our chances with Brown were high, because he liked our music program. I feel that Derrick has a chip on his shoulder though, as some of the recruiting stuff doesn't have him as high, for example, not going to the Opening. I like underdogs and kids who want to prove something. Plus I feel like him and CJ have a good relationship.
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Having heard the same here on TKP, I wonder if there's anything to be read into the fact that Nnadi put himself into the OL vs DL drills at a recent camp just so he could go against Brown. Also, they're both teenagers, so take *all* of that with big grains of salt.
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I like them both but I really like Nnadi. He is a force inside. He will be really good in our system (not that Brown wouldn't be) It would be awesome to get them both.
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I think a major plus to Brown is his height and frame, he might have a higher ceiling. In his highlights he just man handles everybody, of course he is the biggest guy on the field though. They both seem to have good motors. Nnadi seems to do better in the camp videos I've seen and he has great weight right now. However, you can't teach 6'4".
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Don't forget what Nick Acree said of his success as a HS DT (a very big one at that) - how he practically bull rushed a lot and how that did not translate to college level.
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agreed .. brown's measurables are more impressive and probably has more upside
nnadi is shorter but strong as an ox (not exaggerating .. he is literally as strong as an ox)
i think that brown has the highest upside of the big 3 DT left (brown/nnadi/walker) but nnadi and walker both have a level of "meanness" and "nastiness" that brown doesn't have as much of
i'd love to have any or all of the three.
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I don't know about Brown not having a mean streak. He shoves players who weigh 50-100lbs less than him out of the way with ease and then pile drives running backs in his highlight videos. he has got the mean streak. It is how that power translates to compitition that is equal or greater size that seems to be the unknown right now. When it is more technique than strength. Take a look at this highlight film
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I could throw people who weighed 50-100 lbs less than me around like its nothing too. Nnadi also was the 2nd fastest DL prospect at the Chicago camp and the guy who beat him was 60 lbs lighter. Brown has the frame to get to 315 but Nnadi could be a 310 wrecking ball. His low leverage will reek havoc on those 6'5" linemen.
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What people dont understand is that the oscar smith coach is pissed of at uva for there handling of simms so if the coach has any influence I will not bet on uva..
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Iam betting on nnadi this dude will be a definite hole clogger, brown is taller and will be easier to block because it will be easier to get to his chest.I will take a six foot 1 300 pd tackle any day over a tall lean d tackle.....#nnadi
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Graves was pretty lean playing around 6'2" 290 i believe but he was quickk. Imagine if we get Street and Nnadi. In 2-3 years our DEs (Teller/Street) will be playing at around 270 with 300 lb DTs. It will be a beast DL
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Got bored at internship and went to the sabre to get some laughs. top item on their football message board is an espn inside article (of which they copied and pasted) that Andrew Brown may have Tech ahead of uva now. Friday might be interesting
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"I just talked to some of the Virginia Tech coaches," Brown told Adam
Friedman of Rivals.com. "The conversation went very smoothly.
"I asked them where I would be playing, would I have to redshirt, what
are they looking for and what are they expecting. That's pretty much all it
was. I liked the answers."
Brown is ready to announce his decision June 29 according to Friedman.
He'll choose between Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia and
Virginia Tech.
Brown intimated Virginia Tech may be his top option.
"I think I'm set in what I want to do," Brown said. "The (Virginia Tech)
coaches are making a good case for themselves."
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While I'd love to get my hopes up on this (or more precisely, have my hopes realized...), I actually read the last line kind of pessimistically. Tough to tell with how it was typed up, but I read it more as 'I already know what I want to do, despite the Tech coaches making a good case'. In other words, I've already decided it won't be them, but they did a good job of trying to convince me.
Oh well, regardless, always fun to speculate. It really would be good to have a few home runs in this recruiting cycle, especially as it was hyped as being so potentially special. If not Brown, then hopefully Nnadi and others. (Or both!)
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Give me another Luther Maddy. I don't care if he is a 5*, 4* 3* 2* or NR. I want that true freshmen that shows up angry. Coach Wiles doesn't care how many stars you have, he won't play you unless "YOU CAN THROW A FIT." We have a 3 year starter graduating this year and the next underclassman (besides starting Maddy) can't stay off his face and he was a 4*. Our two deep is thin this year. Brown will have a chance to play in the 2 deep if he can prove to Wiles he has what it takes.
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Andrew Brown (Chesapeake, Va./Oscar Frommel Smith), the nation's
No. 1 defensive tackle recruit, has been considered a Virginia lean for
some time. Virgina Tech appears to be closing the gap. The Hokies may
have even overcome the Cavaliers in this particular recruiting battle.
"I just talked to some of the Virginia Tech coaches," Brown told Adam
Friedman of Rivals.com. "The conversation went very smoothly.
"I asked them where I would be playing, would I have to redshirt, what
are they looking for and what are they expecting. That's pretty much all it
was. I liked the answers."
Brown is ready to announce his decision June 29 according to Friedman.
He'll choose between Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia and
Virginia Tech.
Brown intimated Virginia Tech may be his top option.
"I think I'm set in what I want to do," Brown said. "The (Virginia Tech)
coaches are making a good case for themselves."
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"The Hokies may have even overcome the Cavaliers in this particular recruiting battle." Yeah, cause the Hokies definitely haven't been able to overcome the Cavs in recruiting or actual games in quite some time, right? *SARCASM*
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A little off-topic...word around the grapevine (only heard from second-hand sources, nothing substantial, can't back up any of the statements I'm about to make) is that Quin Blanding is starting to fall out of love with UVA. My source told me he realizes that some of the other prospects from the 757 aren't going to follow him to Charlottesville. #LOLUVA
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Very interesting. Clifton Richardson is out, too. Looks like LOLUVA is starting to LOL back to LOLTOWN. That recruiting flowchart/UVA fail chart is right on time.
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Let's be honest. If you're from the 757 and you want to maximize your exposure, win championships, and get to the next level, would you rather play in front of this:
Or this:
Play in front of this type of fan:
Or this:
And do you want to play for this:
Or this:
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So here's the million dollar question: Would you rather land Brown, a top 5 national recruit at the expense of Nnadi or vice versa?
I honestly don't know. I've been liking Nnadi the more I read about him and see him. I love his pissed off, me against the world, attitude and think that makes for a special player for Foster. On the other hand reeling in the #1 recruit at their position in the nation would be great for national respect and exposure.
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I'll take Brown AND Nnadi (their feud will be a bad thing for opposing interior linemen) AND Blanding (now that Fischer is down) WITh Fischer qualifying at a later date!
I'll also take some diamond in the rough offensive linemen to go along with our L33t 11 QB and some Pokey Sticks.
Yeah, that'll be all...
K thx bye.
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I'm not an expert on which kid fits the team best, but for perception purposes it would be nice to land a 5* kid from VA. It's tough to convince the elite talent to go to VT when elite talent keeps going elsewhere.
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What no one has mentioned yet, is that he likes the music program at VT. He wants to be a producer or something similar, so I think that may be partially why VT took a lead.
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Yeah we have music technology, which would be good for music producing. I have no idea how good the program is, but I know you have to play an instrument and still take instruction on it to get in. I tried out on saxophone after not really playing it for two years because we don't have a guitar teacher. I did not get in.
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After that interview, if we DON'T get Brown, then he's screwing with us on purpose and we won't forget it. But, Ive got a good heart and assume the best in people......he's found what he's looking for and we will get him.
I think this is also the only situation where Brown and Nnadi and Brown play together.....it's been clear for a few weeks Nnadi really sees VT as his future home and if Brown commits first, I don't think that will deter Nnadi.
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Not to be a pessimist, but if none of the 247 guys change their picks by Friday, there is no chance he comes here. I'm already keeping myself grounded given the fact that no one changed their picks after this interview. That being said, though, those guys take huge pride in who they pick so if some guys start flipping, I'll start getting a little more excited.
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I read somewhere (757recuit.com) that he was supposed to be eliminating a team every night till the 29th. No new chatter though. He has said many times that UVA is on the outside looking in. Not sure why their is no one predicting another school. Must be the family connection?
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All the pay sites say he eliminated a school last night. The wahoo boards comments saying another one bites the dust, but no input on what school. Anyone know by chance? Just want to verify we are still in the running.
Edit: apparently it was OSU. 3 more days and its UVA, Bama, Clemson, FSU, and VT.
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OK, that puts us at 1 and 4 then. He has gone silent on twitter, and all the pay sites are being, well, pay sites.
I would like to see UVA get eliminated sooner rather than later. Don't want it to be a UVA/VT battle on the 29th, because then we'll have to hear about it.
I honestly think we have a good chance, and some of the predictors are going based off the family ties and what not too much.
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I've been keeping up with Andrew Brown's recruitment since about a year ago and for nearly this whole process, there was ZERO chance we got him. So the fact that we'll make at least his top 3 after having no expectations this whole time is kind of cool. And if he pulls out our hat on Saturday, I, along with everyone on this site, will get absolutely slammed.
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Wasn't it said by all the recruiting sites that Brown was most likely to stay instate, and that is why he was said to be a UVA lean? I don't know how accurate that is now. Personally, him deciding this early leads me to believe it might be a BAMA or Klemscum(may it never be).
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Five-star defensive tackle Andrew Brown (Chesapeake, Va./Oscar Frommel Smith) will make his college decision on Saturday. The No. 3-ranked player in the country will announce his decision during a live chat with RecruitingNation.
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I'm not trying to get my hopes up or anybody else's for that matter, but I found this VERY interesting.
Virginia and Alabama like me as a defensive end. Coach Saban called me a three-down lineman that could play end, tackle, or the nose. There's no need for me to leave the field.
Would a guy who is a dominant DT really want to switch to DE? I don't know if he would thrive as a DE in the same way that he would DT. I also don't think Bama's 3-4 defense is a good fit for him. Just another tidbit of information as we get closer to his decision.
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Bologna. Coaches just shovel this stuff out too. I could never be a recruiter. Alabama's DEs are comparable to VT's DTs anyway. Similar assignments, filling gaps, creating blitzing lanes for someone else to get to the QB, or creating pressure on the QB during passing downs, but they are not going around the edge like a DE at VT. In Saban's scheme almost Everything is funneled to the LB. DE in a 3-4 is not the same as DE in 4-3. Position wise, It is not more glamerous to be a DE at BAMA than a DT at VT. Does Saban explain all this to him. Well, I hope he knows.
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They got Korren Kirven the year before. If Brown went there, Bama could play a whole front 3 DL of 4 and 5* from VA. AAAHHHH, the thought of that makes me SOooo MAD.
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DE at Bama wouldn't be a thrilling college career. He would be a very good one no doubt but your whole purpose is to eat up blocks, not make plays. I'd love him at DT for us.
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Satan is not making promises but is implying that he would get a lot of playing time (3 down). He doesn't guarantee it nor say what he would be doing. He might start on any team. Why not VT? If he wants to take it to the next level what is the best position to play? Doesn't matter since the NFL would take either position if you are good enough.
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The funny thing is that the DL @ VT, (and pretty much the entire defense) is composed of 3-down players by design. Every now and then Wiles will put in a pass-rush lineup for 3rd & long, or Foster will go with a Nickel look, but for the most part our defense is structured to be flexible with base personnel. The same 11 guys can stuff the run then shutdown the pass.
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After looking on the sabre for anything they may have posted there, i've determined the sabre is the worst fan site ever. thank you tkp for being exponentially better and not royally sucking.
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...am I the only one who (usually in his head) says "La Sab-waa" with a heavy french accent (...sounding like I have a mouth full of cheese) when they read the word "The Sabre" anywhere on this website?
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i wandered the wilderness as a tsl refugee for months, then i found the land of milk and honey that is tkp. thank you joe for giving us such an awesome place to hang out and chat.
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You're welcome. I truly believe that the community is what makes this place great, so thank you to y'all. French and Mason have written what I consider to be the best X's and O's analysis of any VT site and have helped this offseason fly by.
Additionally, because of the tee shirt sales there will be a major server upgrade happening in July. I'm moving the site from a 3 GB / 2 core shared virtual server to a 16 GB / 4 core dedicated machine. That bitch is going to be blazing fast and will handle of the season traffic.
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I need to get a Tshirt at some point. Also, was wondering about name changing. This is a great site, and I'm glad I found it. Who knew that I would run into some of the guys I went to school with. My only suggestion would be to make links open in a new tab or window. Always hate being pulled away from a thread to read a link.
Anyways, keep up the great work!
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I believe that change must be made on your end depending on your browser. I believe Chrome allows you to select to open all links in new tabs. Joe may be able to make it so that links act as popups, but the easy solution is just to either right click and select "open in new tab/window" or just use the wheel on your mouse (if you have one) and click the link to open in a new tab. Also press and hold CTRL and then click the link to open in new tab. Easy shortcuts so Joe doesn't have to change anything.
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EDIT: Oh, was also wondering. Have you thought about doing a "support" membership? I know a lot of other forums do one for like $25 bucks, and it just gives you maybe some more ability, like specialty avator or something similar. Or maybe you get a sticker or something cool. Anyway, just a thought.
Thanks. Appreciate the site!
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It's something I've bounced around in my head, but for right now I opted to go with the shirts. They support the site and whoever is buying them gets something cool to wear.
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The owner of The Sabre is a royal tool as well. This is an email that the owner wrote to Paul Lukas (of http://www.uni-watch.com) after he criticized Mike London for wearing full camos on the sidelines of a football game.
I followed the link to the sabre joe supplied above yesterday, and just kind of perused their site....I had a HUGE rush of appreciation for what our TKP staff has created here. This site is so far ahead of what they've got going on, words can't describe the gap. Not just in quality of conversation, but fan decorum, and technical site setup (I mean, geesh, you can't hardly follow a conversation on their site!). I don't know what kind of award I can nominate TKP for, but you guys deserve one!
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If you guys don't like The Sabre, it's probably because you didn't receive a UVA education and are thus too dense to understand their intellectual conversations.
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Considering he was thought to be UVA bound for so long, this in itself is a win. Now if only Stinespring, Shane, and the rest of the boys can reel him in.
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i've been reading on some Wahoo boards that there is a cookout this saturday, and Smoke, Eli, Turtle, and some other UVA commits will be there. Granted, they all know Brown, but I would think that is sitting up some awkwardness of committing to VT with all your boys who are Hoos.
I heard good things about the cookout though, like they will have pork brisket...
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How would you like to be Walker? Any other year and you're the best DL in the state. This year there's Hand, Brown, Holmes and Nandi crowding the spotlight.
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In our defense, 247 has had him predicted nearly 100% for a while now, while a lot of paysites have said that it's not a guarantee yet. Although he has gotten like three more UVA predictions within the last couple hours. I would love a major upset right now.
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Yeah likewise...pretty sure he is UVA bound...which is a shame but whatever never expected it in the first place people just got excited after his visit last month
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Not looking good. Brown is retweeting UVA players/fans (below tweet is not an example just a recent tweet) and responding to them in a matter that seems like he's set on being another hoo tied down on the Beamer and Co. train tracks.
EDIT: Just saw that he retweeted and talked to CJ/Fuller and some others. With the projected attendees at his UVA cookout I'm not very optimistic still.
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I am hoping for a Hulk Hogan Bash at the Beach style swerve, but it doesn't look likely. This may be more failing grade for the supposed recruiting expertise of Shane Beamer and the defensive staff.I know Brown was a UVA lean all along, but doesn't that say something that a school that HALF ASSES football can still land top guys and VT can't? As I said before, only two times since 2002 (Macho Harris and Tyrod Taylor) the Hokies have landed the top recruit in the Commonwealth. That is abysmal, given how they have dominated not only the Commonwealth Cup, but regional play as well. I had some hope that the staff had turned a corner by getting Fuller and Teller last season, but not such a positive review this year. Despite the empty trophy case and bragadocio, it sure doesn't seem like the man in charge is willing to work as hard as you have to in order to land top recruits in 2013.
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Brown is in Cornell and Stiney's territory, so I'm not sure what it has to do with Shane. Also, according to the most current list I could find on Rivals.com "Virginia Postseason Top 30 2009" David Wilson was the #1 player in VA: http://rivals.yahoo.com/virginiatech/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-2....
Why Tech is losing out on recruits to UVa, Michigan, Ohio State, and the SEC is a complicated issue, not something that can be summarized by a one-game series with an in-state rival.
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Don't get me wrong, I would definitely love it if a 5-star like Damian Prince committed. However, the 2-star guys were camp offers. The coaches saw them in person, then made their evaluation based on their eyes. I trust their eyes more than the pair from Rivals or 247 that might have based a grade on a one-time performance from a kid his sophomore year.
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You heard it here first. He's inviting all these UVa commits and leans to his cookout so he can pull a Kevin Jones on them. Someone give him a 3,501 Days of the Commonweath Cup Banner
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I don't want to be the guy that bashes a kid for his decision but I'd love to know what Mike London is telling these kids to get them there. Oh well. Congrats to him!
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Probably something like "hey, did you know if you don't transfer before your sophomore year, you'll get to play for the great Tom O'Brien...oh, and I used to be a cop".
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Why someone would choose to go to UVa over Tech during the decade of dominance is beyond me, but oh well... I'm sure whoever we bring in will get the job done
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I agree. I just don't get it. Yes we had a pretty rough year, but UVA has had that for a while now. We have a better coaching staff, especially for all these defensive players. We fill up our stadium. We've punished UVA 9 years in a row. We've gone to 20 consecutive bowl games. We've played in some some recent BCS bowls. I just don't understand how three top prospects would pick UVA over us. I can't say much for the other talents wanting to go to OSU or Bama, but UVA, really? I would love to sit in on these recruiting visits and see the pitch London and company give to these players. I'm baffled.
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I think London is telling them they can help build the program. Make UVA into something. Shame to see these top recruits waste their talent, as they won't receive the right coaching.
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or he told brown: "I'll let you call all the plays on defense, kinda of like a quarterback! Actually...do you play quarterback at all?! If so I definitely have a spot for you on this roster!"
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hes been telling them that for years now and at some point it would seem like the guys would want to hear something else. ill be interested to see what happened when hes fired in a season or 2
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I've heard a lot of people talk about when London is gone. But I don't really buy it. UVA is a program that sticks with a coach who runs the team the way the university wants it run. UVA isn't going to sell out to win, evidenced by how long they held onto Groh, even though he wasn't winning. I think London has a good four years before his job is going to be in jeopardy. UVA will give him enough time to see through an entire class of recruits, then, when they realize they still aren't competitive in the league, they'll give it two more years and try something new.
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I guess some of these players are willing to attempt to build a dynasty, fail, and receive little recognition, or succeed and receive even more recognition than going to an already well-established program. If that's the mindset, then props to them. That's a hell of a decision to make, especially at 16-17 years old. The pros (if successful) far outweigh the cons, but the odds don't seem particularly favorable.
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Hate to bring it up, but what about Corwin Cutler and his Dad and his influence in that area. Brown and Cutler are good friends. We know how much Cutler's dad hates VT. How much could that have played into the whole mess?
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This is it right there Hville... we can complain about this and that wrt to the VT staffs recruiting of Brown, but when you are hammered in to a pro UVA 'culture', anti VT for so long it is a big factor.
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I hate that we keep losing out on top recruits and the embarrassment I feel when we choke in big games. I feel pride in our school and love that I'm hokie..but I mean its tough to be a fan sometimes.... I thought for sure we would get brown or hand...man I hate that I get this disappointed on where a 17 year old kid decides to go to school.. Damn. I'll be in Atlanta for the bama game with my maroon and orange on but I have a feeling it's going to be tough to be a fan then too. Regime change when it comes is gonna be rough man... But it's gonna be at that point soon... And we will probably higher some assistant coach from duke as our new head coach instead of bud. Sorry for the gloomy contribution.. Sad state of affairs in Blacksburg it seems like
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Mike Farrell Comments on the Hokies Recruiting Cycle:
""It isn't just in that Virginia Beach area, either. More teams are coming into the state and getting kids, and when they are losing Da'Shawn Hand -- a kid who has always maintained that Bud Foster was his favorite coach -- that is just tough to swallow."
The program has been in a similar boat as it is historically. The Hokies focus on developing talent more than recruiting elite athletes.
Farrell said, with that mindset, not much will change for the program but that may be the problem.
"The fans have to be sick of 10-2 or 9-3 and playing for an ACC title," Farrell said. "This is one of the best staffs for coaching players up, and that will continue. But if the talent baseline was higher, the outcomes could be more rewarding; and those ACC championship games could be for a chance to play for a national title."
Agreed, 17 year olds who prove they are dumber than a box of rocks by going to a dead-end program like UVA that calls any season above .500 successful deserve to suffer thru 4-5 years of frustration and losses to VT and other truly successful programs that they could have attended. Hope you enjoy losing to Duke young Mr. Brown, if recent history is any indication, you may have see it happen multiple times. Inconceivable.
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Easy tiger. Try to keep it positive. This is a teenager trying to decide where he wants to go to school. Lets try not to be too hard on him just because he didn't pick the school he wanted
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Agreed. It should be celebrated that a good kid has an opportunity to go to college and make a profession out of the game we love. Good for the kid. Now, lets hope our kids can be just a bit better than him between the sidelines.
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My apologies gentlemen, to you and to young Mr. Brown. Sometimes the capriciousness of the system and the desire to see VT successes leads me to feel frustrated. Just scratching my head wondering what leads us to fail on many of the best recruits in our own home state. Oh well, just have to enjoy the victories on the field more and the whims of teenagers less. Thanks for running a great fan page that self-corrects in a gentle and fair manner.
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Just think of all the other states that fail to land their best recruits. We pulled andrew ford from PA. We are trying to pull Izzo from NJ. we get a lot of kids from Florida. You can't tell me all of Bamas team is from Alabama? Not saying we shouldn't have an edge. Heard the other day Park always wanted to go to UGa (I know not instate for us, but just shows that sometimes kids have schools in mind).
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Not sure if you can compare Ford and Izzo to Brown. According to Rivals, Brown is 3rd in this state, and more importantly, 7th nationally. Ford is 11th in his state, Izzo is 26th in his, neither ranked nationally. You're comparing Maseratis to Ford Mustangs. As for Florida, the highest recruit that I remember acquiring was Hosley, who was 25th in his state (139 nationally).
I think the thing that hurts is that this was the year of Virginia recruits. 3 in top 10, 7 in the top 100. VA has NEVER been this highly touted. VT currently has 0, and MAYBE end up with 1. UVA currently has 3, including 2 in the top 10. With Hand out of the running, and Holmes taking a 180 degree turn and not committing to VT, VT now looks like they can't even obtain the recruits they were in the lead for. It reeks of ineffectiveness, inability, and now desperation.
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If I recall, last year was a banner year too. There were three top recruits in VA and none of them went instate. Next year is also looking promising with a couple top recruits from VA again. However, other programs are now full on sniffing in VA to snag some of these kids, so it may only get worse.
Yeah UVA has a couple of top kids, and there are many theories as to why (Beamer too old, London was a cop, etc). But I think that our coaches are starting to try and expand outside of VA which is good. The kids I mentioned earlier may not be the 5* of their states but they are heavily recruited by top programs and we should be happy with those victories and growth into those areas. You can't tell me elite teams like OSU, Michigan, USC, etc are winning with only kids in their states. So for us to be considered a national elite team, growth out of state is good.
As for Florida, I was going back more than 5 years. If my memory serves me, we have always pulled a couple great kids from that state going back a while.
I'm not in desperation mode, as French mentions, sometimes we go after kids we need or that fit our system. Why pick up a 4* in Moss when he won't work?
And let's be honest, we never had a chance on Brown. He had family and coaches pushing him there for a while, and as many have said, Nnadi is more of a Foster DT anyway.
We got time (only July after all, not like top recruits haven't changed their minds before) and if we put some wins up this season, that will help. We should be excited about these recruits who are out there ecstatic to be going to tech.
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We're happy with the recruiting battles we've won. We're disappointed that VT keeps losing out on the blue chips that were in the grasp of VT. Brown was never in VT's grasp. Players like Hand, Holmes, Derrick Green, Korren Kirven, Stefon Diggs, Stephone Anthony, Travis Hughes, Marquis Williams, and the list goes on. Now, I'm not saying VT should have gotten all these players or even 1/2, but VT seems to be on the losing end on some major battles. It is true, 2012 and 2013 marked the time that VT did win some battles, such as Ekenam, Caleb and Teller, but the loses seem to pill up higher than the wins. We'll have to wait and see what 2014 has in store.
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The thing I hate is the fact that London is going to these kids homes and trying to be all hip and talking like he is on there level...thats all good but when you have staff Changes like they do , what does a kid think he is going to get coaching wise out of uva.There is no cohesiveness as a fan base and they never sell out of there stadium .I agree it will be hard to appeal to akid if your 66 years old compared to 40 but kids have got to do there research but until we win a big game expect more of these disappointments
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Research? You are talking about 17 year old kids. I doubt most of these kids do a significant amount of research into schools. They go based off of family/coaching ties, recent memory, and how they think they will fit. I think we like to think that its a pretty simple decision of VT over UVA (which I maintain it is) but we also don't have our family/friends/coaches pushing us a certain direction. For all we know London is selling them on "be the one to turn this around" and Brown wants his shot at it. Honestly a kid that wants to "be the one" may not be the best fit for our beloved Hokies since what we preach is team.
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From what I have heard, a lot of kids are choosing based on the recruiting lists and depth charts. I know some kids are willing to go to a lesser school to start right away, rather than red shirt or have to compete against someone for the starting job. This may have played a role in some of our loses, someone may feel that he should start his freshman year and not wait or battle someone like Luther Maddy.
I know one guy was telling me how his nephew looked at the recruiting and depth chart sheet when he was on visit at OSU, and then committed to NC State.
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A couple of years ago at one of the Recruiting nights in Arlington there was a question about Demetrious Nicholson and it was said that he really wanted to be a Hokie (IIRC might have even been a big fan for a few years), but when he saw he could get on the field right away at UVA he went there.
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Congratulations to Brown for making a decision that is a dream of any football player/fan (to be able to essentially choose where you would like to continue to develop your talents). However, have fun learning to accept defeat to your bitter rival from Southwest Virginia for the next 5 years!
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Everything is perfectly fine...we have seen this time and again. I wouldn't be surprised if UVA has landed more high star recruits then us over the last 15 years but our classes generally ended up ranked higher...plus we nearly always beat them...and will continue to do so. I am not concerned in the least...I liked the comment about our coaching staff offering kids that attend camps at Tech and seeing them first hand, I too trust their judgement and I think we all should. We've been very good for a long time, and were gonna be pretty darn good this year too I reckon.
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Agree. Uva has gotten "higher" ranked players from Virginia before and still not won. There are several years in the early 2000's where it looked like Va was far superior then Tech. But it was VT that won 10+ games and was ranked in the top 10. Before London, VT outrecruited Uva by a lot. Uva didn't get anyone in the top 10-20 for a few years. However, starting around 2006 it seems more top recruits have gone out of state. Those are the ones that worry me. Kudos for Brown at least staying in state. Uva has become competitive again with in-state recruits. Will it mean more wins for booveeay? I haven't seen any evidence of it yet. It seems too easy for top FBS recruits to get pulled away from this state. Does it matter? Can it change or does it need to change? Is it about something other than football?
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This is true, and I am sure Tech will continue to beat UVA on the field. However, because the NATIONAL spotlight is burning so brightly on Virginia recruiting this year, the perception damage that comes with Hand and Brown going elsewhere is crushing and brings more focus on past failures (Curtis Grant/Travis Hughes will stick in my craw for a long long time.)
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Remember Kai Parham and Ahmad Brooks...We landed Marcus that year but overall UVA got most of the predicted talent in state that year...what happened? our class ended up so much better with Tapp and Burchette Imoh and Jimmy williams etc.
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Comments
Anybody here have any insight other than the rivals/247 predictions?
I find UVA interesting since didn't he come out and say they were lower down because they don't have his intended major?
I'll be shocked if Brown doesn't pick UVa. His cousin, Corwin Cutler, is headed to UVa after a prep season. By all accounts, Brown enjoyed his visit to UVa, but he was a strong UVa lean beforehand. If he'd strung out the process, and taken his official visits (including one to Tech), the staff would have had a better chance to swing him. I think an early commitment bodes well for UVa.
Its going to be rough on him adjusting to a new coaching staff for the 2014 season. Probably tougher still watching his NFL dreams collapse as #loluva takes yes another talented kid and ruins them...
Seems there was some back and forth with a girl and Andrew on twitter last night about Turtle maybe being in big trouble, and the two of them having a hard time getting a hold of him. There is more than just below:
It would really suck to see him go to any of these schools other than Tech
blows my mind as to why anyone with his level of talent (NFL quality) would want to go to UVA.
Brown or Nnadi: Someone commented once that they don't get along and would end up picking other schools. If we only get one, who would ya'll like to get?
Or if you don't like that question, what do you really like about Brown?
Whichever one wants to be a Hokie. I'd rather have a kid like Andrew Ford who WANTS to be here rather than a Cornwell who "settled" to be here.
Agreed, a kid will fight more and put all his effort in if he wants to be there.
I thought our chances with Brown were high, because he liked our music program. I feel that Derrick has a chip on his shoulder though, as some of the recruiting stuff doesn't have him as high, for example, not going to the Opening. I like underdogs and kids who want to prove something. Plus I feel like him and CJ have a good relationship.
I had heard that they didnt get along but I have nothing to support that.
Having heard the same here on TKP, I wonder if there's anything to be read into the fact that Nnadi put himself into the OL vs DL drills at a recent camp just so he could go against Brown. Also, they're both teenagers, so take *all* of that with big grains of salt.
I like them both but I really like Nnadi. He is a force inside. He will be really good in our system (not that Brown wouldn't be) It would be awesome to get them both.
I think a major plus to Brown is his height and frame, he might have a higher ceiling. In his highlights he just man handles everybody, of course he is the biggest guy on the field though. They both seem to have good motors. Nnadi seems to do better in the camp videos I've seen and he has great weight right now. However, you can't teach 6'4".
Don't forget what Nick Acree said of his success as a HS DT (a very big one at that) - how he practically bull rushed a lot and how that did not translate to college level.
I personally think Acree was one of those weight room junkies that had something always come up on leg day.
edit: junking --> junkies.
The guy has a bigger chest than any of our cheerleaders.
i think it would be safe to say all of our cheerleaders.....combined
agreed .. brown's measurables are more impressive and probably has more upside
nnadi is shorter but strong as an ox (not exaggerating .. he is literally as strong as an ox)
i think that brown has the highest upside of the big 3 DT left (brown/nnadi/walker) but nnadi and walker both have a level of "meanness" and "nastiness" that brown doesn't have as much of
i'd love to have any or all of the three.
I don't know about Brown not having a mean streak. He shoves players who weigh 50-100lbs less than him out of the way with ease and then pile drives running backs in his highlight videos. he has got the mean streak. It is how that power translates to compitition that is equal or greater size that seems to be the unknown right now. When it is more technique than strength. Take a look at this highlight film
That poor kid he blew up on his way to the running back at 0:53. Ouch.
Not sayin brown isn't nasty..just sayin nnadi and walker play like they're trying to kill somebody
Remember that these highlights are from his SOPHOMORE year in high school!!!
I could throw people who weighed 50-100 lbs less than me around like its nothing too. Nnadi also was the 2nd fastest DL prospect at the Chicago camp and the guy who beat him was 60 lbs lighter. Brown has the frame to get to 315 but Nnadi could be a 310 wrecking ball. His low leverage will reek havoc on those 6'5" linemen.
What people dont understand is that the oscar smith coach is pissed of at uva for there handling of simms so if the coach has any influence I will not bet on uva..
And then JC starting as a true freshman has to help...
Iam betting on nnadi this dude will be a definite hole clogger, brown is taller and will be easier to block because it will be easier to get to his chest.I will take a six foot 1 300 pd tackle any day over a tall lean d tackle.....#nnadi
Yup, the tall, lean ones tend to be better at DE. Just so long as they're quick enough.
Graves was pretty lean playing around 6'2" 290 i believe but he was quickk. Imagine if we get Street and Nnadi. In 2-3 years our DEs (Teller/Street) will be playing at around 270 with 300 lb DTs. It will be a beast DL
All depends how fast your hands are. Just ask Big Lu.
Tried to embed this tweet.
https://twitter.com/BigLu_VT92/status/309133333659516928
But I kept getting an error....
what does it say. Can't open twitter at work.
*the issue was the smiley in the tweet.
thanks.
yeah thanks. think I got your turkey leg. Here take this one.
Got bored at internship and went to the sabre to get some laughs. top item on their football message board is an espn inside article (of which they copied and pasted) that Andrew Brown may have Tech ahead of uva now. Friday might be interesting
Damn it TheSabre, I don't want to get my hopes up.
http://www.thesabre.com/message_board/football/2013/June/25/2877462.php
While I'd love to get my hopes up on this (or more precisely, have my hopes realized...), I actually read the last line kind of pessimistically. Tough to tell with how it was typed up, but I read it more as 'I already know what I want to do, despite the Tech coaches making a good case'. In other words, I've already decided it won't be them, but they did a good job of trying to convince me.
Oh well, regardless, always fun to speculate. It really would be good to have a few home runs in this recruiting cycle, especially as it was hyped as being so potentially special. If not Brown, then hopefully Nnadi and others. (Or both!)
Give me another Luther Maddy. I don't care if he is a 5*, 4* 3* 2* or NR. I want that true freshmen that shows up angry. Coach Wiles doesn't care how many stars you have, he won't play you unless "YOU CAN THROW A FIT." We have a 3 year starter graduating this year and the next underclassman (besides starting Maddy) can't stay off his face and he was a 4*. Our two deep is thin this year. Brown will have a chance to play in the 2 deep if he can prove to Wiles he has what it takes.
Here (via this)
"The Hokies may have even overcome the Cavaliers in this particular recruiting battle." Yeah, cause the Hokies definitely haven't been able to overcome the Cavs in recruiting or actual games in quite some time, right? *SARCASM*
If we land Brown, does Nnadi go elsewhere?
Yeah...hopefully right next to him on the 2015 starting d! :)
While the sentiment is shared, not exactly what I meant...
A little off-topic...word around the grapevine (only heard from second-hand sources, nothing substantial, can't back up any of the statements I'm about to make) is that Quin Blanding is starting to fall out of love with UVA. My source told me he realizes that some of the other prospects from the 757 aren't going to follow him to Charlottesville. #LOLUVA
Ooh....that's interesting.
Very interesting. Clifton Richardson is out, too. Looks like LOLUVA is starting to LOL back to LOLTOWN. That recruiting flowchart/UVA fail chart is right on time.
Let's be honest. If you're from the 757 and you want to maximize your exposure, win championships, and get to the next level, would you rather play in front of this:
Or this:
Play in front of this type of fan:
Or this:
And do you want to play for this:
Or this:
That comment/post alone is worth a post by itself.
Does Blanding play the same side as Fuller?
He played Safety in HS
Does Brown realize the odds are in favor of London leaving C-ville after this season?
I don't think you can infer by his words he is strongly considering VT. ...but I still prefer it over him going to Bama.
So here's the million dollar question: Would you rather land Brown, a top 5 national recruit at the expense of Nnadi or vice versa?
I honestly don't know. I've been liking Nnadi the more I read about him and see him. I love his pissed off, me against the world, attitude and think that makes for a special player for Foster. On the other hand reeling in the #1 recruit at their position in the nation would be great for national respect and exposure.
I'll take Brown AND Nnadi (their feud will be a bad thing for opposing interior linemen) AND Blanding (now that Fischer is down) WITh Fischer qualifying at a later date!
I'll also take some diamond in the rough offensive linemen to go along with our L33t 11 QB and some Pokey Sticks.
Yeah, that'll be all...
K thx bye.
Let Nnadi and Brown take thier issues out on the poor lineman that lines up in front of them.
Settle all disputes via a race to the QB.
"Imma gonna be the first one to sack the quarterback."
"Bro, you be trippin."
"You are on."
That gif is hilarious. I feel like it should be included whenever possible with the phrase "that's how I/we roll"
I would love to get one of them. Really hope Tech does.
I'm not an expert on which kid fits the team best, but for perception purposes it would be nice to land a 5* kid from VA. It's tough to convince the elite talent to go to VT when elite talent keeps going elsewhere.
I want to be optimistic about this, but I really can't.
If Brown ends up at VT, I'll eat my hat.
Granted I'll enjoy eating it.
I'm with you. I'll be stunned if he ends up picking a school other than UVA.
Maybe he's been reading TKP and this string has convinced him the being a Hokie is the way to go...
I find that if you put mustard on a hat it goes down easier....
What no one has mentioned yet, is that he likes the music program at VT. He wants to be a producer or something similar, so I think that may be partially why VT took a lead.
OK, I just reread this and I'm a bit buzzed, we have a music program?
Yeah we have music technology, which would be good for music producing. I have no idea how good the program is, but I know you have to play an instrument and still take instruction on it to get in. I tried out on saxophone after not really playing it for two years because we don't have a guitar teacher. I did not get in.
yeah the main building is over by lyric
STOP IT YOU GUYS
YOU'RE GETTING MY HOPES UP AGAIN
Have some more koolaid - it's delicious
After that interview, if we DON'T get Brown, then he's screwing with us on purpose and we won't forget it. But, Ive got a good heart and assume the best in people......he's found what he's looking for and we will get him.
I think this is also the only situation where Brown and Nnadi and Brown play together.....it's been clear for a few weeks Nnadi really sees VT as his future home and if Brown commits first, I don't think that will deter Nnadi.
2 Browns + Nnadi ZOMG!!!
Sold
That's what I figure he is doing. He'll keep VT's hopes up until Saturday before picking UVA.
Is that the whole unedited interview? If it was edited it might be Rivals screwing with us.
I think Brown is just being gracious to his recruiters at VT. Nothing sinister about his comments, even if he does pick LOLUVA.
Not to be a pessimist, but if none of the 247 guys change their picks by Friday, there is no chance he comes here. I'm already keeping myself grounded given the fact that no one changed their picks after this interview. That being said, though, those guys take huge pride in who they pick so if some guys start flipping, I'll start getting a little more excited.
I read somewhere (757recuit.com) that he was supposed to be eliminating a team every night till the 29th. No new chatter though. He has said many times that UVA is on the outside looking in. Not sure why their is no one predicting another school. Must be the family connection?
All the pay sites say he eliminated a school last night. The wahoo boards comments saying another one bites the dust, but no input on what school. Anyone know by chance? Just want to verify we are still in the running.
Edit: apparently it was OSU. 3 more days and its UVA, Bama, Clemson, FSU, and VT.
A one in five chance?
I heard it was FSU. He eliminated Ohio State a full week ago.
OK, that puts us at 1 and 4 then. He has gone silent on twitter, and all the pay sites are being, well, pay sites.
I would like to see UVA get eliminated sooner rather than later. Don't want it to be a UVA/VT battle on the 29th, because then we'll have to hear about it.
I honestly think we have a good chance, and some of the predictors are going based off the family ties and what not too much.
I've been keeping up with Andrew Brown's recruitment since about a year ago and for nearly this whole process, there was ZERO chance we got him. So the fact that we'll make at least his top 3 after having no expectations this whole time is kind of cool. And if he pulls out our hat on Saturday, I, along with everyone on this site, will get absolutely slammed.
I usually only drink for games...but I might just have to get out some bourbon and the refresh button on Saturday.
I approach drinking the same way our players approach football.
Practice like you play. Gotta stay in game shape, even during the off season.
+1
There is no drinking off-season. No excuses, drink like a champion today.
I feel bad, I'm having trouble stringing multiple days of not drinking together.
Sounds like you're doing it right.
Wasn't it said by all the recruiting sites that Brown was most likely to stay instate, and that is why he was said to be a UVA lean? I don't know how accurate that is now. Personally, him deciding this early leads me to believe it might be a BAMA or Klemscum(may it never be).
I was going to get slammed Saturday anyways, so this would just make me feel less like an alcoholic.
It will be time to get chocolate wasted
I was about to ask if anyone knew who got eliminated. Thanks for the update.
Brown will reveal his decision during a live chat: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/southeast/post?id=20487.
So... Any idea when this live chat will be, or who he eliminated yesterday?
2:00 p.m. according to ESPN
how is he announcing who is eliminated? smoke signals?
Not sure, but it seems all the paysites know immediately.
Anyone know if he eliminated a team last night?
I havent heard or seen anything on the interwebs or on that twitter thing the kids are doing these days.
I'm not trying to get my hopes up or anybody else's for that matter, but I found this VERY interesting.
Would a guy who is a dominant DT really want to switch to DE? I don't know if he would thrive as a DE in the same way that he would DT. I also don't think Bama's 3-4 defense is a good fit for him. Just another tidbit of information as we get closer to his decision.
roll toilet
Bologna. Coaches just shovel this stuff out too. I could never be a recruiter. Alabama's DEs are comparable to VT's DTs anyway. Similar assignments, filling gaps, creating blitzing lanes for someone else to get to the QB, or creating pressure on the QB during passing downs, but they are not going around the edge like a DE at VT. In Saban's scheme almost Everything is funneled to the LB. DE in a 3-4 is not the same as DE in 4-3. Position wise, It is not more glamerous to be a DE at BAMA than a DT at VT. Does Saban explain all this to him. Well, I hope he knows.
Sombody tweet this to Brown, please.
He successfully tricked Jonathan Allen, who will languish as an end at Bama (or take 3 years to learn the Jack Linebacker position)
They got Korren Kirven the year before. If Brown went there, Bama could play a whole front 3 DL of 4 and 5* from VA. AAAHHHH, the thought of that makes me SOooo MAD.
If they got Hand as well they'd have an all-VA d-line. I might spontaneously combust.
They run a 3-4, so they could have an all VA D-line without Hand.
DE at Bama wouldn't be a thrilling college career. He would be a very good one no doubt but your whole purpose is to eat up blocks, not make plays. I'd love him at DT for us.
Satan is not making promises but is implying that he would get a lot of playing time (3 down). He doesn't guarantee it nor say what he would be doing. He might start on any team. Why not VT? If he wants to take it to the next level what is the best position to play? Doesn't matter since the NFL would take either position if you are good enough.
The funny thing is that the DL @ VT, (and pretty much the entire defense) is composed of 3-down players by design. Every now and then Wiles will put in a pass-rush lineup for 3rd & long, or Foster will go with a Nickel look, but for the most part our defense is structured to be flexible with base personnel. The same 11 guys can stuff the run then shutdown the pass.
After looking on the sabre for anything they may have posted there, i've determined the sabre is the worst fan site ever. thank you tkp for being exponentially better and not royally sucking.
even hoos i know hate the sabre
...am I the only one who (usually in his head) says "La Sab-waa" with a heavy french accent (...sounding like I have a mouth full of cheese) when they read the word "The Sabre" anywhere on this website?
Maybe so maybe no, but from now on, I will be saying it that way.
I like to imagine it's pronounced Sahhbray like in The Office. That's just me.
ha I do the same
like most hokies I know hate TSL.
i wandered the wilderness as a tsl refugee for months, then i found the land of milk and honey that is tkp. thank you joe for giving us such an awesome place to hang out and chat.
You're welcome. I truly believe that the community is what makes this place great, so thank you to y'all. French and Mason have written what I consider to be the best X's and O's analysis of any VT site and have helped this offseason fly by.
Additionally, because of the tee shirt sales there will be a major server upgrade happening in July. I'm moving the site from a 3 GB / 2 core shared virtual server to a 16 GB / 4 core dedicated machine. That bitch is going to be blazing fast and will handle of the season traffic.
I need to get a Tshirt at some point. Also, was wondering about name changing. This is a great site, and I'm glad I found it. Who knew that I would run into some of the guys I went to school with. My only suggestion would be to make links open in a new tab or window. Always hate being pulled away from a thread to read a link.
Anyways, keep up the great work!
I believe that change must be made on your end depending on your browser. I believe Chrome allows you to select to open all links in new tabs. Joe may be able to make it so that links act as popups, but the easy solution is just to either right click and select "open in new tab/window" or just use the wheel on your mouse (if you have one) and click the link to open in a new tab. Also press and hold CTRL and then click the link to open in new tab. Easy shortcuts so Joe doesn't have to change anything.
I can change your username for you, just let me know what you want the new one to be.
I think I'll go with my normal handle "Low Brau".
EDIT: Oh, was also wondering. Have you thought about doing a "support" membership? I know a lot of other forums do one for like $25 bucks, and it just gives you maybe some more ability, like specialty avator or something similar. Or maybe you get a sticker or something cool. Anyway, just a thought.
Thanks. Appreciate the site!
It's something I've bounced around in my head, but for right now I opted to go with the shirts. They support the site and whoever is buying them gets something cool to wear.
Thanks for the caps
Any chance I could get Horseonatreadmill changed to HorseOnATreadmill?
Yes! I was wondering if there was a doppelgnger UVA site out there where the fans weren't such tools...
...
Naaaahhh
They're UVA fans. They can't help it but to be tools.
The owner of The Sabre is a royal tool as well. This is an email that the owner wrote to Paul Lukas (of http://www.uni-watch.com) after he criticized Mike London for wearing full camos on the sidelines of a football game.
Here is the article referencing the letter: http://www.uni-watch.com/2012/11/13/nba-unveils-christmas-day-uniforms/
And here is the article that sparked the email in the first place: http://www.uni-watch.com/2012/11/12/monday-morning-uni-watch-93/
Wait... LONDON WAS A COP?!?!?!
Thank you Michael Ingalls, we almost forgot.
the guy actually mentions that london was a cop?!?
I followed the link to the sabre joe supplied above yesterday, and just kind of perused their site....I had a HUGE rush of appreciation for what our TKP staff has created here. This site is so far ahead of what they've got going on, words can't describe the gap. Not just in quality of conversation, but fan decorum, and technical site setup (I mean, geesh, you can't hardly follow a conversation on their site!). I don't know what kind of award I can nominate TKP for, but you guys deserve one!
Could it possibly be any worse than trying to follow a conversation on a TSL board?
It's the same format...but UVA
So Blue, Orange, and Pretentious? Got it.
If you guys don't like The Sabre, it's probably because you didn't receive a UVA education and are thus too dense to understand their intellectual conversations.
You mean, "la Sab-waa"
What was all that one in a million talk?
did he just eliminate us or something?
Supposedly he made 2 phone calls last night to coaches in his final 4. That's all I can find right now
One of the guys at Recruit757 said it was down to UVA, Alabama, and VT: https://twitter.com/JosephSmithJr1/status/350453870859792384.
Considering he was thought to be UVA bound for so long, this in itself is a win. Now if only Stinespring, Shane, and the rest of the boys can reel him in.
+1 Bass Fishing metaphor!
There's no second place in recruiting.
Sean Connery's quote from "The Rock" about winners and losers seems appropriate.
Of course.
So this is how Charlie Brown felt when he thought Lucy might not pull the football away.
(God I hope I'm wrong and something good will happen on Saturday.)
i've been reading on some Wahoo boards that there is a cookout this saturday, and Smoke, Eli, Turtle, and some other UVA commits will be there. Granted, they all know Brown, but I would think that is sitting up some awkwardness of committing to VT with all your boys who are Hoos.
I heard good things about the cookout though, like they will have pork brisket...
I just keep having this vision of Nnadi busting into the cookout like the Kool-aid man and spearing all of them, eating some brisket, and walking out.
Thank God its Friday...
Well, that's essentially what he'll be doing the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the next 4 years...
If you really want to jizz your pants, think of getting Brown, Nnadi, and Street this year
Don't forget Walker.
Well, shoot... That was my last pair of clean shorts...
Hope we can get two of those four
How would you like to be Walker? Any other year and you're the best DL in the state. This year there's Hand, Brown, Holmes and Nandi crowding the spotlight.
If that happens, I will upload a video clip of me doing this for all to see (and drool upon)
Please tell me you don't mean walking up in the unitard, crop top shirt, and awkward high-waisted underwear thing...
I was mainly focusing on the festive dance moves, but if the people want me in a unitard, then damnit thats what they will get
It doesn't count unless you unitard.
Breakin! good movie - terrible acting, great dance moves
Is that Jean Claude Van Dam?
Yes it is...in all of his glory
I feel like this is what ended his acting career
Actually it's a pretty old movie. I consulted IMDB - 1984.
what acting career?
Bloodsport...
This actually skyrocketed his career...it is one of my favorite memories as a kid making fun of Van Damme in this scene it is so priceless
+1 for excellent Van Damme action...legend
All 41 predictions on 247 have him going to UVA. I'm rapidly losing hope.
In our defense, 247 has had him predicted nearly 100% for a while now, while a lot of paysites have said that it's not a guarantee yet. Although he has gotten like three more UVA predictions within the last couple hours. I would love a major upset right now.
Yeah likewise...pretty sure he is UVA bound...which is a shame but whatever never expected it in the first place people just got excited after his visit last month
Not looking good. Brown is retweeting UVA players/fans (below tweet is not an example just a recent tweet) and responding to them in a matter that seems like he's set on being another hoo tied down on the Beamer and Co. train tracks.
EDIT: Just saw that he retweeted and talked to CJ/Fuller and some others. With the projected attendees at his UVA cookout I'm not very optimistic still.
He seems to be hitting everyone with "you already know". Hard to determine if that is good or bad. Oh well...
Eh, seems not so good. Here is a heavy UVA lean that he just retweeted for those who don't Twitter:
I am hoping for a Hulk Hogan Bash at the Beach style swerve, but it doesn't look likely. This may be more failing grade for the supposed recruiting expertise of Shane Beamer and the defensive staff.I know Brown was a UVA lean all along, but doesn't that say something that a school that HALF ASSES football can still land top guys and VT can't? As I said before, only two times since 2002 (Macho Harris and Tyrod Taylor) the Hokies have landed the top recruit in the Commonwealth. That is abysmal, given how they have dominated not only the Commonwealth Cup, but regional play as well. I had some hope that the staff had turned a corner by getting Fuller and Teller last season, but not such a positive review this year. Despite the empty trophy case and bragadocio, it sure doesn't seem like the man in charge is willing to work as hard as you have to in order to land top recruits in 2013.
Have to Spock you.
Brown is in Cornell and Stiney's territory, so I'm not sure what it has to do with Shane. Also, according to the most current list I could find on Rivals.com "Virginia Postseason Top 30 2009" David Wilson was the #1 player in VA: http://rivals.yahoo.com/virginiatech/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-2....
Why Tech is losing out on recruits to UVa, Michigan, Ohio State, and the SEC is a complicated issue, not something that can be summarized by a one-game series with an in-state rival.
How dare you!? It's the offseason! Time for hyperbolic knee-jerk reactions. Nothing better to do!
Don't worry, the staff will continue to be able to beat out FAU and UMass for 2-star guys.
Don't get me wrong, I would definitely love it if a 5-star like Damian Prince committed. However, the 2-star guys were camp offers. The coaches saw them in person, then made their evaluation based on their eyes. I trust their eyes more than the pair from Rivals or 247 that might have based a grade on a one-time performance from a kid his sophomore year.
In other news, authorities in Charlottesville swarm underage girl suspected to be possessing Zima. SMH. He cant be going here can he?
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/bottled-water-purchase-...
Wow, I know that girl. Well, Facebook friends at least.
You heard it here first. He's inviting all these UVa commits and leans to his cookout so he can pull a Kevin Jones on them. Someone give him a 3,501 Days of the Commonweath Cup Banner
Looks like this will be a live feed to the announcement.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/on-the-trail/post/_/id/41240/dt-an...
Damn. Someone screencap the upside down flag so we can make fun of him. :(
Oh well!
I don't want to be the guy that bashes a kid for his decision but I'd love to know what Mike London is telling these kids to get them there. Oh well. Congrats to him!
Probably something like "hey, did you know if you don't transfer before your sophomore year, you'll get to play for the great Tom O'Brien...oh, and I used to be a cop".
Why someone would choose to go to UVa over Tech during the decade of dominance is beyond me, but oh well... I'm sure whoever we bring in will get the job done
I agree. I just don't get it. Yes we had a pretty rough year, but UVA has had that for a while now. We have a better coaching staff, especially for all these defensive players. We fill up our stadium. We've punished UVA 9 years in a row. We've gone to 20 consecutive bowl games. We've played in some some recent BCS bowls. I just don't understand how three top prospects would pick UVA over us. I can't say much for the other talents wanting to go to OSU or Bama, but UVA, really? I would love to sit in on these recruiting visits and see the pitch London and company give to these players. I'm baffled.
I think London is telling them they can help build the program. Make UVA into something. Shame to see these top recruits waste their talent, as they won't receive the right coaching.
or he told brown: "I'll let you call all the plays on defense, kinda of like a quarterback! Actually...do you play quarterback at all?! If so I definitely have a spot for you on this roster!"
hes been telling them that for years now and at some point it would seem like the guys would want to hear something else. ill be interested to see what happened when hes fired in a season or 2
I've heard a lot of people talk about when London is gone. But I don't really buy it. UVA is a program that sticks with a coach who runs the team the way the university wants it run. UVA isn't going to sell out to win, evidenced by how long they held onto Groh, even though he wasn't winning. I think London has a good four years before his job is going to be in jeopardy. UVA will give him enough time to see through an entire class of recruits, then, when they realize they still aren't competitive in the league, they'll give it two more years and try something new.
I guess some of these players are willing to attempt to build a dynasty, fail, and receive little recognition, or succeed and receive even more recognition than going to an already well-established program. If that's the mindset, then props to them. That's a hell of a decision to make, especially at 16-17 years old. The pros (if successful) far outweigh the cons, but the odds don't seem particularly favorable.
Not very likely at all given their fan base...
Hate to bring it up, but what about Corwin Cutler and his Dad and his influence in that area. Brown and Cutler are good friends. We know how much Cutler's dad hates VT. How much could that have played into the whole mess?
A TON of influence. They are cousins I think.
This is it right there Hville... we can complain about this and that wrt to the VT staffs recruiting of Brown, but when you are hammered in to a pro UVA 'culture', anti VT for so long it is a big factor.
Can't say I am not dissappointed, but I am looking forward to watching Brown battle Jonathan McLaughlin for a few years.
On the bright side, we're that much more in the running for Nnadi
Brown just said he's going to try and recruit all of VA to UVA including Nnadi and Street (and Hand LOLUVA).
If getting Brown meant no Nnadi. Then I would have been saying good luck at UVa, before yesterday. We'll never know though.
I hate that we keep losing out on top recruits and the embarrassment I feel when we choke in big games. I feel pride in our school and love that I'm hokie..but I mean its tough to be a fan sometimes.... I thought for sure we would get brown or hand...man I hate that I get this disappointed on where a 17 year old kid decides to go to school.. Damn. I'll be in Atlanta for the bama game with my maroon and orange on but I have a feeling it's going to be tough to be a fan then too. Regime change when it comes is gonna be rough man... But it's gonna be at that point soon... And we will probably higher some assistant coach from duke as our new head coach instead of bud. Sorry for the gloomy contribution.. Sad state of affairs in Blacksburg it seems like
Because we'll need this in a few years when we play UVa.
Mike Farrell Comments on the Hokies Recruiting Cycle:
""It isn't just in that Virginia Beach area, either. More teams are coming into the state and getting kids, and when they are losing Da'Shawn Hand -- a kid who has always maintained that Bud Foster was his favorite coach -- that is just tough to swallow."
The program has been in a similar boat as it is historically. The Hokies focus on developing talent more than recruiting elite athletes.
Farrell said, with that mindset, not much will change for the program but that may be the problem.
"The fans have to be sick of 10-2 or 9-3 and playing for an ACC title," Farrell said. "This is one of the best staffs for coaching players up, and that will continue. But if the talent baseline was higher, the outcomes could be more rewarding; and those ACC championship games could be for a chance to play for a national title."
http://stanford.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1519184
Let's close this thread down and move on. I can't read it anymore.
Agreed, 17 year olds who prove they are dumber than a box of rocks by going to a dead-end program like UVA that calls any season above .500 successful deserve to suffer thru 4-5 years of frustration and losses to VT and other truly successful programs that they could have attended. Hope you enjoy losing to Duke young Mr. Brown, if recent history is any indication, you may have see it happen multiple times. Inconceivable.
Easy tiger. Try to keep it positive. This is a teenager trying to decide where he wants to go to school. Lets try not to be too hard on him just because he didn't pick the school he wanted
Agreed. It should be celebrated that a good kid has an opportunity to go to college and make a profession out of the game we love. Good for the kid. Now, lets hope our kids can be just a bit better than him between the sidelines.
My apologies gentlemen, to you and to young Mr. Brown. Sometimes the capriciousness of the system and the desire to see VT successes leads me to feel frustrated. Just scratching my head wondering what leads us to fail on many of the best recruits in our own home state. Oh well, just have to enjoy the victories on the field more and the whims of teenagers less. Thanks for running a great fan page that self-corrects in a gentle and fair manner.
Just think of all the other states that fail to land their best recruits. We pulled andrew ford from PA. We are trying to pull Izzo from NJ. we get a lot of kids from Florida. You can't tell me all of Bamas team is from Alabama? Not saying we shouldn't have an edge. Heard the other day Park always wanted to go to UGa (I know not instate for us, but just shows that sometimes kids have schools in mind).
Not sure if you can compare Ford and Izzo to Brown. According to Rivals, Brown is 3rd in this state, and more importantly, 7th nationally. Ford is 11th in his state, Izzo is 26th in his, neither ranked nationally. You're comparing Maseratis to Ford Mustangs. As for Florida, the highest recruit that I remember acquiring was Hosley, who was 25th in his state (139 nationally).
I think the thing that hurts is that this was the year of Virginia recruits. 3 in top 10, 7 in the top 100. VA has NEVER been this highly touted. VT currently has 0, and MAYBE end up with 1. UVA currently has 3, including 2 in the top 10. With Hand out of the running, and Holmes taking a 180 degree turn and not committing to VT, VT now looks like they can't even obtain the recruits they were in the lead for. It reeks of ineffectiveness, inability, and now desperation.
If I recall, last year was a banner year too. There were three top recruits in VA and none of them went instate. Next year is also looking promising with a couple top recruits from VA again. However, other programs are now full on sniffing in VA to snag some of these kids, so it may only get worse.
Yeah UVA has a couple of top kids, and there are many theories as to why (Beamer too old, London was a cop, etc). But I think that our coaches are starting to try and expand outside of VA which is good. The kids I mentioned earlier may not be the 5* of their states but they are heavily recruited by top programs and we should be happy with those victories and growth into those areas. You can't tell me elite teams like OSU, Michigan, USC, etc are winning with only kids in their states. So for us to be considered a national elite team, growth out of state is good.
As for Florida, I was going back more than 5 years. If my memory serves me, we have always pulled a couple great kids from that state going back a while.
I'm not in desperation mode, as French mentions, sometimes we go after kids we need or that fit our system. Why pick up a 4* in Moss when he won't work?
And let's be honest, we never had a chance on Brown. He had family and coaches pushing him there for a while, and as many have said, Nnadi is more of a Foster DT anyway.
We got time (only July after all, not like top recruits haven't changed their minds before) and if we put some wins up this season, that will help. We should be excited about these recruits who are out there ecstatic to be going to tech.
We're happy with the recruiting battles we've won. We're disappointed that VT keeps losing out on the blue chips that were in the grasp of VT. Brown was never in VT's grasp. Players like Hand, Holmes, Derrick Green, Korren Kirven, Stefon Diggs, Stephone Anthony, Travis Hughes, Marquis Williams, and the list goes on. Now, I'm not saying VT should have gotten all these players or even 1/2, but VT seems to be on the losing end on some major battles. It is true, 2012 and 2013 marked the time that VT did win some battles, such as Ekenam, Caleb and Teller, but the loses seem to pill up higher than the wins. We'll have to wait and see what 2014 has in store.
The thing I hate is the fact that London is going to these kids homes and trying to be all hip and talking like he is on there level...thats all good but when you have staff Changes like they do , what does a kid think he is going to get coaching wise out of uva.There is no cohesiveness as a fan base and they never sell out of there stadium .I agree it will be hard to appeal to akid if your 66 years old compared to 40 but kids have got to do there research but until we win a big game expect more of these disappointments
Research? You are talking about 17 year old kids. I doubt most of these kids do a significant amount of research into schools. They go based off of family/coaching ties, recent memory, and how they think they will fit. I think we like to think that its a pretty simple decision of VT over UVA (which I maintain it is) but we also don't have our family/friends/coaches pushing us a certain direction. For all we know London is selling them on "be the one to turn this around" and Brown wants his shot at it. Honestly a kid that wants to "be the one" may not be the best fit for our beloved Hokies since what we preach is team.
From what I have heard, a lot of kids are choosing based on the recruiting lists and depth charts. I know some kids are willing to go to a lesser school to start right away, rather than red shirt or have to compete against someone for the starting job. This may have played a role in some of our loses, someone may feel that he should start his freshman year and not wait or battle someone like Luther Maddy.
I know one guy was telling me how his nephew looked at the recruiting and depth chart sheet when he was on visit at OSU, and then committed to NC State.
A couple of years ago at one of the Recruiting nights in Arlington there was a question about Demetrious Nicholson and it was said that he really wanted to be a Hokie (IIRC might have even been a big fan for a few years), but when he saw he could get on the field right away at UVA he went there.
Kenny, London is 52 FYI, but he did wear camo one game and was a cop :-)
Not sure if I should resent the fact that London's age is being brought up, since I'm 52...
If we handle out business on the field we control va and control things off of the field. ..we wont get 5 stars going 7-6!!!!
We cant worrie about the ones we dont get ..we got to worry about the ones we have...
Frank....
UVA just did... with a worse record.
Congratulations to Brown for making a decision that is a dream of any football player/fan (to be able to essentially choose where you would like to continue to develop your talents). However, have fun learning to accept defeat to your bitter rival from Southwest Virginia for the next 5 years!
Everything is perfectly fine...we have seen this time and again. I wouldn't be surprised if UVA has landed more high star recruits then us over the last 15 years but our classes generally ended up ranked higher...plus we nearly always beat them...and will continue to do so. I am not concerned in the least...I liked the comment about our coaching staff offering kids that attend camps at Tech and seeing them first hand, I too trust their judgement and I think we all should. We've been very good for a long time, and were gonna be pretty darn good this year too I reckon.
Agree. Uva has gotten "higher" ranked players from Virginia before and still not won. There are several years in the early 2000's where it looked like Va was far superior then Tech. But it was VT that won 10+ games and was ranked in the top 10. Before London, VT outrecruited Uva by a lot. Uva didn't get anyone in the top 10-20 for a few years. However, starting around 2006 it seems more top recruits have gone out of state. Those are the ones that worry me. Kudos for Brown at least staying in state. Uva has become competitive again with in-state recruits. Will it mean more wins for booveeay? I haven't seen any evidence of it yet. It seems too easy for top FBS recruits to get pulled away from this state. Does it matter? Can it change or does it need to change? Is it about something other than football?
This is true, and I am sure Tech will continue to beat UVA on the field. However, because the NATIONAL spotlight is burning so brightly on Virginia recruiting this year, the perception damage that comes with Hand and Brown going elsewhere is crushing and brings more focus on past failures (Curtis Grant/Travis Hughes will stick in my craw for a long long time.)
Remember Kai Parham and Ahmad Brooks...We landed Marcus that year but overall UVA got most of the predicted talent in state that year...what happened? our class ended up so much better with Tapp and Burchette Imoh and Jimmy williams etc.
What happened, indeed. Loluva
I'm sure we arent the only ones scratching our heads at why he choose UVA. Saban is prolly like...WTF Braj?