Justin Fuente's New Staff Offers 2016 Prospects, Sets Visits with Signing Day Rapidly Approaching

Now that they're out of the doldrums of the recruiting dead period, Justin Fuente and his newly completed staff are poised to ratchet up their efforts on the trail for the final push toward National Signing Day.

But even with the NCAA-mandated break around the holidays, Fuente's team has been feverishly extending new offers and scheduling visits to see some of these prospects in person. Indeed, the group will hit the road in a big way today now that they're allowed to visit recruits in person once more.

A key focus of these impending trips will be firming up who exactly will come to visit Blacksburg on the weekends of Jan. 22 and Jan. 29, a pair of weekends that are shaping up to be key chances for the staff to sell their new vision of the program immediately before signing day hits.

Fuente and company have put a particular emphasis on getting some recent offers on campus, picking out several recruits they were recruiting while still at Memphis to try and sway to Tech at the last minute.

2016 athlete Tyrrell Pigrome of Pinson, Ala.'s Clay-Chalkville is a prime example of this very pattern. He only officially got an offer from Tech on Jan. 5, courtesy of WR coach Holmon Wiggins, but he's been talking with Wiggins since his junior year.

"At first, I talked to Coach Wiggins a lot when he was at Memphis, so I thought we had fell off when he went to Virginia Tech because we hadn't talked in awhile, but then he offered," Pigrome said.

Though Wiggins may be new to the orange and maroon, Pigrome says he was excited to get the offer from him because of their pre-existing rapport.

"I like him a lot," Pigrome said. "I like how he's an upfront coach, he keeps it real with you, lets you know what's going on. I just like the way he coaches and handles business."

Pigrome adds that he'd heard from Fuente when he was still a Tiger as well, and got a chance to reconnect with him immediately after Wiggins extended him a Tech offer. Specifically, their discussions centered on where Pigrome might play if he were to become a Hokie — 247Sports lists him as a dual-threat quarterback, but he's not married to the idea of staying under center at the next level.

"He said he thought I could play quarterback or even slot receiver," Pigrome said. "But he just wants the ball in my hands and they said they just want me to make plays happen."

Pigrome's never been to Tech's campus, but he plans to change that with an official visit on Jan. 22. He'll be swinging by Tulane on Jan. 15 and Maryland on Jan. 29, and since he doesn't expect to make a decision until signing day, the trip will likely be a key factor in his ultimate college choice.

"I just want to see it and make sure it's nice and make sure they have what I want to major in," Pigrome said.

Pigrome will be joined that weekend by 2016 OG Dylan Powell of Hannibal (Mo.) HS, who will also be taking his official visit to Blacksburg.

Similarly, he got his offer from OL coach Vance Vice in early December, but it was hardly his first interaction with Fuente's bunch.

"I'd been talking to them ever since they'd been at Memphis, so I had a relationship with them before," Powell said. "I think (Vice is) a great guy, all of his players love him and they play hard for him, and I think he's gonna get the best out of them. I know he's a great coach and he's going to do whatever he can to make his players successful."

Powell notes that Vice offered him almost as soon as he joined Tech's staff, and was quick to heap praise on his game.

"They like my ability to use my quickness on the field and my aggressiveness and they like the way I'm able to roll my hips and my hand placement when I block," Powell said.

But for all of Vice's kind words, there's a bit of a complication — Powell's currently committed to Purdue, though Tech's interest could ultimately change his mind.

"Right now, I'm still committed there, but I'm going to sit down and talk with my family," Powell said.

Yet he isn't the only prospect Tech is pursuing that's already made a Big Ten commitment. 2016 CB Coney Durr of Geismar, La.'s Dutchtown HS made his pledge to Minnesota already, but he's giving the Hokies a fresh look.

Durr says he first heard from assistant head coach Galen Scott about a week and a half ago to rekindle the relationship they first started building when Scott was still at Memphis.

The Hokies have yet to extend him a scholarship, but Durr is confident that "they're planning to offer." In fact, he says Scott told him that he'll be visiting today, so he thinks the offer could come "soon."

Whether or not Durr earns an offer on Scott's trip, he plans to make a trip of his own to Blacksburg on either Jan. 22 or 29, depending on what kind of travel arrangements he can make.
That trip will come on the heels of a visit to Chapel Hill to check out North Carolina this weekend, as Durr tries to give the ACC one last look before he heads north.

"I'm committed to Minnesota, but these visits are pretty much to weigh my options and look at other schools," Durr said. "I'm committed to Minnesota for a reason, but I wanted to take my visits and explore the whole recruiting process."

At Tech, he specifically wants to get a look at how the school's academics match his planned area of study (marketing and business), as well as get a feel for its culture.

"I know a lot about the athletic side of the program, but I want to get a feel for the town of Blacksburg and how it would fit my major," Durr said. "Just get a feel for how it, the program, and be around the guys and staff."

But he stresses that Virginia and North Carolina will be the final stops in his recruitment process with February looming.

"I'll only be taking two (visits)," Durr said. "I don't want to overload it with school and all. But it's coming up pretty soon and it's a huge decision so I don't want to be overwhelmed with it. I really want to come down as early as I can so I can have a week to talk it over with my family and think it over."

2016 punter Marshall Long of China Grove, N.C.'s South Rowan HS has yet to make a commitment anywhere, but he has a similarly tough decision coming up.

On Dec. 23, special teams coordinator James Shibest extended him his second offer, joining only the Army Black Knights. Long says he hasn't known Shibest very long, but he felt that the new Tech special teams mastermind quickly made him a priority.

"He had just gotten hired at Virginia Tech and three days later he was at my school, sat down with me, talked to me," Long said. "He knew some stuff about me, he'd seen my film, and some of the coaches had been talking to him. I got to meet him, which was pretty cool because he'd just been hired and he was already at my school three days later. He's just a real cool guy."

Part of the reason Shibest knew so much about Long right off the bat is because he has an extensive history with the Hokies. He says he first visited Blacksburg for a kicking camp this summer, where Frank Beamer himself took an interest in him.

"After the camp was over, Coach Beamer called me into his office and talked to me a little bit, and he told me he was going to have me down for a few visits over the season," Long said.

Long followed through on Beamer's desire to get him on campus, stopping by to see the Hokies play both Ohio State and Duke, and those visits got him very comfortable with the area.

"I love it there," Long said. "I'm a big mountain guy, love the mountains. Just the people there and the atmosphere, it's definitely somewhere I could see myself. I'd been on several visits to different schools, and Virginia Tech is definitely at the top of the list of the ones I'm interested in the most, for sure."

Sweetening the deal for Long is the departure of longtime Tech starter A.J. Hughes, which could give him the chance to start from day one on campus if everything breaks right.

"I've wanted to be able to play my freshman year," Long said. "I wasn't gonna mind if I had to redshirt somewhere, but the real goal is to be able to play my freshman year, so it works out real well that A.J. is leaving, and being able to come in and make an impact my freshman year."

But the other prime contender for his services has a similar opening for the starting job — Georgia Bulldogs punter Collin Barber is also graduating, so it's no surprise that UGA has emerged as Long's other top school. The Dawgs have yet to offer Long, but as Kirby Smart and new special teams coordinator Shane Beamer get more acquainted with Athens, that could change.

"Right now, it's a walk-on deal," Long said. "But it's kind of hectic right now with the new coaching change there, and I don't know exactly what they're gonna do."

Long will have a chance to compare the two program side-by-side with back-to-back visits, as he'll be taking a visit to Georgia on Jan. 22 and one to Tech on Jan. 29.

Yet, given Shibest's interest in Long's punting abilities, it seems he'll do his best to keep the prospect out of Beamer's hands.

"Mostly I'm just good at hang time, that's the one thing Coach Shibest said he liked the most," Long said. "He's not worried about distance and all that, he just wants the ball in the air, and that's something I've been able to work on over the years and become really good at."