Hokies, Zohn Burden Target RBs as 2017 Recruiting Efforts Ramp Up

Zohn Burden may be new to coaching running backs, but so far, he hasn't been shy about leading the charge on the recruiting trail when it comes to targeting Tech's top junior RB prospects.

The Hokies have been handing out a slew of offers to those in the class of 2017 in recent weeks, putting a special focus on running backs, despite their jam-packed depth chart at the position.

Burden has been the key architect of those efforts, extending offers to backs around the country as Justin Fuente assembles his list of top prospects for the next recruiting cycle.

2017 RB A.J. Dillon of Groton, Mass.'s Lawrence Academy said he'd heard from the Hokies briefly before Burden first contacted him, but it was when the new RBs coach reached out to him on Twitter on Jan. 13 that Tech pulled the trigger and offered him.

"I called him and we were just chatting and he said he thought I was a great running back that could play at Virginia Tech, and I was honored, and I'm very thankful for the offer," Dillon said. "Virginia Tech is definitely a place I could see me playing."

Dillon, who's rated a 4-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite ranking, added that the offer sent him scrambling to learn all he could about the program.

"I'm pretty sure I did more research than humanly possible once we got off the phone, looking at their stats and watching film and how they use their running backs," Dillon said.

But Dillon notes that he didn't need to watch film to know about Tech's national reputation.

"They have a great program, they're always a national contender," Dillon said. "They're just one of those programs that's set up to succeed all the time. Football-wise, I wouldn't be worried about picking Virginia Tech, I know they have a tradition of being good and they're going to be good. From talking to the coaches, I feel like the coaches are the type of people I want to play for."

Dillon says he's never been to Virginia Tech, missing the chance to stop by campus due to time constraints on his previous "East Coast tour" last summer of schools like North Carolina and Wake Forest, but now he "definitely will" try his best to visit and learn more about the school.

In the meantime, he'll continue to evaluate the other programs interested in him based on a wide array of factors. Dillon says he thinks he can play in any type of offense, so he's open to whatever kind of scheme Fuente may choose to use at Tech.

"In reality, I'm not the fastest back, I'm not a scat back per se, so I understand some programs don't really like bigger backs or super, super quick backs, but I feel like I'm right there in the middle," Dillon said. "So first, I look for how they utilize their running backs."

At 6'1" and 230 pounds, Dillon does indeed have size to go with his speed. But he adds that he'll be weighing factors beyond just what he sees on the field.

"My mom's the dean of students at my own high school, so academics are very important," Dillon said. "I still don't know what I want to major in, so (when Tech offered) I looked up every major that they had, thought about what they had and what I'd do and all that kind of stuff."

Dillon is in the midst of studying plenty of schools beyond just Tech, however. He says he hears plenty from Penn State, Notre Dame and Boston College these days, and he notes that he has a particularly close connection with the Fighting Irish — his grandfather, Thom Gatewood, was just inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after his career with Notre Dame.

Accordingly, he's gotten the chance to visit South Bend a few times now, along with State College, and he says he hears plenty from both sets of coaching staffs these days.

But Dillon's suitors won't have much longer to make an impression on him, as he hopes to commit sometime around his birthday in May.

2017 RB Kyshaun Bryan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.'s American Heritage HS says he was initially targeting a similarly early commitment, but he's since changed his mind for one key reason.

"I was thinking about (committing) early, but since Virginia Tech offered me, I'm probably going to push it back to around my senior year, before the season or after," Bryan said.

Bryan says he's been hearing from Burden and the Hokies "since the season started" but it was only on Dec. 14 that they officially offered him.

"It was exciting because I was waiting on it, and they were talking to me a lot," Bryan said. "I'm interested in ACC football a lot, so that was exciting news."

The 5'10", 190-pound back, who's rated a 4-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite ranking, says he's also never seen Blacksburg.

With interest from teams as varied as Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Miami, West Virginia and Ohio State, he has plenty of schools to get to, and he says he's already gotten to all the Florida campuses.

Now he's hoping to swing by Clemson and Ohio State sometime in February and March, with a trip to Blacksburg to meet Burden in person on the books as well.

"He seems like a cool guy, I can't wait to go up there and see the school and everything," Bryan said.

2017 RB Adarius Lemons of Clearwater (Fla.) HS says he won't have to go Blacksburg to see Burden. The RB coach will be visiting Lemons at his school today, after offering him on Jan. 7.

"When they offered me, it was great, because that's a school that I know Michael Vick went to when he was playing ball," Lemons said. "That's another top school that a big name came from, so I was really excited I got an offer from them."

Lemons, another 4-star prospect according to the 247Sports Composite rating system, doesn't lack for interest from other, similarly prestigious schools.

"The programs I'm looking at the most right now are Ohio State, though it's slacking off a little bit, really them and Kentucky," Lemons said.

Lemons notes that he hasn't scheduled visits to any of the programs he's interested in yet, but he suspects that he'll discuss it in more detail with Burden when they meet face-to-face.

"We haven't talked about that much yet, I think he just wants to meet me first," Lemons said.

One player in Lemons' neck of the woods also earned a Tech offer, but from a recruiter that's a bit more familiar with the Florida area — Torrian Gray extended a scholarship to 2017 OLB Ventrell Miller of Lakeland, Fla.'s Kathleen HS.

Gray offered Miller on Jan. 12, but had his eyes on him for weeks, largely because he's a Lakeland alum himself.

"He said he saw my film and after he saw it, he was that impressed with it," Miller said. "And he told me he liked it and he was gonna go back and see if he could get an offer for me."

That's just what he did last week, arranging a phone call with Fuente and Bud Foster to give him the good news.

"They said I can get to the ball fast, and find the ball really quickly," Miller said. "They just like my vision for the ball, and I can hit hard."

Miller said Tech was the third school to reward him with an offer for those qualities, with Florida Atlanta and UMass first on board. Since the Hokies pulled the trigger, he said Iowa State has as well, with Iowa and Tennessee starting to show interest too.

But even with all that interest, he says he'll still make time for a trip to Tech based on what he's heard from the new staff so far.

"They're building up," Miller said. "They were saying they've got one of the best defenses, so they're saying if they get offense to come with it, that's a championship team, and that really impressed me."