Virginia Tech held its second junior day of the winter this weekend. As Alex put it, the event was on a smaller scale than the one earlier in February. However, the Hokies extended a slew of scholarship offers during the event and hosted a couple of blue chip visitors.
Riley Locklear left Blacksburg with a scholarship offer. The Huntington, West Virginia (Spring Valley) class of 2017 product is unranked according to the 247Sports Composite, but he holds offers from Virginia, Oklahoma, Syracuse, South Carolina, California and Tennessee among other schools.
Go Hokies! Had a great visit and received an offer from Virginia Tech University! #ACC pic.twitter.com/p9QydOZZgc— Riley Locklear (@LocklearRiley) February 28, 2016
Virginia Tech was the first program to offer 6-4, 200 pound athlete Brailyn Franklin. The 2017 prospect is currently unranked by the 247Sports Composite. Franklin transferred from Bowie HS (Arlington, TX) to Battlefield (Haymarket, VA) in February 2015. Franklin played nose guard, wideout and corner for Battlefield last season.
Im blessed an glad to say ive officially recieved my 1st offer from VT on Junior Day #VT#GoHokies!!!! pic.twitter.com/9CBou5YB3P— DeuceBoog1e (@prettiboi_23bra) February 27, 2016
Linebacker Dorian Etheridge was back on campus. Tech's been recruiting the Capital HS (Charleston, WV) product since before his junior season. The 247Sports Composite rates the 2017 prospect as a 3-star recruit.
Great day at Virginia Tech With coach Foster and coach Fuente #Hokies #LunchPailD pic.twitter.com/iq11S3FjOj— Llenahs (@D_Shmoney_17) February 27, 2016
(Also, do I spy Brian Mitchell on the right end of that photo?)
Virginia Tech offered cornerback / wide receiver Sean Savoy. Maryland and Temple have also offered the 2017 Woodrow Wilson HS product.
TRUELY BLESSED TO SAY I RECEIVED MY 3rd offer from #VT #GoHokies pic.twitter.com/us3n95g0Dx— S.Savoy2 (@bando_sean) February 27, 2016
According to the 247Sports Composite, Savoy is unranked, but he was named as the kick returner to the locally prestigious All-Met squad, the only junior to be included on the first-team.
Big-play threat finished with 26 touchdowns, including two on kick returns, five interceptions on defense and 71 catches for 1,351 yards as a receiver.
2017 athlete Caleb Farley picked up an offer from the Hokies; his second in addition to Wake Forest. The 6-3, 180 athlete (quarterback for Maiden HS in NC) is currently unranked according to the 247Sports Composite.
I am very thankful to have received an offer from Virginia Tech GO HOKIES pic.twitter.com/Yr4hAgBIIh— Caleb (@IamCalebFarley) February 27, 2016
2018 running back Jaelen Gill received an offer from the Hokies. The 6-0, 175 Westerville South HS (Ohio) 4-star prospect also holds offers from Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State and Tennessee among other programs.
Extremely blessed and thankful to receive my 16th offer, from Virginia Tech! #letsgohokies #GoHokies pic.twitter.com/loK6xEz8Gg— Squizzy Squirt (@jaelengill21) February 27, 2016
Devon Hunter was the biggest name on campus for Virginia Tech this weekend.
The multitalented 4-star Indian River safety and wide receiver has been courted by the Hokies since he was in eighth grade. However, as Hunter told The Key Play in July 2015, former Tech assistant Bryan Stinespring was the constant for the Hokies throughout his recruitment.
"Coach Stinespring is the first one I met with the Hokies, he always just tells me to stay humble," Hunter told The Key Play in July 2015. "He's been there from the beginning."
Hunter's visit provided the opportunity to familiarize himself the new members of Tech's coaching staff.
Great visit at V-Tech today... I can truly say that I'm excited about the Hokies moving forward into the future #HokieNation — Devon Hunter (@devonhunter11) February 28, 2016
Comments
Good eye picking out Mitchell Joe.
Brian Mitchell was there for Junior Day according to coaches. Joe's picture also nails the #sauces
News should be announced this week I would guess.
Very glad to see us bringing kids from OH. No Fear!
OT: what's the word on Zech Byrd from 'Bama?
Don't you know about the Byrd? Everybody knows that the Byrd is the word! :D
Classic post. Thanks for the chuckle.
Yea, that's him.
Has an offer from Bama, wouldn't hold your breath
Just noticed from the Twitter that our offers arrived on the same day, and also Michigan in the mix.
It's interesting to see them going after players from West Virginia. Seems back in the day, we pulled many a player from there. Are there still a lot of students from southern West Virginia?
This is a strange year for WV recruits. I have seen multiple consecutive years that there might not be a single 3 star player in the state.
I wish there was more to go on with Devon Hunter. I really hope we land him
Alex is doing his best to land an interview.
That would be awesome!!
Y'all deserve every bit of my $84.00 for all the hard work you guys put in here
I don't know. The chicken emoji does not show him as a firm VT lean yet /s
Brailyn plays Nose Guard like a beast and moonlights as a kick returner.
We're his only Div 1 offer. All is right with the world.
I was thinking the same thing. Nose, WR, and DB. That's one heck of an athlete
Swiss Army Knife football player!!
Locklear has a lot of top offers I'm surprised he's unranked right now
Nice wrap-up, Joe. Thanks as always -
Lots of "first offer/early offer" kids in this story - which IMO is very encouraging. But. This brings up a new wrinkle to our ongoing convo about recruiting - specifically the notion of "star ratings resulting from offers" vs "offers resulting from star ratings". I know we have a history of offering guys who then immediately pop on everyone else's radar (and regularly get signed from under our noses - but this is not unique to the Good Guys, and has only become more common as the 757 has become more and more visible as a nat'l hotbed of football talent)...
I guess my question is for the 'crootin services. How can a player - in the '17 cycle - with offers from (among others) VT, OU, SCe and The PeniTENNtiary - be unranked in the 247 composite?? Or are the services just letting the coaches do the heavy lifting and reacting to their offers? I've always thought of the services as pro-active developers of information, a tool that fans (and some coaches, probably) can use to track their teams' targets and stay informed. But given CJF's (among other coaches') insistence on doing his own eval, combined with all the players we've offered early (or in many cases, first), why are we (as fans) sitting around waiting for 247 to catch up? Seems like there are like 20 people on this site (NOT counting TKP staffers) who break news/possible news before 247, the WWL etc.
Ha - just came back to reply to Ben, and his reply has disappeared. ?
Or are the services just letting the coaches do the heavy lifting and reacting to their offers? I've always thought of the services as pro-active developers of information, a tool that fans (and some coaches, probably) can use to track their teams' targets and stay informed.
splitting hairs perhaps but they aren't recruiting "services", i.e., they don't go out and look for talent and then market what they find; rather they are recruiting publications that help generate and profit on fan interest in recruiting.
except for camps sponsored by the pubs, the coaches do almost all of the heavy lifting.
competition in that industry is improving the product...but there is little to no pressure on the pubs to get the evaluation correct. conversely, a recruiting service has to be very good at evaluations or no one will buy their product
Right. "Recruiting services" becomes "recruiting sites" moving forward. Didn't mean to imply that any of these sites provide any service aside from info/speculation
Yep.
Casual fans put way too much into the star ratings by the recruiting publications - particularly in the mid 3* to mid 4* area where most of VT's signees live. The differences between players in this area of the recruiting umbrella are much smaller - and the outcomes far more difficult to project - than the star ratings imply to the casual observer.
Here's a name to get to know
In a 247 VIP article this kid and Devon Hunter have talked about playing together and wanting to get to the next level. Jamyest has an offer from the Hokies as of 2/26 and said, "I've been waiting on it for a while. They produce productive defensive backs."
If we land em both I will attempt a David Wilson backflip
Ha! I like it.
And for the (ahem) seniors among us, there is always the Bud Foster somersault option.
Cartwheel*
Jamyest has been getting talked up a lot by Laborn on Twitter. Talent recognizes talent I guess. Hopefully we can land both of them.
Dear Santa:
Jamyest, Hunter and Laborn
If so, I can recommend a good Chiropractor.
I'm gonna need a lot more than that if I try haha
According to an FSU 247 article Laborn seems to be leaning very heavily towards FSU and Levonta Taylor is recruiting him hard. This will be an uphill battle
scoop from FL connection--> correct above but Laborn doesn't want to be another horse in the stable he wants to be THE HORSE. FSU is recruiting a decent amount of RB's for 17 class (Swift,Laborn) and Zaquandre White has already committed so expect this one to come down to signing day.
IMO if White stays committed and Swift commits to FSU Laborn could stay home... snagging Laborn from FSU would be huge as FSU seems to have VA by the balls in terms of recruiting wins lately.
FSU seems to have VA by the balls in terms of recruiting wins lately.
A national title and a playoff appearance will do that
That was the one thing I was holding onto for hope.... that Laborn wants PT and he's not gonna get it at FSU with a ton of other 4*/5* RBs. Oddly enough FSU's recruiting may have helped us.
Says who?
Says someone who has a good hold on FSU recruiting and is normally pretty on point
.
Want his name and phone number too..damnDon't get defensive its a reasonable question. 5 star players rarely have the mentality of shying away from competing against 5 star players. That drive is what helps make them that good. Blue bloods wouldn't be able to rack them up if that wasn't true. If he really cared about being THE horse he wouldn't even consider a team of FSUs talent
Yeah these are good points.. Related to FSU the past few years they have had a legit #1 rb and barely used a #2 so it's important to him(Laborn) that's all.
Apologies for the sass..
From 247 word is that Hunter loved his visit and all of the new coaches.
He looks to be coming back for the spring game
Holla. Holla holla holla. Hollahollahollahollahollaholla etc