Virginia Tech tapped the Wolverine State for the latest addition to its 2017 recruiting class when Kalil Pimpleton announced his commitment to the Hokies on Sunday evening.
Proud to say I have verbally committed to Virginia Tech University! #GoHokies pic.twitter.com/RYT6Q6VNmZ
— Kalil Pimpleton (@KalilKalil03p) May 8, 2016
Tech offered Pimpleton on March 23, and the Hokies remain his lone Power 5 suitor.
"I couldn't do anything but smile. A coach from Virginia Tech called and he told me they wanted me to be one of their guys," Pimpleton told MLive.com on March 24. "Instantly, I started crying. It's just a blessing to get my first D1 offer and go to college for free."
The 5-7, 160 pound Muskegon HS (Michigan) product visited Blacksburg on April 5 with teammate LB Andrew Ward (who also holds a Hokies offer).
Pimpleton is rated as a 2-star prospect by 247Sports. However, he did earn MLive.com/Muskegon Chronicle offensive player of the year honors in 2015 for his prolific quarterback play. He tallied 1,091 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground, and he completed 88 of 156 attempts for 1,180 yards and 10 TDs.
When he joins the Hokies, Pimpleton will transition from behind center into the slot.
Virginia Tech made the scholarship offer on Tuesday for Pimpleton as a slot receiver/athlete for the class of 2017, according to Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield.
"To me, I thought it's only a matter of time. I'm surprised a MAC school hasn't offered him," (Muskegon coach Shane) Fairfield said. "In those 7 on 7s, he's making catches and nobody can cover him, nobody can touch him."
Fairfield said Pimpleton is still Muskegon's starting quarterback going into the fall, but could be used at multiple positions, including receiver, kick returners and possibly on defense at cornerback.
Comments
*waits for people to complain about "Virginia Tech University"*
Opened the link and told Mr. 08hokies10.
Oh, we got a new recruit from Michigan.
Ughhh, he called us Virginia Tech University.
Hopefully Coach Fuente will build our recognition to the point we are correctly known by our right name..
Amazing hand, and lightning feet. He will be exciting to watch.
Welcome aboard. VT needs plenty of WRs to run Fuente's high octane offense.
Looks like a playmaker. Seeing him doing those drills at home was impressive.
Outstanding! Great player and a shoo-in for the all-name team.
5' 7" wide receiver?
can't really teach great hands and speed. Maybe he comes in as an H-back.
Growth spurts happen.
I think Bucky was 5 '7 when he received his VT offer so...
hopefully he'll be our version of Texas Tech's Jakeem Grant
Grant makes me dizzy. If Pimpleton has those hands, that quickness and acceleration, we're in for a treat.
I watched this guy abuse future 1st or 2nd rounder Tre'davious White of LSU in their bowl game. If he is anything like Grant, he will create all sorts of matchup issues.
Watching Grant and Pimpleton, I'm seeing the exact same player. Obviously, the levels of competition are drastically different, but I'm as excited about Pimpleton as any other offensive recruit in this class. He's extremely quick and exceptionally difficult to tackle, and I think he's going to be just devastating on quick screens and the short passing game, as well as sweeps where we can get him the ball in space. Him paired up with Deablo with some room to operate is going to be money for the next 3 years once he gets here.
Wonder if Aaron Moorehead will comment on this........
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http://www.scout.com/college/football/recruiting/story/1654723-hokies-a-...
Heir to CJ Carroll's slot game
With QB Hendon Hooker already on board for this class, I'm already looking forward to writing ledes with all manner of "Hooker to Pimp" jokes in them in a few years.
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Glad to hear he appreciates the value of a free education. Welcome Mr. Pimpleton!
Cover'n Pimpleton ain't easy
Michigan, huh? It was a catch.
He's from Michigan. Of course he knows it was a catch.
2 * WR, but a 5* baller.
Dude is fast and shifty. Could be a great Wild Turkey option
This will never get old. Still sounds so much better than Wildcat...
According to his Hudl profile, he can run a 4.3 40. Based on the film he does have good hands. Looks like the blocking might be a concern though with his size, though. However, he must have fairly big hands and long fingers the way he can catch the football one-handed. He could find a role on special teams with returns.
ran a laser timed 4.58 or something close to that last weekend, so no to the 4.3.
He did the best he could.
Reminds me of Santana Moss or Antwaan Randle El. +1, welcome to Hokietown population you
Even though he looks like he'll be playing in the slot, for some reason he doesn't remind me of Danny Coale. Not sure why. Can't put my hoof on it.
Yeah he doesn't remind me of Joe Jurevicius, Ed McCaffrey, Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, CJ Carroll, Willie Byrn or Kyle Korver either.
the guy just pops off the screen
He reminds me of Eddie Royal, if he turns out that well we should be very happy.
Flashbacks of Trindon Holliday watching that tape, too!
So friggin' quick.
Still waiting for a blue chipper Fuente..... /s
Dude is a slippery little guy and he sure is fast..
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I can't stop watching this. I'm dying.
ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!
Are you calling him a Mazda? (Zoom zoom!) Lightning fast and fun to watch.
No. This in response to the gif above.
Kid is fun to watch
I hope he lines up close to Drake Delullyleiislllusles a lot, for comparison purposes.
You win with 2-3* rated players and you are better at finding talent than the recruiting services, or better at developing talent than others, or have system to utilize a different skill set than other teams. You go 6-6 with 2-3* players and you can't recruit.
Clicked on thread and immediately looked for his star ranking. Watched his film. Don't care anymore about this star ranking. Dude is gonna be the tits in Fuentes offense.
Fast, elusive, great hands, fearless inside runner, tough to bring down, tough to catch...what's not to like? I predict fireworks from this guy in Fuente's scheme.
I have to confess that I'm a believer that, at some point, we need to begin to land some "blue chippers" in order to compete with the big boys. So when I see all of the 3* guys (and this 2* guy) we have committing, I'm a bit anxious... Not worried, just anxious to see how & what Fuente is building.
With that being said, I'm exited about guys who love VT regardless of the ** rankings. And as for this guy... He could have no stars beside his name and I'd be excited. The kid has great hands, very quick feet and some major hops (that tells us he is explosive). Glad he is a Hokie!
When we start winning again and pumping more money into the program through increased fan/alumni contributions we will see more blue-chip guys. But the way many reacted to the Hokie Club changes worries me much more than our current recruiting.
I have no problem with signing some low rated specific skill set guys, but there is no waiting on blue chips. You get them or you don't. Maryland already landed a 5 star with nothing but hope to sell. No reason they can and we can't
This guy returning punts is going to be sooooooo fun to watch. He is shifty as hell. And can he please catch a TD while doing a backflip and then continue back flipping up the lawn at Lane North knocking Zimas over and high fiving Hokie fans? Is that too much to ask?
I'm curious on how someone who can make the plays you see in that highlight film comes out as only a 2* in the rankings. Something isn't adding up. Is it really simply because he's a small player? Ask Steve Smith how much height hurts your game if you're fast and quick enough to find open spots.
I know absolutely nothing about Michigan high school football. But sometimes it has to do with the competition he's up against. If his area is bad at football in general the scouts could believe that his playmaking ability is superficial. Complete speculation on my part for this though.
I did a little research on Pimpleton's team Muskegon on MaxPreps. Last year they were ranked the 8th best team in the state of Michigan regardless of classification. They were also ranked 304th in the nation. There are 3 high schools in Muskegon County all having enrollments of over 1000 students each. They had a 9-3 record in 2015 and lost one conference game to Mona Shores-Muskegon that they avenged in the playoffs. Mona Shores was undefeated in the regular season. In comparison, Joshua Jackson's (VT) high school Saline was ranked 21st in the state of Michigan, was ranked 795th nationally, and had a 10-1 record. We can't draw any conclusions from this other than they appear to play in a respectable league in the state of Michigan. Muskegon's playoff loss was to Lowell the state runner-up in their classification 36-7. Lowell lost to King that is in Detroit 40-38. King was ranked number 1 in the state of Michigan regardless of classification. Perhaps this puts the competition Pimpleton plays into perspective. I may be wrong but Pimpleton is probably worthwhile despite his lack of star ranking. However, I would still like to see us get 6-8 4-star player recruits in 2017 to go along with him.
apparently he plays QB for his HS since he is one of the better players so there isn't much tape of him at WR other than 7v7. I would put him mid 3*, height n weight also hurts him.
However dude will be a very good slot WR/KR for us =.
I know one was an NFL vet and the other is a high school player but Steve Smith is 2 inches taller, 35 pounds heavier, way faster and was an incredible route runner (my biggest concern from limited film on Kalil). I'm excited to have Kalil as a Hokie and hope he remains committed but the Steve Smith comparison is way premature (I hope you're right though!).
Mostly because steve smith is not a slot receiver
Well, Smitty took a couple years in the NFL to establish himself as a legitimate outside threat, as well. Helped he came up at a time where Mushin Muhammad took a lot of focus from defenses, allowing Smitty to get lost in coverages. Once he got to NFL playing weight, he became unstoppable for a very long time.
I wasn't trying to compare the two, I'm just saying its a mistake to count out a kid just because of his size. If he can make plays, it doesn't matter how big he is, get the ball in his area and he'll make a play. Then again, this kid could be all Teddy Ginn, where he'll make the incredible play that shouldn't happen, but will drop anything that hits him squarely in the numbers.
well, he'd be perfect for Motley then! /s
*ducks*
One thing to note is that his coach said he's grown an inch and a half in the past year. Probably closer to 5'8" now and could continue. Plus a college lifting program could put on 10-15 pounds I bet. Lots of unknowns, but a lot of potential too.
That's good to hear. I think I'm just salty that Greg Dortch from the 2016 class was formed from the same mold, VHSL 5A player of the year, and already a proven entity at KR and in the slot but we didn't even extend him an offer. Saltiness aside... I'm hoping Kalil (and guys like Josh Jackson) can help us tap into the Michigan/midwest pipeline.
That's probably because he plays QB in high school. He may be a 2* QB, but will end up being more successful with a position change. Pretty much the same reason Kam Chancellor was a 2* recruit, because he was rated based primarily on his QB play.
5'7" 160lbs playing against less than stellar competition.
Even real NFL scouts (not the fake guys on the internet) get sucked into the measurables game to try to diminish risk; look at the combine head-scatchers you see each draft. Now expand that to HS with star ratings being generated by people with less expertise, with less access to comprehensive player film (everybody looks good in their highlights), less time to see them in person, virtually no access or ability to judge character, and less time to review every player. Then add in the need to sell subscriptions and tell certain fanbases what they want to hear.
People think the star ratings are determined by some thorough analysis of every player, but there is a pretty big fudge factor once you get past the top 100-ish and measurables play big part in that.
His tape is pretty good. His acceleration really sticks out, I think he will probably have no problem finding a role on our offense. I hope we can keep this commitment, an exciting player for sure. His film reminds me a little of Stroman's.
HS highlight film doesnt always translate to college, not even close, but he seems to get to top speed very fast and a knack for missing tacklers and breaking tackles that makes me happy he is on our side.
I'll just leave this here
He keeps having great camps as a WR his offer list is going to explode.
Holy moly 1,100 RTs on that. That's a lot of eyeballs.
Taking lower stars to reel in talented teammates was a Mike London special. Probably would be rated much higher if taller. He did say in another article how all his brothers will play at the same college. That worked out quite nicely when VT recruited Vinny.
I think his other specialty was being so indecisive that he only had to decide who was left once enough of his players transferred. Never did find out about those timeouts, though.
Y'all think he's going to start getting more power 5 offers?
I'm really not sure, it's unlikely that more pro-style P5 teams will offer him, but I would expect to see more spread teams reach out to him if he keeps showing out at camps like this.
did he show out at the camp or did he make one play that made it to vine? Haven't heard any mention of him other than that one play.
I don't know for sure, but not every player who looks good at every camp gets a write up by a recruiting service. Guys show out quietly all the time.
edit: TKP actually retweeted this today. We can question his legitimacy but he seems like an unbiased source who has gotten to watch him more than perhaps we have.