The Hokies picked up their first commitment for the 2019 class, fresh off snagging their first 2018er this past weekend.
Defensive back Tayvion Land of Bishop Sullivan Catholic HS in Virginia Beach tweeted the news Wednesday afternoon.
My family and I have made the decision for me to spend my 4 years of college with the Hokie Family! @CoachBurdenVT pic.twitter.com/C1Lr8vkVIq— Tayvion Land (@espntankkk) July 27, 2016
"I'm fully committed and don't plan on visiting any other schools," Land told Scout. "I'm looking forward to playing at Virginia Tech."
Zohn Burden recruited Land for the Hokies.
7572019 Recruit: "I'm staying HOME"ME: pic.twitter.com/dxXA4Hgyld— Zohn Burden (@CoachBurdenVT) July 27, 2016
"I actually received the (Virginia Tech) offer when I was in the eighth grade and it really means a lot," Land told Scout in January. "I wasn't expecting the offer and it's definitely special. I always liked them growing up."
The 5-8, 163 pound 757 product previously played at Ocean Lakes HS before transferring.
"He's one of the best DBs I've ever coached," Bishop Sullivan head coach Chris Scott told Recruit757. "He's dreamed of going there ever since he started playing football. They love his technique and his ability to lock down whatever receiver he lines up against."
Land also claimed an offer from Maryland. He is currently unranked by the 247Sports Composite.
Comments
That's a looooooong ways away
Coach Burden sure is happy.
Elite inside linebacker recruit Teradja Mitchell gives a glowing scouting report on Land. Hopefully he will join Land in Blacksburg.
Did Garbutt see that tweet about staying home, we are waiting with open arms to welcome him back!
I really think he is still high on us he's just making sure the Hokies are the best :D
Great recruiting momentum. Just great to have kids excited about the future of VT.
Tape looks great for a freshman and hes got a looong time to get better. This dude can blow up nationally. Great great get.
Bishop Sullivan is also looking to become a very important school to us as well
He grows two inches, and we are in business.
My thoughts exactly. 5'8"? I've got 30 lbs on him and two inches shorter (/s something something BMI)
apparently during the course of this thread he's already made it to 5'9".
See ↓
Plenty of time to get those extra two inches. From the film it looks like he has no problem tackling, and if the guy is really big or the angle is right, he doesn't mind throwing in a little cut block either. Hope he winds up being another Brandon Facyson without the injuries.
Tayvion Land right?
Tayvion "Tank" Land. Yes.
Name wrong in thread title then :O
#Tank
Kid was named on Max Preps 2015 Freshman All American Team
Freshman All-American Team
DB – Tayvion "Tank" land, 5-9, 160, Ocean Lakes (Virginia Beach, Va.)
Could Land be the next great Ocean Lakes defensive back? He made 42 tackles and four interceptions.
"Kid was named on Max Preps 2015 Freshman All American Team"
Man, talk about a big deal. This guy has all kinds of ink already...just having him on our commit list for the next few years is going to pay dividends. This is just the type of commit that can really get the ball rolling.
Question: not to be pessimistic, but how long is Foster expected to stay on?? Not gonna lie. I feel (at this point) a little worried.
Seems like he likes his gig in Blacksburg. As long as things go well, I anticipate a few more years. I have no sources but does Macho Man Randy Savage agree with me?
Hopefully until Fuente's offense starts humming. Humming Fuente + Typical Bud = ACC/Nat Champs??
#EnterNighteen ?
Ok this is pretty fucking great this needs to be that class' slogan
This is s/ right?
You know what this just made me realize? Are we pronouncing the word nighteen wrong? Is it Nigh-n-teen? Nigh-teen? Night-een? It's one of those moments where saying a word over and over again makes it lose all meaning...am I just saying it wrong?!?!? SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!I'm an idiot.
(I don't mean this to be offensive. I had to read through your comment a couple times before I realized what was going on)
I don't want to talk about it...
Alex, might need to edit the kid's name...
Lake. Land. Why don't we just call him Earth?
He's already nicknamed Tank. That works for me.
A friend of mine that follows Hampton Roads youth football said this kid is the next great db...period... He has been talking about this kid for the last 2years. This is the win that we need to get a hold back on the Virginia top recruits. This kid will be 5 star.....
Now we need to win to make sure we keep him.....
I never doubt kids love tech it's just when a bunch of offers roll in it's hard to not look at as many schools as you can. Certainly hope we keep this guy
So your saying it's a lot like being married....
Too funny!
I don't mind saying that this is ridiculous.
I feel like this kid is going to be a big deal.
P.S. We offered him when he was in 8th grade
--
I'm back.
I feel... hopeful. Is this what momentum feels like? This is different.
P.S.S. The following quote from this article might make you rethink everything:
Btw this isn't one of the other recruits we are still waiting to here from. But he has some huge upside.
Wait, he isn't one of the others that the coaches were salivating over?
Nope one is class of 17 and the other is class of 18. This kid is class of 19
That tweet from Mitchell makes me think he may be one of the silent commits. Color me excited if he is.
Wow. Bigger news than I realized.
This has been a good couple of days.
Enormous pickup. Love the 757 guys.
The recruiting calendar has sure moved up. I remember how amazing it was when DeAngelo Hall committed right around signing day 2000, a full year before he could sign.
Yep... and he immediately went to work building on a relationship with Kevin Jones to convince him to join him in Blacksburg. For all his locker room negatives, he has always been extremely loyal to the Hokies. It will be exciting to follow this young man through his high school progression and onto Worsham Field where hopefully he becomes one of those ever elusive "difference makers".
Wonder why he transferred from Ocean Lakes?
Also, taking a look at the MaxPreps Freshman All-Americans led me to this:
6-5, 310 lb FRESHMAN DT from Richmond. We should pursue.
Because Ocean Lakes Head coach, who was suspended for part of this past year for recruiting, took a job at Bishop Sulivan and his taking most of his top players with him.
Damnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
But at the same time, I hope the above will still be my reaction in 2019
Does anyone else feel a little weird getting a commitment from someone this young? I mean, I get it, he could be a great prospect one day and you have to recruit kids earlier and earlier...at the same time, can't we let kids be kids?
I'm glad he's locked up to the good guys (for now) but I hope "rising sophomore" is where it ends. I don't want college coaches at middle school/pop warner games.
If I'd have been offered by VT before my Soph yr of HS, I would've committed on the spot.
Then again, I had NO offers;)
I don't disagree with you, but to play a little devil's advocate, committing this early would mean that he could focus on school, football, family, and friends for the rest of his high school career without having to be involved in the circus that is recruiting.
I agree with you and hope the kid get to enjoy his high school years, but the recruiting circus will still be at his door, likely starting with that biggest of clowns, Jim Harbaugh.
As a parent of teenagers, who discusses college with our children and their friends, I would say about 1 in 20 high school freshmen already know where they want to school, and if they get in don't usually change there minds. (Not talking about to play sports, just school). Some grew up fans and feel part of the team family already. Some have a particular career path (Air Force Pilot, Ship Design, Marine Scientist, Interpretive Dance Teacher) planned out. I guess I'm enough of an optimist to expect him to be the 1 in 20, in which case it does not feel weird. As a side note, when I helped coach 5th and 6th grade aged pop-warner and wore the VT hat I was regularly asked if I was a scout for VT.
Great sign. Great momentum.
For anyone who thinks this doesn't matter because its so long away is missing the point. Closing on a top kid this early is very hard. Its a sign of excellent recruiting and great program perception. This is a list of programs that have 2019 commits so far: Alabama, LSU, Georgia, FSU, Tennessee, Miami and Florida. That's a list I want VT to be on.
I fixed your post.
I think this is a different situation in that he grew up a VT fan, and his parents want him to stay in state!
Can't wait for that Alabama/FSU/Ohio State offer to make him back out of his commitment! /s
Damn ChemE's are always so pessimistic..
via GIPHY
I hope his neck heals up by graduation. /s
I have this secret fantasy/plan I actually think might be happening and idk if this is the right thread for it but for some reason I think this whole secret commitment thing that's going to come out soon is a cornucopia of 757 recruits who are going to stay home to get us back to where we were. Like Williams, Garbutt, Hunter, and Capehart all announcing on August 6th (Williams declare date) and it makes sense since Burden was celebrating the most and he cruits that area. Anyway let me know what y'all think and what you believe our realistic odds are to land any of the above mentioned young men
It is the offseason. Time to dream of undefeated seasons, beating Pitt 66-0, and getting all the recruits. Why not this year?
Dreaming Big!
via GIPHY
Realistically, very slim. Dreaming, I love it!
I think we're getting Capehart, Hunter and for 2018 Mitchell
I hope you are right about Hunter but he is going back to UNC with mom this weekend. Concerning
Per #sauces in the Capehart Speculation thread, they're also visiting VT
Per 247, he was at UNC for an unofficial today, likely at VT for an unoffical tomorrow. Hope all goes well, weather should be beautiful in the 24060 tomorrow.
Capehart rumors are getting pretty strong with his recent string of tweets and cancelling his visit to Umd. Coleman and Lablue from TSL both seemed convinced based on their tweets as well...
So that means he is going to Iowa State right.
Been away for a week and awesome to come back to this fantastic news. Tank will likely be the 2nd best player in the state for 2019, with number one being RB Devyn Ford (we have a great chance with him as well.)
This, I like this.
I know, right? Given the discussion we've had recently regarding the tangential impact of tweets to the players, I'm delighted to see one of our top pro Hokies is giving some love to a guy from his position group who has committed to our program. I think small gestures like this can only help.
Excellent.
Man I can't imagine what it must feel like for a 15 year old kid to get a shout out from somebody like DHall. Great Stuff.
Hall has always worked behind the scenes for VT - wish I could say how. That's one of the reasons I go nuts when I see him criticized. The guy could have gone anywhere, but committed to VT early, and has remained one of the strongest, pro-VT grads the school has ever had. He wants to see VT succeed as much as any of us.
In case anyone is curious, he just debuted at #67 overall in the 247sports preliminary top100. That's good for number 2 in the state behind Ford and number 3 corner in the country.
http://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/RecruitRankings?InstitutionGro...
Thanks for the link. Seeing that big "VT" next to a top 100 guy makes me absolutely freaking giddy. Boom. I may go back just to look on a regular basis.
That's amazing. There is no denying that the #ThisIsHome momentum is growing...
I feel it has been a while we landed a top 100 guy, he may be even in top 50 when he sign the letter with us.
Well, looks like whatever was behind Tahj's flip may have impacted another VT target:
He also RTed:
Just saw this on twitter myself but didn't know where I should post it. This is exactly what I was worried about with the whole Capehart situation. Hopefully he makes his way back to Blacksburg in the end. This is a lifelong Hokie fan, would hate for him to not end up in O&M.
You should expect this from any kid that commits that early. It is extremely unlikely that any kid that young has truly made up his mind about where he wants to go to school. I encourage the kid to see what is out there and make sure he finds the situation that is right for him. If it is us, great, but good luck to him if it is not.
I remember this one time when a kid decommitted from Tech and we all freaked out. Can't remember his name. I think it was hardbutt or something to that effect. That one turned out ok.
There's more non-paywall chatter on the Cape situation over on 247 if anyone cares to read. Just an incredibly stupid situation all around. I expect there will be some consequences on the recruiting trail at that school going forward. Chris Beatty is an absolute weasel.
I tried to traverse it but I may have been on the wrong thread. Here's what I gathered and feel free to correct or fill in the blanks.
In home thursday he says he won't visit Maryland > Visits Maryland the next day (secretive, maybe?) > Fuente is pissed, pulls the offer > TC attempts to get the scholarship back and apologizes > Burden(?) goes to bat for TC > They end up sending him an LOI > it's too late though and the bridge was burned and all the Bishop Sullivan players are pissed off.
That's basically what I have picked up from the free 247 boards. It's that last part that really blows though.
That's more or less the gist of what I read. Apparently his visit was heavily encouraged by and viewed as a favor to an old family friend implied to be Beatty. Not surprising Fuente was angry when he found out he was lied to and they tried to keep the visit secret, considering Beatty's shady past.
In Fuente I trust! If this kid is lying about something like this, what will he do once he is in your program? The mature thing to do would have been to tell CJF that he wanted to go on the visit to MD, see how awful the campus is and then stay with VT. Lying rarely gets you anywhere.
That thread... holy overreaction batman
If that's the case, it seems very unfortunate all around.
But if that's the case, the headlines that say "Terps flip recruit" are basically lies.
Not sure if Fuente should have straight up retracted the offer, but damn that is some BS from Capehart and of course from Beatty. Doesn't make sense how Bishop Sullivan should be pissed at VT though, not our fault the kid was being shady about his visits.
Anyway, water under the fridge now, I guess.
Teenagers...
My complaint directed to Fuente is why was Cape put into this position to begin with? Why did he lie? Did Fuente forbid, or insinuate that he shouldn't visit UMD?
It doesn't make sense for Cape to lie unless he was put in a position to lie. And if it was truly Beatty's persuasion to have Cape lie to Fuente, then Fuente shouldn't have directed his anger at Cape or rescinded his offer.
In the future, by all means please start a new thread with the news.
Honestly I fully expected him to de-commit at some point with how young he was/is but under the circumstances this really sucks.
Fucking, fuck, for fuck's sake. What the fuck.
There is a longggggg time between now and signing day 2019... just long enough for him forget whatever happened between us and Capehart and infinitely longer than is needed to realize that going to Maryland is a mistake.
Still showing Hokie Nation love.
Let the 16 year old enjoy the process and keep reminding him this is home
Got 2 years to recruit him and restore relationships, and in reality we would still have to recruit him if the Tahj situation never happened.
Fuente probably made a mistake and I'm sure he realizes that, hindsight is 20/20 though and there is no changing the past.
The whole situation is unfortunate, and I'm sure if Fuente could have a do over he would. But I still have complete trust in him as the head man and that we will continue to improve as a program yearly under his leadership.
Go Hokies.
If the situation went down like it did. Which Im sure it didnt, unless youre Tahj or a coach you dont know what happened. But lets say it did.
I would have a very hard time siding with a kid who lied about not going on a recruiting visit. I have a feeling, sadly, in hindsight the one who will have regrets will be the 17-18 year old...
It's really tough to tell. Reality most likely is both sides made mistakes. Oh well, time to move on and just wish Tahj well.
He lied about visiting Maryland. He had done it as a favor to a family friend and never told Fuente and said he never would visit somewhere else.
Fuente pulled the offer.
Still sent a LOI
I disagree that Fuente made a mistake. If the kid told Fuente something to his face and does the exact opposite, then Fuente had every right to pull the offer. I rather have a coach with integrity than be a shady snake oil salesman that does whatever it takes to win recruits.
If for some reason Land is still upset over this in 24 months, then I don't know what to tell you, but I'm pretty sure this will not impact his college decision when his NSD comes.
Couldn't agree more with this, I'm sure if he is upset with the Cape situation, 2 years from now it will likely be an after thought in his decision making.
There was probably a good chance he was going to decommit eventually anyway with the offers and interest he's going to get, and I have no doubt that we will be in it until the end.
The problem is it sounds like we then tried to give him the offer again. Can't have that look of regret.
From what I can gather from the interwebz, Capehart called to apologize to Fuente and it was accepted. The scholarship was returned because of that. Not because we had a bunch of regrets over the situation.
That makes a lot of sense.
I really don't think Fuente is the one who made a mistake here. He was lied to by a recruit and his family and pulled an offer. I think Cape got some bad guidance here. It seems from what I've read that he realized his mistake in time and called to ask forgiveness from Fuente and Fuente obliged him with the return of the scholarship and a LOI. Then Cape's family had decided they were treated poorly and no longer wanted him at VT. Which, from their viewpoint, I can understand but I think they are in the wrong here if that information is correct. If they encouraged Cape to lie to his future head coach about something as silly as taking a visit then that's on them for having the offer pulled. Had they been straight up and just said he was going to visit UM, Fuente probably wouldn't have minded. We have had kids on campus trying to flip them and Proctor was allowed to take his visits.
I'm with you on this. It's one thing for kids to be kids, in terms of rescinding verbal commitments or changing their mind...I really don't fault anyone if that would have been the situation, but straight up lying to someone who was going to be your future coach? That's a major red flag to me. That's someone I wouldn't want in the program if I was Fuente.
The whole situation sucks. I'm sure we are mostly speculating on the details at this point. Here's the thing, I was a very impressionable 17-18 year old kid at one time as well. Kids do things, make mistakes, don't completely think things through and are influenced (especially these athletes) by people.
I just remembered winning cures everything. If things go that direction, we'll be good.
This. And let's also remember that we just signed one of the top recruits in the state out of the 757 who will have an immediate impact and way more clout with recruiting down there in Hunter. Let us also not forget that we have Phil Patterson (who by all accounts is poised for a breakout season) from Bayside, a VA Beach school we were locked out of for a long time, and Chatman from the same school highly interested in VT for next year. One school does not control the narrative in the area, and hopefully this will all be smoothed over in time.
(Assuming that Tahj lied about taking the visit and that's how it played out. Obviously that is speculation and if things went differently the below doesn't apply)
This is all on Fuente & staff. Capehart may have lied/quickly changed his mind about a visit to UMD but he's an 18 year old kid and you have to keep that in mind. To me it comes off as pretty immature of our staff to react so negatively and rescind an offer to an important recruit because of an unannounced visit. They should have immediately showed him a ton of attention when he came back and gone all in on getting him back on board and instead it sounds like they threw a hissy fit and ruined their chances with an extremely important future recruit in the process.
Keep in mind this is all third hand information.
The nuances matter in this story, if judgment is to be rendered.
The only thing we know for sure that's first hand is that Capehart is going to be a Terp, which is a tragedy for him and unfortunate for VT.
No way I'm giving up on Fuente over internet rumors about a recruit. Fuente is solid as oak, and believes in things like "trust". That's not bad.
Not saying I'm giving up on them. They just pulled in a great class. Just that, if the rumors of what went down are true, this staff made a mistake in how they reacted. I see way too many people blaming the kid (even if what he may have done was ill advised) and giving the adults a pass.
Depends on how it went down. The way I understand it is that Fuente takes a commitment seriously but will allow visits if the recruit is straight up. If Cape knew the ground rules and broke them, that's on him.
That's a coach friendly O&M perspective really. It can be, and seems to be, viewed quite differently from a recruit's perspective.
And I cannot imagine Fuente or any coach demanding recruits that are already committed elsewhere to inform those coaches that we are trying to flip them and he is talking to us about visits, in homes, etc. Getting lied to is frustrating but the response to pull an offer, if that is indeed what happened, was wrong. There should have been a call to clear the air first with an explanation to mitigate any repercussions knee jerk decisions may cause.
We don't know how Fuente explains himself to recruits. He could have just as easily told Cape and other recruits that if they want to take visits, it was fine with him but if they lie and sneak around going to places they promised they wouldn't go to he would start pulling offers. It's just an example but the rules of Fuente and staff could have been clearly defined. We don't know.
I think the fact that a lie was told and an attempt to keep the thing secret is the reason for the outcome. If Cape had been straight up, I doubt this is an issue. The issue I keep arriving at is, why was there a need to lie about it? I'm sorry, but Chris Beatty being involved really adds a few red flags to this situation. I think Cape saw the thing as an innocent gesture to a family friend, Fu saw it as sketchy and a violation of trust, and Beatty a self-interested badge on his chest.
Oh i definitely agree with that. Most of what I've seen from reliable sources on other boards said Cape was sorry and regretful for having done it. Family felt burned by VT and wouldn't allow him to reaffirm his commitment. That's not fair to the kid, if true. It's all conjecture and we will likely never know the whole truth outside of what people in the know tell us.
In any case, we may never know what truly happened. He's at UMD, and we're boarding the 2017 hype train. At least we didn't clog up Cape's toilet and abruptly end the visit and run away.
That will always be a gold moment in recruiting history.
correct. we don't know.
what we do know is that we are actively trying to flip committed recruits who clearly are not being 100% upfront with those programs that they are considering it. So to say it's as clear cut as, the rules of Fuente, doesn't really make sense.
it was the wrong decision on both parties. that's seems to be clear. yet, the repercussions are one sided only, at least so far, in that Land has reopened his recruitment seemingly due to the handling of this decision by Fuente.
Who are you talking about not being upfront with their program? Rivers met face to face with PSU and told them he was flipping. For Watts, I'm not sure how that was handled by the kid. And it was just an example. Not every recruit is up front. I do disagree that it was the "wrong" decision. Was it a decision with perhaps not so great repercussions? Most definitely. But if Fuente is preaching trust and being open with his players and recruiting targets then I don't think it was the wrong decision. That's just one of what I'm sure will be numerous takes on the situation.
Your example is of the end result "Rivers going directly to the PSU coaching staff to tell them he is flipping" as opposed to Fernley, who is referring to everything that led up to the decisions to flip. There is a disconnect in what you guys are referring to. We don't really know what happened in that lead up time. For example, we don't know when the PSU staff became aware of how hard we were coming after Rivers, or when they realized they might lose him. It's pretty much impossible to say for sure that Rivers, Watts, whoever was being completely forthcoming and upfront throughout the entire process of the flip from start to finish. For example, we don't know if after a phone call/in home/etc with Fuente that he called Franklin and said "Coach Franklin, I want to let you know that I am now seriously considering changing my commitment to Virginia Tech" and we can't know that without being explicitly told so. The process is dynamic and is different for different recruits, coaching staffs, etc.
This is correct.
And these are only two players that we know did flip. what about those we pursued that did not? And as you say, we mostly see the end result of the flip not what has led up to it. Yet we expect our coaches to pursue and convince kids that are already committed. That's all part of recruiting.
Also what I mean by the "wrong" decision is not about Fuente having his set of rules, and whether he should keep to them or not. What I am talking about is the decision to pull the offer as a consequence without first talking to Capeheart and seeing what's going on. We know this was the wrong decision because he ultimately reopened the offer.
Having standards is fine. But in the decision between: a) pull offer immediately and b) let's calmly contact him and see if there is an explanation, Fuente made the wrong decision. And there seems to be repercussions for that decision.
Seems to me that since we don't have specific, reliable details, the thing to do is give our coach the benefit of the doubt. Fuente is the future of our program.
I'd have liked to have seen Capehart at VT, but that milk got spilt, so I won't be crying over it.
Rivers specifically told Penn State that he was still considering VT and still talking to our coaches. When he decided to switch, he also decided to tell Penn State face to face.
About as above board as possible.
It has to be hard for these coaches to be an authority figure while also kissing the recruit's ass. I don't envy them. Was this mishandled? Maybe. But, if this pety stuff led to the divorce, maybe the marriage was already on the rocks. We may never know.
I heard Cape knew Beatty since he was 8, and that was he reason for the switch. Source was Rivals, so who knows.
That is the simple version. Beatty being a "family friend" is what led to Capehart visiting MD after telling Fuente he wasn't going, and Beatty being a "family friend" helped turn the family against VT after Fuente pulled the offer, keeping Capehart from re-accepting when Fuente re-offered.
This kind of thing isn't new by any means. I could be wrong but didn't Frank threaten to pull Javon Harrison's offer a couple years back if he kept taking official visits. If he was indeed lying about taking visits to Fuente then he painted him into a corner.