I know we all have a tendency to overreact or under-react (if that is possible) to the ebbs and flows of the early recruiting cycle. Steve Wiltfong of 247 seems to like what Fuente & Co. have done so far as it relates to the needs that have been addressed and to the potential of some of these underrated players.
I for one think that we will look back and see that this was a great first cycle (if you don't count last year) for the staff, even without landing some of the key guys we all wanted to see in Orange and Maroon.
Here's to building!
http://247sports.com/Article/Virginia-Tech-Hokies-landing-key-recruits-i...
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I haven't followed recruiting closely this year (frankly, I haven't followed VT football closely since Fuente has taken over), but my blink is that he has done a very good job of identifying kids who fit his system and fill the needs of the program......while not doing well with the high profile recruits.
Maybe it's a system offense and a system defense and both can succeed outside of the recruiting rankings much like Johnson has done in the past at GT. Or maybe filling the needs with mostly 3* kids is an easier
road{row} to hoe in season 1 of recruiting and we will add higher profile recruits more in the future.My inclination is to lean to the latter, we have recruited higher profile guys and had minimal success....this year and in the past in reference to the defense. And when you recruit a kid, you commit resources....$$, manhours, emotional equity....so not getting them is a loss. But recruiting 4 an 5* kids is tough when you are a new coach taking over a .500'ish program, going up against Bama, FSU, Clemson...even UNC and Tennessee. We need some wins to minimize that disadvantage.
Note that we already have a commitment from a probable top 5, possible #1 player in VA for the 2019 class who is projected as a Top50 player nationally and a top 10 DB. He obviously sees a bright future at VT. Does that count as current success or future success with recruiting high profile players? ;)
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Doesn't count as anything until he's in O&M uniforms on the field. ;)
"Does that count as current success or future success with recruiting high profile players?"
Don't care so long as it is CONTINUED success with maintaining his commitment and actually signing him on signing day.
So are we still in "The Sky Is Falling!" mode or are we happy? I just need to know.
Somewhere in between it changes from week to week
I think the only time everyone will be happy is when we win the championship.
But only if we score on every play, including on defense.
AND special teams...while we still have them
The sky is being held up by aging infrastructure while we wait for the completion of our new construction projects.
So the Beamer Barn has saved us?
At least until we finish up on Fuente's Funhouse.
I'll get back with you on that.
When did we break up?
WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!!
One thing I noticed that I liked was a kid saying "Foster is the best and could have gone anywhere, but stayed loyal to VT" (paraphrasing). I don't know if that is true (don't care/it sounds plausible), and I'm pretty sure Foster wouldn't say it himself (it was likely another coach), but that is sales right there. You need to toot your own horn once in a while to make a sale. Foster is a "product" that I think has been neglected on the recruiting trail far too long. And it looks like somebody has figured it out.
Another "product" Fuente has to work with is VT - which I don't think anyone would argue -
is a nice upgrade from Memphis. If you can sell Memphis, you start thinking of going for the brass ring at VT, when you likely wouldn't have tried before.
This latest round of commits has definitely instilled confidence in the staff, and man, when you have that...you start rolling. This is definitely getting exciting, and everything I hoped for when we first got Fuente.
I know this has been pointed out several times, but it's just so funny how far we've come in the last month. We went from Andy Bitter writing articles about how much the Hokie fans/forums were getting frustrated by Fuentes recruiting (why does he feel the need to write those negative articles?), to everyone having full confidence and excitement in our ability to recruit.
Bitter is a beat writer and he isnt a VT homer. He covers everything. I love football, but I think I would hate it if I had his job.
He is a journalist reporting the news. Fans and forums had pitchforks in hand not too long ago, in fact a fan wrote a thread on another forum about these "CUSA coaches".
Exactly. I've criticized the heck out of Bitter for some of his comments about Buzz but he was right about how absurd the tone was on many of the forums.
It was definitely absurd. Regardless, I (naively) don't worry when I see negativity/complaints on here because recruits don't see it (again, naively), but I worry when I read about TKP negativity in my local newspaper.
Recruits, players, and their parents read TKP. I doubt they're reading the local newspaper in the NRV, though they may see Bitter's work online.
But he wasn't really talking about TKP. We have expressed a reasonable level of concern about recruiting misses, largely in the context of depth problems (Joe wrote a front-page article here talking about it). Other sites went full-on meltdown when Garbutt decommitted, with some posters even going so far as to suggest ousting Fuente.
I agree with this and especially none of it came from the TKP writers/moderators. IMHO there was possibly still a little overreaction from some folks comments here, and maybe they got it from somewhere else. But yeah it was definitely other forums and some Twitter stuff.
ohh man I have soo many stories about fan message boards like 247 and this one... although this one is extremely unique which is pretty cool.
but yes parents read this stuff, football staff "interns" read this stuff and every so often compliance will read this stuff.
Yes, very naively. Unfortunately, they absolutely see the terrible things said on message boards and especially on twitter.
It was stupid. People were freaking because Garbutt took a step back to think about his choice.
I think that Fuente has done a hell of a job coming into a team that has been mediocre for a few years and he hasn't COACHED A GAME YET. Put some excitement back in the program and I think some big things could happen.
You know, Fuente has really lost his shine. We should hire a replacement. /s
Hell yeah! Got 4 verbals over the weekend and nothing since!!!
Hasn't even won a single game.
He even let the whole team take time off the field between the spring and the preseason practices.
He hasn't even signed any players since February!
Seems like all he does is go camping, throw BBQ's and dinner parties, or talk about family.
Me and 247 have something in common
The current recruiting class has turned into a pleasant surprise but it is far from the desired end result, which is fair given that it's only half over and the football season hasn't started yet. I'd expect the good guys to land Devon Hunter, Tahj Capehart, Tyran Hunt, Jalen Holston, and secure a re-commitment from Tyjuan Garbutt when the dust Tim Settles in February. A surprise commitment from Nathan Proctor or Jordan Williams would be epic but I don't really see it happening...they're both interested in some serious blue bloods that VT simply cannot compete with right now.
247 does seem to like VT players more than the composite. And they look to be right when looking at a lot of our best players; Bucky number 114 overall with 247 vs 254 overall composite, Chuck 332 overall vs 718 overall, Mihota 333 overall vs 646 overall, Ford 196 overall vs 377 overall, Cam 309 vs 426, Mook 229 vs 427. Most of the other starters are slightly higher or even with the composite (Tremaine, Facyson, Shai, Williams, Ken, Wyatt, Conte, Adonis), or slightly less at most like McMillian (515 vs 305, but graded equally at .89 vs 88). Terrell and Motu are really the only guys that drop (which some would argue makes them right about Motu).
Bottom line is, if 247 loves one of our guys compared to the composite, that's a damn good sign.
There's always some animosity between the TKP and 247 forums...mainly because TKP seems to be a little bit more of a homer site and 247 seems to be a bit more pessimistic... which is cool TKP is run by fans for fans... 247 is more of a paid service....
But what I'm getting at is, despite the animosity, 247 is IMO the best gauge for talent. They really seem to know their stuff when it comes to recruiting. They have a lot of scouts working for them that are great at attending camps across the country and they update their rankings/scouting reports pretty frequently compared to other services.
(Said in good humor)
I think I have a better decent eye for talent. I was on the Teller kick as a HS junior for him to be an OL (man, time flies.) I called attention to Baron as a guy who could play while others poo-pooped him because of his size and initial gray-shirt. Tyrell Smith was possibly the least heralded OL from Grimes class, yet I talked at length about how his feet and reach would make him a player, and he was getting top group reps in the spring. I think I have a pretty good eye (even said Fisher would not be a safety.)
My misses? Nijman was a big one. I soft-sold my review, but I never thought he would get on the field. And every day he proves me wrong I am thrilled. I thought Edmunds the Eldest was going to be the next great VT RB, and I still think injuries were the big reason he wasn't. I thought McMillian and Durkin both had a shot at factoring as quarterbacks depending on the scheme (and I am still convinced that they missed an opportunity with Durkin by playing Lawson and blowing his red shirt versus Furman.)
I just remember you especially loved Mook and Hill from the 2015 class. Coincidentally, they're both much better ranked by 247 than the composite.
Their composite rating is a blessing.
And a curse. I don't like how I can't view our class just by their ranking
247 forums are not pessimistic they are downright doomsday. "CUSA coaching staff"
Also why I left rivals. I was gonna need a prescription of zanax if I stayed on that message board.
Message boards have their own cultures.
I like this one.
Disagree vehemently my dude. All my fellow TKP brethren seem to be pretty well leveled. 247 and even TSL are more homer-ish than us. I think it's mainly because we're a younger age group (I think?) than the other sites...and at least compared to 247 we're not a bunch of douche bags.
And we always look at both sides in an analysis that's always fully dipped.
yeah, and no one on tkp would say it's good that VT didn't get one of the top 2 recruits in the state because he used a lambo to announce his college choice, nor claim that he's overrated....
/s
I think taking one point in a data set to prove your point out really disproves your point.
Bro, that's every recruit that announced in a big way haha.
The 247 staff is great, the forums are a shit show of endless negativity though. TKP is generally the most balanced forum, followed closely by TSL and trailing far far behind are Rivals and 247.
Content-wise, Rivals & 247 nail the recruiting coverage but don't do much else.
TSL and TKP cover recruiting pretty well, and provide a ton of other quality coverage.
What sets TKP apart is combining great insight with civil discussion, and the result is information and discussion gravitating to this site.
Agreed, nothing beats the coverage by the key play. Discussion id say isn't a huge selling point, but man, such good coverage.
Terrell was soooo underrated by everybody. I know his former position coach at Dan River and he said Terrell had the best DB technique he had ever seen in HS, and also said Terrell could have the best chance at the NFL between all 3 brothers with Tremaine being #2. His only concern with Tremaine was that he would keep growing closer to his dad (another couple inches from current height) and that that would force Bud to make Tremaine a DE. He always said if Tremaine would just stop growing at 6'5" (haha) then he had NFL potential at LB, but even then Terrell's natural instincts and hip fluidity were so rare in HS that he had slightly higher potential to be an earlier round guy. Man did he hit the nail on the head.
Small SOVA high school hurt their ratings for sure. This coach also coached at GW-Danville when the Martin Bro's and later David Wilson were there, before being hired by Ferrell Edmunds as part of his original staff at Dan River (outskirts of Danville). Guy was the one who told me Trey was transferring to UMD before it got picked up on Twitter/TKP/anywhere.
Edit: To go with what French said about Trey being potentially one of the great VT backs, the HS coach thought Trey and Terrell were both 1st round NFL talents but was concerned with the # of backs at VT preventing Trey from getting big carries. Ultimately the injuries might be the only thing that kept your shared analysis from coming to fruition.
Interesting info. I had always heard that Tremaine was known as the best - or potentially at least. Starting way back when he was a little kid. Some of that was that he was the youngest and they often times benefit from competing with older brothers. I agree that Tremaine needs to stop getting taller....and stay at LB. Regardless...glad we still have those two. Hope they are real difference makers on the field.
You're exactly right haha, or at least I heard the same talk when they were younger like you said. Everyone thought Tremaine was going to be the most like his dad as far as height/body type and would probably be the best. He was bringing the rim down in 8th grade, playing hoops also, and had amazing coordination for someone starting/going through a massive growth spurt.
All-in-all those two are such hard workers, disciplined, smart, and have such a high ceiling that it's going to be fun to watch.