Did anyone else just sit back and think what could have been while watching all the near misses on the defensive and offensive lines for Clemson and Florida State.
Nnadi, Sweat and Ferrell were all over the TV makes plays, could you imagine that line supplemented with the great players we already have? Also, I noticed Elerbe (from VA) and Dickerson (another had VT in the top 3 guy) on the FSU line. Even if we just got 1 or 2 of those guys, it would be crazy to think how much better and deeper we would be.
On a side note, but still on d-line recruiting lets keep our eyes on Crosby with the TENN situation, also what ever happened to Taylor, the other d-lineman from Richmond that went to TENN, does he play?
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It's tough to watch Nnadi and Sweat. Ferrell is probably the least impactful of Clemson's d-line rotation, but he is still a tremendous player.
TBH, our d-line has played well this season. We've got a mix of great recruits (e.g. Ken Ekanem, Tim Settle) and guys were good recruits but great fits for what Bud/Charley are trying to accomplish (e.g. Woody Barron).
Obviously it would be great if a guy like Josh Sweat decided to come to VT but the difference in what it is now compared to what it could have potentially been is not that large...also, I typically think of stars as "margin of error". A five star player has a bigger margin for error than a three star player...but we've seen time and time again that a three star player can turn into a superstar (e.g. Kyle Fuller) and five star players can become busts (e.g. Peter Lalich).
Da'shawn Hand and Jonathan Allen at Alabama and Jayln Holmes at Ohio State too
Jonathan Allen is a complete beast. There was an article on ESPN about him being a Heisman candidate a couple of weeks ago (seriously)
I thought Jimbo was going to physically destroy Eberle and Dickerson when they showed him going off on them in the 2nd quarter.
Eberle had some bad 2nd-half penalities
I have seen Darrell Taylor in uniform on the sidelines for Tennessee but have no idea if he plays. At this point, with their injuries, it's likely he does.
Good recruits will win division titles
Exceptional development of good recruits will win ACC championships and get us to the playoffs
I'm still convinced blue chippers are whats required to win the whole damn thing, and I think history agrees
VT won't compete for a NC until it becomes "cool" again to stay in state and rep your state schools. I think VA produces enough in state talent for both VT and UVA to be good. We rarely land the top Virginia recruit but I think Fuente & Co. are moving us in the right direction, making VT a destination for top in state talent. I've noticed just how much more I care about the College Football season now that we are somewhat relevant again. It feels good to know that this "rebuild" may be a year or two ahead of schedule.
Not every blue chipper starts off as a blue chipper. College football is littered with guys like Russell Wilson, you just need a staff that can identify talent better than anyone else.
Me and Russell are beefin' right now because he has been terrible in Fantasy. I think every week Tyrod (my other QB) has done better than him except maybe once.
I mean, this is pure conjecture, but if you look at the composite star ratings of each national champions, I think its clear that you need blue chippers (coming out of HS) on your team. We got ACC Championships b/c of our ability to find those under the radar guys, or really utilize and develop talent better than our competition. I don't believe thats enough to win nattys. You can identify talent all you want, but if you don't sign it, its a moot point
Good point. Well played.
How great would a Sweat, Baron, Nnadi, Ekanem D line be tho? Or a Nicolas, Maddy, Nnadi, Ekanem, with Sweat rotating w/ Ekanem last year?
I would have preferred to have Sweat rotate with Dadi.
That said, you can always use players like those guys. We've been pretty solid last year and this year but we really could use Sweat and Nnadi next year.
We would have converted at least two of the O-line. /s (or maybe not) And maybe that's a reason why some of these top recruits were shying away from VT over the last few years.
Eh, I think that they all would play DL for us. The main reason we've missed on these big recruits was because an aging Frank that was nearing the end of his reign and our programs "swag" had become dull compared to FSU, Clemson, SEC schools etc.
Fuente and company are doing their best to remove that dullness from the program and continue to build on what Frank built, and I think that we will hopefully start landing some of these big time recruits within the next few years (we already have one in Tank Land.) Devon Hunter would not be a bad start, at all.
Yeah we lost those guys because we weren't good. If they wanted to win, compete for championships, and get elite exposure against other top teams, FSU and Alabama were much, much smarter calls. It sucks because some of those guys supposedly grew up fans like Hand and Sweat, Sweat was even openly cheering for VT on his Ohio State official when we beat them in the shoe. Sucks to miss on those guys but we just have to move on and be excited about the future and hopefully we won't miss on the next batch like them.
Can't help VT win if you don't play for em. If you grew up a fan and have the opportunity to play for a team you have been a fan for what better feeling is there? I couldn't even imagine that feeling. But these big time VA recruits shrugging us off is getting old. Time to start showing these young'ens the fan base means business. Who do I send coupons to for stockpiling?.. Hey, kids! Your home state wants a NATTY so give us one! OR ELSE! that's my best Bama impersonation. Hey, it works for them... OR maybe we can be just like Bama and claim the Nattys that FSU and Bama wins cause they are doing it with our states players. Yea! We will out Winston the Winstoners. God this is running long. Whatever.
Yeah, this makes sense if you're a middle class kid who has fall back options. A lot of these kids are coming from rough neighborhoods and their goal is to fulfill their dream of playing in the NFL and getting their families out of poverty. Who gives a shit who you grew up rooting for if FSU or Alabama is going to be the best spot for you to get more nfl scout exposure, play with other great players, and have a better chance at getting drafted high. Sure if you're good enough you could go pro from anywhere, but it's easier to do when you're getting more exposure and these teams are sending guys to the NFL like factories.
Maybe some of these guys are loyal to the state and want to turn around VT back to being a powerhouse program, awesome, I hope they come here, but you can't assume that every kid a) wants or cares about that or b) can be persuaded to want or care about that.
counterpoint.
playing in the ACC and padding your stats at a school that has a proven history of sending players to the NFL might be an attractive option. Less competition. If they really wanted to get to the NFL making themselves look like a beast in the ACC is a better bet than going to the SEC at the risk of being hidden on the depth chart.
Just sayin'
Complete speculation
.
.....also complete speculation
Not really, the obvious proof lies in the number of guys drafted from each school which is easy to find and comparable. They will be beating us handily. The second is the number of primetime games, conference championships, national championships they have played in (exposure). This is also objective and we can find viewership data as well. The one I'm less sure about is exactly how often scouts are at these games, but I feel comfortable speculating that more scouts have been at more Alabama and FSU games than Virginia Tech games the last 5 seasons.
edit: I want to clarify something, this is not a "doom and gloom" look at our recruiting, I do not hold that view. I am being realistic about losing big time players sometimes, particularly the reasons we lost them during our 5 season slide into mediocrity. I think we will always have some roadblocks to being a consistently elite recruiting team, but I think we can recruit better than we are, and I do believe winning (without an antiquated offense) is going to help us recruiting moving forward.
Well its really more about the rate that they turn blue chip recruits into being drafted. Maybe moreso at specific positions. Bama may be getting 7 guys drafted a year, but thats less than half of their blue chip rate. That rate is ultimately what makes a NFL based recruiting decision logical.
I think it's speculative to say that going to Alabama equates to a better chance to get drafted high. For instance, I think Ekanam has a good shot at getting drafted relatively highly. Had he gone to Bama, however, he may never see the field. Therefore his chances of getting drafted at all, let alone highly, at Bama could conceivably be worse.
Sure, that's an example that I think potentially has some merit, but I think that example applies less to major blue chip guys like Sweat, Nnadi, Allen, etc who didn't have any trouble finding the field early or otherwise, at these major schools. For them, it is a matter of benefitting from the increased exposure and at the end of the day, I expect all three of these guys to at least end up in the NFL for awhile.
Like I said in an earlier post, a great player can make it to the NFL anywhere. But going to the NFL, winning, and winning championships are probably pretty high on most top prospects lists in varying order and importance, and schools like FSU and Alabama check all these boxes and do have good track records in each.
this is a fair assessment..
I just don't like the idea of speculating the reasons why a kid might choose a certain school. Especially when we throw economics and social status into the equation.
Sure. So why wouldn't you go to the one with better facilities and a better shot a trophies?
the premise was: why would he come to VT, a school he grew up a fan of and dreaming of playing for, if he could instead go somewhere with a better route to the NFL?. I'm saying that picking schools that have loaded talent at his position doesn't actually increase his odds of making it to the NFL if that is truly his only motive. This entire topic is speculation. I'm not defending my statement as not speculative. I'm just pointing out that his is also speculative.
I agree with you on some of this, so let's look at it from a few points.
1) Padding stats in the ACC: Right now, FSU and Clemson are the programs to achieve this while still getting maximum national exposure. Therefore, Nnadi, Sweat, Ferrell, still look like they made good calls.
2) Possibly, and we've seen this happen to some guys, particularly at Bama. However, the SEC is still sending the most guys to the NFL every draft year, although the ACC has been making up some ground. This recent surge is in large part because of FSU and Clemson.
That describes clemson and fsu (even louiseville) for the d-line and linebackers, not us. If you're a DB and want to go to the nfl and play in the acc, yeah vt is a great bet...over the last 4 years we haven't put out many nfl-level DL
Horseshoes and hand grenades. If they didn't sign with us, there's nothing to miss.
Agreed
I'm digging the Mihota, Williams, Baron, Ekanem line. They'll get after ya!
Cut to Brad Kayaa nodding glumly
All of those guys have been good players but the only elite guy has been Allen. Ricky Baron even Ekanam, Mihota have been playing on a level of all those other guys. They were more hyped coming out based on measurables but the production is not overwhelming. They may all even be solid PROS but based on production again only elite guy is Allen and Hand has been below average. He may blow up next year his senior season but right now he hasnt done much.
Yep, too many folks like playing the recruiting stars version of fantasy football.
Whatever happened to Andrew Brown? We don't always get to see the hoos out here in Pac-12 country, but I did watch some of the Louisville game this past weekend and he didn't seem to be in on a lot of plays. If memory serves we made his final cut but I don't think we were ever in serious contention. Another thorobred bust?
Injury-prone but showed flashes of greatness. I see him actually being great next year.
That's if he sticks around, he's having a breakout season and my Hoo buddies don't seem to think that he is going to stick around if he gets a favorable grade from scouts.
Also, it's tragic how FSU's handled Sweat's injury. He absolutely should have redshirted last year to heal it up, and now he is not living up to his potential and FSU fans wonder why. Jalen Dalton has been a disappointment for UNC as well.
If we're basing it off of production so far, than Ferrell was the biggest miss of the three. Also statistic wise, Trevon Hill is better than Dalton and not too far behind Sweat, and the latter 2 is starters while Hill is a backup.
I saw Ferrell play in high school, and when he committed to Clemson I knew he was gonna be there 3 years than declare. He's a monster.
I just can't help but think how good Sweat would be if he were fully healthy, and I hope that we get to see that one day.
Aaron Crawford for UNC is a guy we were in luke warm on. He picked UNC and I think he is their best DT.
I don't like to take personal shots at people who leave Va to play at other schools, but I must say: Anyone who chooses to play for UNC football may not be a dummy on signing day, they almost certainly will be dumber than they were on signing day by the time they finish their accadem.. akadamik... skool there.
Nnadi is the one that we had a shot with who I would love to have. Sweat...meh....I like Hill just as much.
Hand - hard to tell...hasn't played much. Allen is a beast but don't think we had much of a shot there.
Ferrell looks solid. But I go with Nnadi on top of my list of "what could have been...."
Ferrell looked like a straight up stud in the ACCCG.
Nnadi has been solid but I wouldn't say elite. BUT thought he was the most ready out of HS from that group based on his strength
Just seems that with all the supposed elite guys including nnadi and Sweat FSU defense is terrible. In the 50s or more.
Yeah, I've started thinking about them the same way I've always thought about Quinn Blanding. We're fine without him, but he could have had so much more success if some fool hadn't put it in his head to go to UVa. Nnadi and Sweat had an opportunity to be part of something special, and went to FSU instead.
Chicken vs. Egg scenario. You need a realistic shot at the National Title to assure 4 and 5 star guys routinely pick you, you need 4 and 5 star guys (not always, but it doesn't hurt) to be in play for a playoff spot.
Would be nice to have some of those blue chippers in the Maroon and Orange, but I wonder as FSU's season circles the bowl if they wonder what it might be like to be part of a team having the fun and continuity that VT is having?