Markquese Bell is set to announce his commitment at the Under Armour All-American Game on New Year's Day. Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Maryland, and Ohio State are among potential suitors to land the 4-star athlete. Bell visited the Hokies for an official visit last weekend.
Markquese Bell walked into a barbershop the other day wearing some Virginia Tech gear.
The response was immediate.
"Everybody said, 'Oh, I guess you're going to Virginia Tech,' " Bell said. "I told them, 'I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm just wearing this today.' "
Bell said he was still pondering his decision.
"It's tough," Bell said. "People are saying to me all the time, 'Where you going?' I want to take my time and make sure I make the right decision."
Bell said all four college teams project him as a safety. He's been a top wide receiver, defensive back, and quarterback during his career at Bridgeton.
Bell also is a 7-foot high- jumper in track.
"I want to go to a place where I feel at home," Bell said. "I want to make sure it's a school where there's a good academic program and where I will feel comfortable on campus."
Comments
Well that rules out three of his top four.
Rutgers, UMD and Ohio State are all AAU members, VT is not.
I know nothing about the AAU, but why does being in it make the university better academically?
Everything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Universities
Also, I'm sure you all know I meant the first jab as sarcasm, yes?
Of course, but the post to which I replied initially asked what the AAU had to do with academics. I assumed there was subsequent confusion that perhaps AAU was some sort of athletic conference.
My brother played AAU basketball. Are you saying his team was some kind of university? This mod has lost his damn mind. /s
That wasn't apparent before this moment?
That you lost your mind, that my little brother's 6th grade basketball team wasn't a university, or both?
The former. Or the latter. Both? Neither. What were we talking about?
The superiority of cake to pie and your full fledged support of team cake.
Kevin.
QB = TE = OT
Did we find Mark from Winchester again?
Bronco = Bif
TimeCop & YOU!
Fuck Pat Narduzzi...
I think TKP jokes have reached critical mass. Do we turn it off and back on again now?
STAY ON TOPIC A-HOLES!
TACO BELL!
Can confirm.
In my defense, the first link after googling "AAU" is for the amateur athletic union (the 2nd is the academics one). Also, my original question was actually more of a snide remark at the AAU and its "prestige". I get that its a big deal but it wouldn't have all of those statistics if it wasn't already made up of the countries leading universities. Maybe its the little brother syndrome in me, but it seems more like a country club where only the rich and famous universities are allowed. Or maybe I'm just jealous VT isn't in it but I would pick my hokie education over any of those three anytime again.
The AAU isn't the be-all-end-all, but it's valuable and a mark of a quality school.
It's not like this kid is comparing us to ECU, WVU and Arizona State.
I'm not sure why AAU is ever mentioned in this context. It's like exclusive club membership - most of what it says about you is that you care enough about being a member to pay the money and jump through the hoops of the application process, as well as convincing the other club members that you're worthy. From what I've read, VT may be reasonably close to meeting the criteria.
VT's academics are comparable to those of Ohio State, Rutgers and UMD. They're all good schools academically.
The thing Tech is missing most AAU members have is an attached medical school or law school or both.
We're not missing a medical school any longer. That was official a couple months ago.
One of the reasons Nebraska lost membership was their medical school isn't on/next to campus that will hurt Tech also.
Then I guess University of Maryland, College Park is in danger, too, because they technically don't have a medical school. We do, here at University of Maryland, Baltimore. It's all part of the University System of Maryland, but it's all bureaucracy.
What really sunk Nebraska was probably what VT has going against it most - the fact that it's a land-grant institution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/education/03aau.html
So yes, the separate administration of a med school (note not physical proximity, but administration) hurt, but the nature of their research funding cut out Nebraska.
The AAU has a number of land grant institutions as members - including 7 from the Big 10 - and these insitutions aren't going to be getting the boot any time soon.
Being a land grant institution, in and of itself, had nothing to do with Nebraska losing its membership. And, in and of itself, it also has nothing to do with VT not getting an invite.
Ohio State is a land grant also.
I hope Tech doesn't start a law school anytime soon, use that money somewhere else.
don't law schools make a lot of money? Very expensive to go, little to no overhead.
I think he's referring to their relative value to society.
So understanding the law does not add significant value to society?
Not sure where they were going with this either.
Did I say that? No. But repeating back what I said using slightly different words (and with slightly different meaning) is certainly an argumentation technique that might be taught in law school.
I was making a joke about the relative value to society of adding another law school. There are already too many law schools in the U.S.
Here's an article about the oversupply of law schools
"Amazingly (and perversely), law schools have been able to continue to raise tuition while producing nearly twice as many graduates as the job market has been able to absorb. How is this possible? Why hasn't the market corrected itself? The answer is that, for a given school, the availability of federal loans for law students has no connection to their poor post-graduation employment outcomes."
I think the numbers are getting better, but do we really need more law schools? That said, I really was just making a joke. If VT wanted to create a law school, I'm sure there would be a market for it, though Virginia already has excellent law schools at UVa, William and Mary, George Mason and I'm sure others.
As far as lawyers, there is always room for another good one.
Yep. I agree. This is true.
And, if you don't already have a law school, it's going to be hard to get turn it into a top school. Univ. of Calif. Irvine, however, showed it can be done. They went from unaccredited in 2014 to #28 in the latest National US News rankings by hiring one of the most esteemed Constitutional Law professors as its Dean.
This is not necessarily true.
However having a large medical school that generates significant research dollars lends itself to meeting several of the quantitative measures used for selection and demotion.
In the end, AAU membership review is a bit like the College Playoff Selection. Winning your conference championship is important except when it's not. Head to head is important except when it's not. Strength of schedule is important except when it's not.
Yep, everyone agrees to that point. What this thread is disagreeing with is that OSU, Rutgers and UMD are somehow inferior schools in general to VT.
I would contend that all three of those schools probably smell worse, have worse food and uglier girls.....thus...would be worse places to spend 4+ years of your life. They are also all red, which is not a flattering color for me....makes my face look flush like an alcoholic. But that's just me.
Rutgers...more like Buttgers
*Nailed it*
I mean, we are kind of in the middle of cow fields.
Counterpoint: Rutgers is in the middle of New Jersey.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
I know everyone here prefers VT, for a variety of reasons.
But the schools on that list are all capable of delivering a first rate education.
If you want a (somewhat skewed and highly subjective) metric, US News and World Report Public College Rankings.
TL;DR OSU has the top billing at 17, MD is at 20, RU is at 25 and VT is at 27. You're splitting hairs there.
I also never said which 3 I was referring to.
They're all within 10 spots. There are currently 629 public 4 year universities in the US. Were talking about a 1.59% difference in "University Quality" here. That difference is so small, it may be due to the fact VT uses single ply toilet paper on campus for all I know.
That's reason enough to actually buy some for your apartment.
Yeah, it didn't take me long to figure it wasn't worth stealing TP from school, but I did it when times were tough and 10 cent Kenney burgers were Friday's dinner.
Gotta love that John Wayne toilet paper. It's rough and tough and doesn't take sh*t off nobody.
Ohio State is ranked 17, you say...
Should VT be on this list?
(1. qualifications; 2. pros/cons)
Yes, I'm sure it is a goal for VT to be on this list. But it takes 3/4ths of current members to vote for your inclusion.
There have been four schools added this century. aTm and Stony Brook in 2001, GT in 2010 and Boston U in 2012.
let's see if the va governor can help us out, that's worked in the past getting in to groups
/s
Or someone else.
{note the date on that award}
I'd say VT warranted ACC membership, wouldn't you?
"four schools added this century"
me: thinks how is this possible, started in 1900.
me: checks calendar.
me: sigh, I'm old.
As someone who lived half of that last century, I second that emotion.
That's a man against boys.
I sometimes wonder if a criteria for some recruits is which fanbase has annoyed them the least.
So it's us against Ohio State, cool.
If early play time is a big factor, maybe not.
OSU would respond, "so it's us."
Ohio State's class is getting to the point where even Bell could be questioning the kind of playing time he'd get there.
The decision may not even be up to him. Ohio states class is so good they might not even take him anymore. Hopefully
Ohio State likely doesn't have room for him. It's probably us against Rutgers and people around Blacksburg feel really good about it. His main criteria was the approval of his grandmother and she gave him the thumbs up on his official this weekend.
I judge a player solely by the beat on their highlight vids. This kids a 5*.
We got this.
"I want to go to a place where I feel at home," Bell said. "I want to make sure it's a school where there's a good academic program and where I will feel comfortable on campus."
Virginia Tech is synonymous to " family atmosphere and good academic" . This kid is talented . Bud Foster can turn him in to the next Kam Chancellor .
So basically we would be taking a 4* kid and turning him into a 7* kid. Yea I'm down with that.
Everything he describes sounds like Virginia Tech.
That's pretty tall to be a high jumper.
What makes it tough are the drug tests.
He'll be as tall as Bucky in a few years.
But it does mean he could almost jump over Bucky.
Not even Bucky can jump over Bucky. It's an unstoppable force/immovable object scenario
Which begs the question: Can Sam Rogers jump over Bucky? Or can Bucky jump over Sam Rogers? What if they both try to jump over each other at the same time, collide, and end the universe? These are the metaphysical questions that keep TKP members up at night.
"When I grow up, my dream is to play football for Rutgers University."
-No one ever.
Bell had his OV at Rutgers in that game where Michigan beat them 380-0.
I must have been really drunk and missed that.
380 is obviously exaggeration, but it was legitimately 70-0 before Rutgers got a first down. Got stomped hard.
Rutgers sales pitch "Markquese with you at safety we only lose to Michigan 66-0, we need you B1G time.
I can see him jumping over linemen and blocking field goals. Hank (Henry) Bradley, a safety out of Tennessee I think who played in the 70's, was also a 7' high jumper, so we have a history there.
Still not quite high enough to jump over Bucky!
Well the commit date is sufficiently far in the future and there is a thread posted by Lanza so I'm gonna guess there is some inside information behind the scenes and that he'll be committing to VT.
This isn't rocket surgery, humans.
So you're saying he's a recruit in the hand, thereby starting our time of possession clock on him?
That doesn't start until they're officially signed.
come on people, there's almost no correlation between time of possession recruits and landing them. It's like maybe 60%. How are we still talking about this? Do I need to start posting graphs again?
He also had a similar thread for Khalan Laborn and that didn't work out. So maybe not.
How about we have both Bell and Hunter as our safeties. Because you know what, Bell will Hunt you down.