Discuss and share any Virginia Tech related recruiting topics from December 2016 [0][2][3] that don't warrant their own thread [1]. Please do some digging to share original content (e.g. embed the original tweet, not a link to another post/website with said tweet), add context / relevant information and respect the Community Guidelines.
Enjoying my VT official #hokienation pic.twitter.com/xd7oMP5C6G— $peed (@OG__speed) December 10, 2016
Aiden Brown, Xach Gill, Sean Savoy, Nathan Proctor, Kalil Pimpleton, Aundre Kearney, Ameer Speed, Terius Wheatley, Dalton Keene, Markquese Bell, Dylan Rivers, Victor Dimukeje, and Devon Hunter made official visits to Virginia Tech.
[0] If someone would like to make this thread from month-to-month, let Joe know, he is apt to forget.
[1] New offers, commitments, decommitments, etc... deserve their own thread. Please read the brief best-practice tips at the top of the recruiting forum.
[2] September 2016 thread never happened, would someone please volunteer to do this each month.
[3] AustinJumps2Sandman crushed the December 2016 Recruiting Part I thread, a new one was made to alleviate load times.
Comments
Finally a part 2! Other thread was a pain to load
I am hopeful this second thread has been created because there is expected to be some significant recruiting developments soon, which will need a new thread.
Those would get their own thread.
WHY DO YOU INSIST ON CRUSHING MY DREAMS!!!!
It was created because the other thread has enough huge GIFs to make phones and laptops explode when they try to open the thread.
Yeah, these recruiting threads take a full month and have a lot of info. Maybe we could just write what gif represents your emotion instead of embedding it.
Maybe you could buy a better computer.
I will never not upvote this.
Or something other than a note 7s
What's wrong with that? I have a galax%#&$@....
Live from USAFHokie's place:
via GIPHY
ListOfBurnCenters.gif
I agree. Have to scroll 30 minutes to get to the 3rd comment.
If there's a comment thread that's not interesting, I suggest you collapse it. It's pretty nifty and threads stay collapsed across devices, assuming you're logged in.
What is this voodoo feature of which you speak?
FOLLOW-UP: 2015 TKP SURVEY AND TELL-A-THON 2.1
Man, I thought that thing was a V for Victory. Son of a bitch, this site feels brand new now.
There's going to be a meta topic about a lot of this kind of stuff. We know there's clearly confusion about some features and how to do things, so I wrote up a post that Joe is editing. Stay tuned.
What are people using? Samsung Galaxy Note 7s?
I am wondering what people who know more than I do think about our numbers for this class. We are already at 19 commits and seems like there are a lot of potential recruits we're still waiting on. Can we rescind offers? That seems like a last resort/could possibly burn some bridges. If we have space for
56 more I can't even decide who we should focus on. If I could hand pick a final56 I think it would go:Devon Hunter
Tyjuan Garbutt
Xach Gill
Nathan Proctor
Ameer Speed
TJ Moore
That could be the start of a scary Bud Foster defense in 3 years...
I am so full of Kool-Aid right now...be gentle signing day.
edit: I forgot about TJ Moore...we have room for 6 right?
I heard Wheatley is enrolling in Jan. and might be able to count against 2016.
Keene is also an early enrollee.
The numbers ALWAYS work.
I think we should expect some attrition at the end of the season. Not sure who, but probably the people who have been here for 3+ years and not contributed.
Attrition will happen. Guys that may not fit Fuente system may see the writing on the wall and leave, making room for a larger class. Also there are some guys that are just filling spots and know they won't ever play. New coach, it typically happen.
There's a RB on the team who mysteriously has not played in the second half of the season. Would be shocked if he is back next season.
I hear Lawson is leaving.
#sauces?
#marinades
This "joke" hasn't been funny for months.
Wait - maybe Lawson is moving to TE. Haha
This is the best comment ever!
Nope, not funny, either.
Yes it has. And continues to be.
[3] AustinJumps2Sandman crushed the December 2016 Recruiting Part I thread, a new one was made to alleviate load times, and a third one was made to alleviate Dwayne Lawson jokes.
schools are limited to 25 football signees per calendar year
summer enrollees count against that year of enrollment
January enrollees (which can be early enrollees, gray shirts or preps from the previous year, or transfers) can count against the prior year provided there is space available under the 25/yr cap
schools can have no more than 85 on football scholarship at any one time
VT will certainly try use up any space it might have from 2016 with Dzansi, Keene, Farley, Kearney, etc.
Don't know how many of the current verbals might be later enrollees. And without additional attrition, VT can't even sign the verbals it has.
So yeah, hard to imagine more than 4 or 5 more
Does anyone know how much space we have from last year?
By my count, the took 20 (21 if you count Silas Dznasi.) The number could be lower because I don't know if Dean and Cannon ended up with scholarships
Hmm. Pretty good list, but none of those names really jump out at me. Okay maybe Deablo...or Hopple. What I mean is nothing really blows me away...except maybe Cannon. Oh, never mind.
9. Kearns
20. Kerns
Were there two different Kearns in last class or is that a typo and double counting the same kid.
Patrick Kearns - OL 6' 5" 288 Fr. Adairsville, Ga. Darlington School is the only one I see on the roster.
Just some rough calculations, we could take 30 if 5 elect to early enroll. We are currently at 19. It's rough because I'm not sure how many "free spots" we got with all the early enrollees last year (8). But I think we could move 5 from last year to 2015.
The Drew Harris spot should, hopefully, open up that we've been holding all this time. And there's a rumor that Lawson might transfer. So that makes room for 2.
Judging from the chatter, I predict we'll need a third December recruiting thread before the month is over
It's gonna get loud this month!! The commits are taking over the recruiting during the dead period. Twitter will be alive
Is this where the kids say "lit"?
Evan Watkins gave us a crystal ball for Markquese Bell.
Wow. That would be stealing a kid from Clemson and OSU.
Speed would be stealing a kid from UGA, UT and UNC.
Hunter is auburn and UF.
That's some serious competition.
if he had a committable offer to OSU he'd be there. Would be a great get regardless.
Their recruiting class is so insane right now, they could land the number 100 overall player, and it would bring down their class average. What the fuck. Their only non 4 star is a kicker. And the number 1 kicker too.
On paper, their class has a chance to be one of the best ever.
As a hater of both Michigan and Jim Harbaugh this makes me very happy.
Then you must be bathing in the LA Rams rumors right now
There are few things that would make me happier this year than to see him leave Michigan for another NFL gig.
I don't think Harbaugh stays at any one place more than 5 years, college or pro, I just think he wears on people (ask Jed York) a little too much after awhile.
Amazing coach though, and he's going to win wherever he's at.
I'm not Harbaugh, but I can promise you I would try to keep a job making 8(9?) million dollars a year as long as I possibly could, plus the convenience of being in one spot for a long time.
But if he lives in LA he can go see Judge Judy whenever he wants.
Or he could just start a small claims case and have Judge Judy preside. Imagine Harbaugh on that show. Whether you like him or not, that would be good entertainment.
They could make him the celebrity bailiff. Imagine him cuffing a guy and raving about how the guy drinks some candy-ass 1% milk.
"You're going away now! Not strong enough because of that weak 1% you been drinking! This is my court room!"
It's up to Grandma! Seriously, VT or OSU if OSU opens a spot for him.
Edit: I'm an idiot
{Nathan Fillion gif}
You mean this one, right?
Sticking to your guns with the gifs. I love it. {Jeremiah Johnson nod}
I got you, fam
Edited to add: But seriously, if the gifs are that much of a problem for you guys, did you know you can stop them from auto-playing? A quick Google search turns up loads of articles written about this topic, this one, for example, was written just this past June.
Not meaning to sidetrack the thread, but the big threads only affect me on iPhone and iPad. Once the thread is over 100 I don't look at it until I can get to a pc/mac.
So are we still in good position here, or is grandma pushing him elsewhere?
MD
I was just coming here to write that! He's a 4 star athlete (per 247) from New Jersey. Holy crap #statement17!
Greg Toal says hello
Well done
Victor Dimukeje a 3* DE was CB'd to us as well
I think Fuente and Co. put on a great show
Smart kid, bunch of Ivy League offers. Looks like Duke and UVA is the prime competition.
I think Fuente and Co. put on a great show
As long as it didn't look like a Louisville Basketball recruiting weekend (see below) then I am fine with it.
NSFW
[ mod edit: don't post pics of people in their underwear ]
Can you provide her correct #, the one you provided was disconnected. Asking for a friend. Thx
Here's the link for her headshot
Edit: NSFM (Not Safe for Mod)
Sounds like he's taking a page out of Hugh Freeze's playbook and trying...except he's (hopefully) not cheating.
DJ shut down recruitment and is solid to FSU
Figured as much.
Kid enjoyed playing the game
I'm not sure about Dazz either. I know I heard some magic 8 balls said he'd come our way, but he sure seems excited about UMD and they kids joining that class.
Yeah, not sure Dazz is a lock to flip like many think. I do believe he flips when all said and done but could see this one going to signing day.
Yeah, from the looks of twitter, he seems pretty solid to Maryland. The Gaddy brothers and Tyran Hunt all committed there today, so they seem to have a bit of momentum at the moment.
I'm honestly not going to get my hopes up too high yet. I've seen this story before. Not saying that this thing won't shape up well, but we keep hearing about secret commitments and how great a visit everyone had, and only one commit from the weekend to show for it. Not trying to rain on the parade, but just trying to temper my expectations and hope for the best.
Still think he flips, wouldn't call him solid to Maryland by any stretch but definitely not a lock to switch either.
Kinda feel bad for Tyran Hunt, he had a rough senior season and lost a lotttt of interest from schools. Also, the Gaddy bros didn't have the grades to get into to Tennessee so VT essentially backed off (along with a ton of other schools.)
Even taking off my O&M glasses I can't figure out why kids go to Iowa State and MD. Both those schools are the bottom feeders of their conference.
Me either. In regards to Dazz, he has significant ties to Tech and we've been recruiting him all along even though he just got offered recently. If he feels slighted by the late offer and that's why he sticks with MD, so be it. But i have no idea why someone would actively choose to live in College Park for 4 years to play for a team, who by default, will start every year as the 4th best team in their division behind OSU, Michigan and PSU. Average score of UMD's games vs. those 3 this year: 53-7. Good luck closing that gap.
Kinda like basketball players committing to Virginia Tech?
It's almost as if these kids are looking at more than "this team won some games"
I saw a thread about an FSU target considering VT and the FSU fans were whining and trashing VT by saying, "they're a garbage program just a flash in the pan"
We should NEVER sound like FSU fans
It's almost as if we have the same number of ACC championships as them since expansion. Seems like that flash lasted awhile.
Basketball recruiting and football recruiting are rarely similar. Basketball has a lot more chances for a team to play deep into the tourney. There are also a lot fewer spots on roster for basketball so talent gets spread out more. Iowa State and MD don't have any real chance to win their conference.
6 of maryland's top 7 recruits (per 247) are from within a 1 hour drive. so theres that and its not that hard to sell them being good eventually especially if they sell the whole "staying in state to win together" deal, like other schools are trying...
At best they are looking at 3/4 in their division and 5/6 in the conference. Thats with having an awesome season.
I hate MD. That's all.
Someone call?
Dazz's twitter was all VT after he got his offer a few weeks ago and i'm pretty sure he still has a visit planned here sometime before signing day. Could be something to it or could just be example #1,087 about not reading too much into a 17/18 year old's social media in regards to their recruitment. I guess we'll find out in due time.
Those kids seem to retweet anything that comes there way. I'm sure it makes them feel good, adds to the allure, and keeps the schools on their toes so they have to keep feeding them praises. I don't mean any of that in a bad way either - I would do the same thing if VT was trying to give me a scholarship.
Just saying - don't read too much into their retweets, etc. Just a wait and see game.
He played it well and for a very long time.
This guy was all about trolling fans on Twitter from the start. He was never going to sway from FSU, he just loved the attention.
I get that he "closed" his recruiting but the dead period started at midnight so it was "closed" by the NCAA anyway.
lots of recruiting still goes on. Kids can still initiate the contact.
I think Capehart has just as much potential as Matthews.
I like Capehart a lot too
I see Cape on Defense....
Capehart who is a 4* WR on defense?
This is actually much more of a possibility than people realize.
Explain please, I am lost and not sure how it makes sense.
He did play both ways at Bishop Sullivan. WR and CB.
We have a lot of <6' athletes in this class. I don't think they're all going to play WR
Savoy I could see at CB.
I'll trust whatever the coaching staff does. But in general we seem to have a pretty good track record at coaching up lower-rated guys into good DB's, not so much at WR. If he's got the same potential at both positions I'd rather see him at WR.
My brain completed your sentence before I finished reading it:
"we seem to have a pretty good track record at coaching up lower-rated guys into taller guys."
Well realistically we have very little track record at either of these positions now as they are all new staff. We'd have to look at what Wiggins has done with WRs, and what Mitchelll and Scott have done with DBs.
And Justin Fuente had 9 wins at Memphis last year. No guarantee he'll have that sort of success his first year in a P5 conference....
/s
Exactly!
So the solution to the "we have too many guys who could play WR" problem is to take the highest rated player who is coming in as a WR, who happens to be one of the better WR recruits we've ever managed to bring in.... and convert him to CB?
Nah, I don't see that happening. Sure, some will convert, but I HIGHLY doubt it will be Capehart. A guy with the kind of talent he's bringing in could flat out dominate the ACC in the Fuente regime, and his contributions on offense will be greater than that of what he could offer on defense. We have to score TDs somehow, and this kid looks to be one who will collect them as a hobby.
I was shocked when I first heard of him potentially playing DB, but then I watched his tape...
...a lot of his highlights are him playing on defense.
Im with you, Id still be surprised if he didnt play WR for us.
Yeah, I mean I get it that he plays both in high school, but our biggest need is going to be at WR, and the kid seems to be a natural fit. And assuming we get Hunter like everyone seems to be saying we will, I'd very much rather have Capehart doing his thing on offense and making that a great unit than just adding depth to what should be an otherwise already great defensive unit.
I'll trust Bud and Fu to decide what position everyone fits best not Evan Watkins. Not knocking Evan, he's good at what he does, but I think our coaches may be a little better. If we listened to recruiting sites Kam Chancellor and Bucky Hodges's would have been QBs and Duane Brown would have been a TE.
Wherever he will be most successful works for me
I see him as a db as well. Doesnt have elite speed but is a quick guy who seems to have a bit of a mean streak. He may stick at wr but i think someone has to be in his ear about making some money as a press corner in a few years.
Seconded
How do you like Savoys DB tape?
Edit:
Nevermind
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/429863#comment-429863
That's some real fine TKPing right there.
I like him at both. Someone is going to be moving to the secondary between Capeheart and Savoy. I think it will be Capeheart. Both are very capable.
Why is one moving to the secondary?
from people who have watched cape play he just isn't very natural at WR and drops quite a few balls. We can't have 12 (guessing) scholarship players at WR.
Why 1 of those 2? Savoy is a slot, and Cape is most likely outside.
Capehart is listed as 5'10" 178
Savoy is listed as 5'9" 177
they both seem like slot receivers to me...
Size helps, but it definitely doesn't define where he'll line up. In most of his highlights, he's outside.
Watched Malik Willis play in the Georgia Class 7A Championship Game on Saturday. His team (Roswell) led the whole game till the last 90 secs when Grayson (their QB is a Clemson commit) scored and with a 2 pt conversion made it a 7 point lead. Willis took the team on his back and with 5 seconds remaining completed a pass for a TD and sent the game into OT. Grayson won in the first period with a FG (both teams are loaded with Div 1A talent on the defense. Announcers were gushing over the performance of both QBs and talking about Willis to VT being a great opportunity for the young man. He is not as polished a QB as some of the targets that we have committed, but I can tell you that the kid is 100% a football player with a ton of heart and drive. I am hyped to see where he lands in the roster next year.
That must've been exciting. Sounds like a playmaker. It'll be interesting to see the roster
take shape in the next few years.
Love the recruiting strategy of this staff compared to the previous one when it comes to WR's and DB's. Take some more polished guys that played the position on high school (Savoy, Cape, Grimsley, Smith, hopefully Hunter) and mix them with some guys that played other positions in high school that are serious athletes (Willis, Pimp, Farley, hopefully Bell). That's how our 3 greatest WR corps over the history of the program.
That's how it what?
THAT'S HOW IT WHAT?
Come on man, don't leav
You mean like Ford & Phillips?
Oh wait a minute...weren't they recruited by the old staff? Oh yeah, that's right the change in strategy happened 3 or 4 classes ago.
Looking at his Twitter, he considers himself a qb commit.
In the picture...the guy on the far right...number 5...
Something...there's something about him. He stands out. Can't put my finger on it.
Noticed it too... it's because he's the only one in an orange jersey.
Ah, yup. That must be it
Looks like he could be Loeffler's kid. No offense to #5.
Honestly, in my assessment, he's a better TE than a LB. Just my 2 cents.
What about Dalton Keene in the picture? granted he's not in an orange jersey. /s
Dalton Keene and Dylan Rivers sound like the next duo to take Nashville by storm.
Oh, do they hold offers from vandy?
He reminds me a lot of Wes Welker.
Here is how I see the positions for our recruiting class breaking down. I'm not a coach, just a fan so this is a guess based on what I have read, seen, and again GUESSED at. You can clearly see that D-Line, Corner, and Safety are where efforts need to be focused at going forward based on my opinion. 5'7, 5'9 and 5'10...someone is going to corner, I agree, but Pimpleton I believe is too elusive with the ball in his hands to be the guy. I would be shocked to see Capehart and Savoy both at WR, whoever the coaches go with is A ok with me. Keene seems like he could be a RB or a LB too though. I am thinking Jalen Hurd and Tremaine Edmunds type for those spots.
Offense:
Hooker-QB
Dzansi, Brown, Darrisaw-OL
Deiuliis, Smith, Keene-TE
Pimpleton, Capehart, Grimsley, Willis, Farley-WR
Holston, Wheatley, Orlando Jones-RB
Defense:
Kearney, Ashby, Griffin-LB
Savoy-CB
Smith-S
I see Cape and Willis at DB. Savoy on offense....
and Lecitus at Guard....
*insert thinking emoji here*
Does that emoji have snot shooting out of both nostrils?
"They're snotbubbles." -Frank Beamer
Justin Fuente to the NCAA rules...
this GIF is remarkable
Did someone commit?
Crystal ball in from Evan for Nathan Proctor to VT. Although with other visits still looming, will have to close on signing day.
How good is Evan on these things? Genuinely curious, seemed like he crystal balled everyone to us today
FWIW, he's ranked 19 among 247 "experts" with an 86% accuracy: http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/ExpertRankings
Evan just represents how the coaches currently feel. But a lot of these guys are weeks away from a decision, a lot can change.
This weekend, however, seems to have gone very well.
Crystal balls mean absolutely nothing because they let them change them as often as they want. The day of a commitment they just flip to whichever school has momentum.
Agree that they mean nothing up until the commitment date, but at least you know before the "commitment" where the kid is going due to the change in CB's.
I look at the score associated with each pick. The lower the number, the closer the pick was made to the commitment. Evan has some pretty low scores but a high overall success rate. That means, when he puts in a pick, it's probably a good bet because he's in there late in the process and probably knows something.
But I don't think they penalize anyone for switching late. So Evan can pick whoever he wants right now, as long as he has someone who tells him and he flips it right before the kid announces, he looks like a genius. The only times he can appear wrong is if the kid announces and he hasn't made a connection to funnel him the information, first.
This sets a precedent of a ton of false positives, because it makes every prediction look like its dead on accurate, when in reality its only the last one that matters. The problem is, there's no way to say which is the last one unless the kid has a scheduled announcement. I wish 247 would let you know the percentage of overall picks someone gets right, to filter out this kind of noise, but that would make their 'experts' appear far less so.
Exactly. Remember the Jalen Dalton fiasco? We were 89% on him or something and decision day came down and almost everyone switched to UNC including Evan. So they were all right? Crystal balls are fun to look at but unless they lock them in a persons success rate means very little.
That just represented that the coaching staff(s) were surprised. Evan Watkins just CB's what the coaching staff is thinking. But there are times when they feel pretty good about a recruit and then they pick the other school.
IIRC, even UNC's people CB'd Dalton to VT, so they thought he was going here too.
Crystal Ball'in isn't some science. Each coaching staff has one or two guys who they leak information to, those guys then represent those staffs. But when a guy from Colorado CB's Xach Gill to VT, he's doing so because he believes that Evan has good info from our coaches....not because that guy from Colorado actually knows anything.
And sometimes the coaches get lied to by the recruits (or their mama's).
I don't think the point is that CB's are an exact science. It's the way they change their CB's 5 min before an announcement, then act like they were right all along. CB's shouldn't count, if stated within 24 hrs of a decision.
That's why the point system exists. Last second changes get them no points.
Maybe have two scores: initial pick, and final pick. With the final pick having to be recorded at least 48 hours prior.
I think the underlying point of this is dead on, but your last sentence hits on why it's pretty exciting even if we don't (and almost certainly won't) land all these guys were CB'ed for at the moment. It's definitely indicative of recruiting momentum that we usually don't have around this time of year. Additionally, swinging in CB's on some 4 star guys that seemed like reaches not long ago suggests there is a buzz around the program and the new blood on the recruiting trail is paying off to some degree. So I don't think they mean absolutely nothing.
It is almost too good to be true for the CB trending our ways with Nathan Proctor, Ameer Speed, Xach Gill, Victor Dimukeje, Markquese Bell, Tyjuan Garbutt. Well, I have no problem to see all of these come to fruition.
Farley just dominated day 1 of the shrine bowl. Expect to see him move in the rankings once 247 re evaluates. Early enrollee too.
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Article/Day-1-Top-Performers-from-the-...
And another hopeful VT commit Brad Johnson was another standout. Sounds like some good evaluating talent to me!
Looking good for a bunch of these dudes....Speed, B Johnson, Gill, Proctor.....
Just going to be tough to hang on to all of them to NSD. Some have OVs coming up....
I will take all the recruits trending VT, but Hunter is at the very top of my wish list.
We've got a lot of speed in the past couple classes and Pimpleton is a stud.
Not used to seeing this many crystal balls for big recruits for us late in the process. I really hope we land some of the unexpected ones.
Pimpleton joining Kearney, Keene, Farley Wheatley and Dzansi as EE's. EE's count towards last years numbers and you can have a total of 85 scholarship players. This is good stuff because it can help VT bring in more players for this years 17 class.
Offense is going to be wild with all these athletes flying around.
I don't think anyone shared this yet but Gill delayed his announcement until Monday as his HS team is in the State Championship.
I like/respect that decision. It just shows he's a team first kind of kid and as a result makes me want him that much more.
Coincided with the visit to tech where UNC was the presumable leader going into the weekend. Good news for us.
Go Cougars! WFRHS class of 07
Wake Forest High School has become a football powerhouse in recent years. I think getting Xach to come to Tech could help open a pipeline to Blacksburg for future years.
With Malik Willis' ranking bump, we now have a top 25 class according to the 247 Composite.
More importantly 17th by 247. And yes I do have evidence that 247 is a better predictor for Hokies than the composite. Just need to find where I posted it...
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/431008#comment-431008
TLDR: If 247 loves someone vs the composite, 247 is right.
Yep, if we finish strong we have a chance to be top 15 in 247's rankings.
Depending how guys move in the ratings during post season events. Keene and Drake are 247 gems. And of course closing on all the big fish.
One of our commits got a huge bump in ratings so the Hokies are the 25th best class
And here come the lazy offers, teams who just drop in late.
I don't think that a croot got a bump. I think that they simply incorporated Wheatley's commit into the overall (it wasn't in there when I checked 6-8 hrs after his commitment).
malik willis got a bump in the 247 rankings, and therefor is now higher in the composite
Up to 3 Crystal balls for Procter.
It would be cool if we got him. Southern Maryland Athletic Conference represent!
You talking SMAC?
When is he deciding?
More balls than fans at the UVA Spring
gamefestival.Not saying much, of course, most males can say the same.
Make that 4.
Donovan Johnson is declaring tonight at 8. Penn St. or VT. Crystal balls to Penn St. I am encouraged about statement17 but I'm tired of coming down to the final 2 and not winning the prize. Dalton, Sweat, Nnadi, Crosby and others.
Looks like he just had an official visit with Penn State this past weekend. I wouldn't get too hopeful.
I'm pretty sure he just got a big boost on 247 too. He's now listed as a 4* in the 0.89 range right below Castro-Fields. He was rated as a 3* in the 0.86 range with Harrison Hand. Haven't heard much about him so not too optimistic but who knows...
He just committed to PSU.
Penn State
Not surprised. Just tired of being 2nd.
Xach Gill committing 12/19 VT or UNC I don't want to be second.
The trick is to just be numb to it and accept it. Then when things actually work out it's a pleasant surprise.
Are you talking about recruiting or my life?
Yes.
Everything
Eat at Arby's
Well, they do have the meats.
Anyone want to play "What's the best case scenario vs what should we excpect?" It's a slow day at work.
Best case scenario: We get all of the high level recruits we're after.
What to expect: We'll get some of the high level recruits we're after.
Worst case scenario: We get none of the recruits we're after.
Done :D
Anytime, glad to help
via GIPHY
This reminds me of this scene from Dark Knight where Batman looks at a wall covered in bullet holes and proceeds to tell the police "this is evidence!"
I think they would have probably deduced that one themselves.
World's Greatest Detective
{Not really a slow day at work, but I'll play "Guess the %'s"}
Hunter: VT (60%), Auburn (20%), UF (20%)
Garbutt: VT (75%), Pitt (25%)
Proctor: VT (50%), PSU (50%)
Speed: VT (60%), UNC (40%)
Bell: VT (40%), OSU (30%), Rutgers (30%)
Johnson: VT (65%), USC (35%)
Gill: VT (55%), UNC (45%)
Dimukeje: VT (40%), Duke (40%), UMD (20%)
Newsome: VT (55%), UMD (45%)
Becton: VT (10%), UVA (20%), Michigan (30%), Michigan State (40%)
Hand: VT (30%), Temple (30%), UMD (40%)
Brooks to UMD; Moore to UT, Conliffe to PSU, Rivers sticks with PSU
I would like to see us get a visit from Bobby Roundtree, intriguing DE. I would also expect we add an OL that isn't even being mentioned yet.
Thoughts or corrections?
as a Duluth, Minnesota native I got so pumped when you wrote UMD
don't electrons freeze up there?
I hope we can get most of them, but just a little concerned about how many spots left for this year.
We could fit all of those in the class by shifting early enrollees to 2016.
Darius Pinnix from Western Alamance was offered a PWO. Currently holds offers from Appalachian State, LOLUVA, and committed to ECU. Playing in the Shine Bowl of the Carolinas this Saturday with current Tech commit Caleb Farely.
Hudl Page
That's a football player. 6'3" 225, lots of experience as a wideout, good between tackles skills, even looked good at DE. He could be a Sam Rogers type guy?
Is there a position he doesn't take snaps at
Apparently it is a preferred walk on offer
Correct, it's a preferred walk on (PWO). Sorry for not explaining that more clearly.
Clemson just picked up 2018 #1 overall recruit QB Trevor Lawrence
if this sticks, their 2 deep in 2018 will be guys who are Top 2 QBs and Top 20 overall recruits in the previous 2 classes
Dammit
I could be wrong, but that QB's career record is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-1 & he's only a JR.
Trevor Lawrence scares me a bunch more than the 2017 guy, Hunter Johnson. Johnson's tape reminds me of Andrew Ford's a little. He seems to pick the opponent apart in the intermediate, especially in zone coverage and then he just lays it up for his WRs to win the ball deep. I could be seeing this all wrong (wouldn't shock me at all), but it doesn't seem like he has a huge arm or anything. He is a little mobile though.
Lawrence on the other hand is terrifying. The guy has a cannon and is super agile. He's also 6'6"! If he can adjust to the college level it'll be near impossible to stop. A lot of happy Clemson fans today.
Seriously I kind of took Lawrence as a goof ball until I watched his tape. Wow. As a high schooler he's the kind of kid who can take a drop, avoid 3 guys in the pocket while keeping his eyes down field, then roll out and thread the needle 20 yards downfield while on the run. A lot of elite high schoolers have elite athleticism coming into college, but he not only has elite athleticism but his skills are far, far beyond his years too. This kid scares me.
I completely agree. I went into the video calling him Sunshine and laughing about how goofy he looks. Then about 10 seconds in you see this guy at 6'6" juking out defenders in the backfield and unloading a dart to a receiver. Unreal.
VT hokies still have Foster and Fuente. They know how to get the best out of their student athletes. Clemson will NEVER scare me despite their roster fill with 5* and 4* talents.
They also have to get past FSU and Louisville every year .
Clemson doesn't scare you?
Not now. Not ever.
Maybe I don't understand what "scare" means. UVA doesn't scare me.
Clemson is the scariest team on our future schedules list, the biggest impediment to VT reaching our ultimate goal. Obviously we can (and will, next year in Lane) beat them.
What does it matter if you are scared or not? Doesn't change that we have lost 4 games straight to them and they are starting to enter the realm of god tier recruiting.
I just checked out their '17 recruits... wow. They are on another level.
http://clemson.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits
WDE, 6'-4", 250lb, 4-star, 0.9399 rating, Position 10th
WDE, 6'-4.5", 260lb, 4-star, 0.9273 rating, Position 12th
I'M GLAD THEY GOT TWO IDENTICAL PLAYERS FOR THE SAME POSITION
I'd like a piece of that for VT.
I don't get it.
But they have a SLIDE!!!!
I'd like a piece of it too, which is why two very similar (on paper) fairly highly rated players is ridiculous.
I think they are recruiting Foster as a weak side backer. 247 changed his position recently because thats where they think he projects best
Not to cause any further panic, but they are also in great position to land 3 of the current top 4 in the country on the 2018 composite.
FWIW, Lawrence hasn't been playing against top competition in GA since Cartersville is down a couple levels from the elite schools. I'm not trying to take anything away from him, but I was just as impressed by watching VT ATH recruit Malik Willis quarterback Roswell to the 7A state finals.
So like Bama one of them transfers within 2 years got it.
It's crazy the competition level some kids will subject themselves to for the chance to play at a specific school. It will be interesting to see if Johnson decides to go elsewhere.
Its all about what kind of garbage his recruiter(s) are shoveling down his throat, boosting his ego, and promising things that everybody but the recruit knows can't be promised.
Dabo made sure he hired sunshine pumping used car salesmen in order to win these blue chip recruiting battles.
What's to sell? "Hey wanna be the QB on a national championship caliber team? Cool, we think you are good enough to be our QB, come in and prove it."
That's what we would tell guys if we were that good. Instead we probably are the ones bullshitting in order to keep the top programs from scooping them.
So then what was our excuse in 2000?
Ugh still bitter we never capitalized on that title run in recruiting
Wasn't kevin jones the number one recruit in the country?
Our social media game was weak in 2000
Was social media really a thing in 2000?
MySpace top 8, you better hope the coach recruiting them had the right players in his top 8.
I lol'd
I think I dated myself with that one.
It's all about who had you in their buddy list and how clever the Hokie_Football away messages were.
This is getting too real
Hey, hit me up with your ICQ#.
Haha. The old AOL IM
IN THE WORRRRRST WAAAAAAAAAAY
Edit: Um. My and my awkward mid-2000s self are just going to see our way out of this thread now.
Feel no shame brother, Brand New and Taking Back Sunday are still my fav bands and I go see them whenever they come around where I live.
Brand New always gets a leg from me. It's hard to believe TDAGARIM came out ten years ago last fall.
Ten years ago on my birthday to be exact, they actually came to Greenville (for the first time ever I believe) this November for the 10 year tour of that album and it was the best show I've ever been to.
I'm envious, I've always wanted to see them live but have missed every opportunity to do so. Your Favorite Weapon is still one of my all time favorite albums.
That was the case for me for the longest time until fall 2014 I got to see them twice and then I saw them again this last time. Super worth it if you ever get a chance again.
I wonder if NCAA allowed the custom away messages where when someone messaged you they got a custom message to their aim name?
Jugs are you old enough to have been around NCAA then?
Clemson earned the title QBU with these two pick ups.
Let's see if Lawrence actually sticks, long way to NSD 2018 and Georgia will still pursue.
Would knock Lawson to the the second highest JUCO QB, if the rumors about Lawson are true that is.
The impression that I got from his tweets and whatnot is that Clemson is his "dream school" and that he's going there no matter who else offers.
Side note: Did anyone else get the feeling they were watching a 6'6 Drew Brees (when he's at his best) in that kid's highlight video? Great pocket awareness, great movement, great ability to see the whole field?
Lets hope so
Purdue turned to shit basically the second he moved on. I hope for similar results for Clemson after living around their fans the last few years
Auburns DB coach, and Hunter's main recruiter is leaving for Ole Miss. Pretty great news.
Thats great. I was most nervous about Auburn and their late official visit shady commitments
This just means we worry about Ole Miss now lol
Doubt it but you never know.
Ole Miss pays well...
But Auburn does too
Is Xach Gill still announcing tomorrow? Can TKP send him a love letter is something?
Real talk: If a love letter from an internet site makes a recruit pick us, he's got some serious issues.
"Dear Brandon...."
Who gets that old reference?
The first recruiting class I followed.
Anonymous orange and maroon flowers??
Was reading this thread about Xach Gill on UNC's Scout forum and found this gem:
UNC fans are in la la land. It's amazing
The NCAA should "remind" them that fake grades given to athletes is cheating, even if you postpone the investigation indefinitely.
O I have an article that will blow your mind.
http://m.goheels.com/mobile/ViewArticle.dbml?atclid=211365489&DB_OEM_ID=...
Yes a UNC "writer" thinks UNC is better because the opposing coach unbuttoned his shirt buttons.
Yeah, I saw that earlier today, and the immediate outrage on Twitter. That article is absolutely embarrassingly ironic.
must be mad about the winter weather advisory
Those Atchison Kansas winter weather advisory's will get after ya Roy
I'm expecting Kentucky to reply with an old fashion "your coach throws like a girl" retort after the that gif.
Ahh yes, love the proper form the grad assistants show in
cleaning up the trashpicking up the jacket. I see they have been trained well in the ways of UNC.Zero excuse for a coach throwing anything at a player.
Bobby Knight was suspended and fined for throwing a chair, onto open space on the court (i.e., not at someone). Roy deserves punishment for this, but I seriously doubt that anything will happen.
I hate that I am defending someone from UNC, but there are several examples I have heard/seen where I think Roy is at least a decently classy guy/coach. So with that,
I'm not condoning the practice...just stating that it's rather commonplace and not a terrible atrocity as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
Nobody really thinks he's getting punished for that.
But you're missing a prime opportunity to hate on an ACC Coastal foe. Come on. It's at least funny that he's got TWO guys in coat and tie there to pick up his jacket.
I wasn't seriously thinking that he'd get any kind of reprimand. That said, given the reaction of the player after Roy sat down, I don't think that #1 in your list is correct. I think that he was trying to hit the player.
What's remarkable is that it's clearly "business as usual", and doesn't surprise anyone there.
What time does Xach announce tomorrow?
3 PM ET. Believe he's announcing at his school.
This kid is dying to be a Hokie he's a class of '19 WR let's show him some love
Don't tweet at him but, you can always follow the like/retweet policy
^This. I don't spend enough time on twitter to follow 17 year olds but if you do, knock yourself out.
Not trying to temper any Statement17 excitement momentum, but am I the only one who lacks confidence in Devon Hunter coming to Tech?
The interview with his mom, the pushing back of his announcement, the late addition of Auburn as an official visit, and possibly another SEC official Visit, maybe two schools supposedly (I would imagine Florida will be one of those), it all feels a little bit like the momentum is going against us?
Just wanted to get ahead of the meltdown if its coming, I have zero sources for this, only speculating, either way, Im excited for Techs future, whether or not he comes here.
Yea I'm with you a little bit. Everyone got so excited after the visits the other weekend when we started to get a ton of CBs for some big time guys. Xach Gill is a great example. The general perception was that the coaches must have done something to sway him. Now all of a sudden all the predictions have flown to UNCheat's favor as of this morning. Same narrative, new day. At this point I just try my best to temper any and all expectations one way or another.
You should never be confident about a blue chip prospect coming to Tech unless he has 3 brothers in the program
All the momentum against was picked back up after his OV and when his main recruiter at Auburn left for Ole Miss.
He's far from a lock, obviously, but we should be able to close on him. Key word is should.
Also, FWIW, he hasn't scheduled an Auburn OV yet.
Nah, 9 out of the 10 predictions on 247 have him coming to Tech. He's a lock.
Don't get me wrong, I too believe he is coming to Tech... But those 247 predictions aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Those experts always adjust day of the commitment to appear like they've known the whole time.
Ha, yeah. I intentionally excluded the /s to see if the sarcasm was picked up on. I need a unique profile image to make it easier for people to passively track comments across threads. I was just complaining about the last second CB changes in the Xach Gill thread.
CB's could have him at 100%. He's a high 4-star prospect with a slew of offers. He's never going to be a lock for us.
Well considering that they AREN'T printed on paper I would tend to agree with you there
According to 247, Fork Union center Brennon Garrison has accepted a walk on position at VT. Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere.
Link
Dude, I just looked real hard at your avatar for the first time, is that correct and actually made with alpha helices and beta sheets to form that VT?
It's the VT Biochemistry department logo (or at least it was when I was still there). As for correctness, you'd have to ask someone who paid more attention haha.
sounds like the kind of answer you'd get from a LOLUVa grad student :-P
The handedness of the helices is correct so it checks out in that regard and the sheet notation is correct. The twisting right above the T is somewhat implausible unless there is a glycine stretch, but at least the proximity of opposing helix macrodipoles is reasonable in that region (δ+ near δ-).
Signed,
Someone who once paid too much attention
I took a singular biochem class so the structures were familiar but it's awesome you can confirm it. I did understand what you said surprisingly enough.
Leg for science.
I can see the "VT" though
so I've got that goin' for me
which is nice
I was hoping you'd show up haha. My research has never focused on anything related to this so my knowledge of it came and went during class.
Quincy Patterson II, QB, 6'4, 232 LBs, Three Stars on 247
HUDL Profile
Alim McNeill, 6'3, 262 Lbs, LB/DE, Raleigh, NC, C/O 2018,
HUDL Profile with NIKE Measureables
*obligatory, not funny "wow we've offered him x times" joke*
X = 10, not 4....check your math
What is this unholy marriage of Roman and Arabic numberals???
Edit: Or numerals, even!
IV yet to come up with a good response for that...
Numberals - like overalls, but mathy.
Four is 100, not 10. :-p
10? Are you referring to our 10 win season or LOLUVa's 10 win season?
For a 6'3, 260 pound linebacker with fbs offers, 4 is nowhere near enough offers to give this guy
Hokie20, what happened to all the good recruiting news you said was coming? Momentum dropped after that big Blacksburg weekend.
247 posted a Board on the status of things.
We're in play for all of the big dawgs but, who knows how it'll end up
Badly, like it always does.
/jumps off cliff
He didn't say when it was coming, most of our targets aren't announcing unt January or Signing Day so we'll know then I guess.
He knows things.
Man, some of you guys must have been the kids that couldn't wait for Xmas and had to find the gifts beforehand.
I'd rather get the best gifts for VT on the last signing day that get a bunch of meh gifts now.
Wrong. I'm just checking in with Hokie20 because of this comment he made 2 weeks & 4 days ago.
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/498569#comment-498569
Maybe he just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays?
Assuming we get those best gifts later.
Scholarships are finite and there are 365 days in the year. At best, there are no commitments about 95% of the days in a year.
I guess I get folks' excitement when a recruit "commits", but I just don't understand getting frustrated when a couple of days - or even a month or more - goes by without a committment. Especially when commitments are non-binding until signing day.
It's not as though Ohio State and Alabama have more scholarships than VT. In the end, VT will sign 25 players - give or take - and will sign the best players it can over the course of the year.
Yea we will sign 25 players. But it might not be the 25 players we want. Missing on a 4* talent (even if people want to downplay his talent, our coaching staff still wanted him) is frustrating because there are a limited number of 4*s that consider us. You can say "I'd rather get the best gifts later" but that is a useless statement. Gifts will come. Just maybe not the ones that were the staffs first choice. Signing a class of our backup options isn't good.
This dead period has everyone in the dark, focus has been on practice. Like I said the real recruiters right now are our current commits and some are doing a great job. Pimp is hating on Michigan lately.
Pimp was just awarded AP Player of the Year in Michigan
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Bolt/Michigan-sports-writers-name-Kali...
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/6890484803966311757/2016-...
Is it real that his only other offer is Eastern Michigan?
I thought I read somewhere that he basically was telling coaches from other schools to eff off after he committed. So he probably would have had plenty of other offers but he wanted to be a Hokie!!!
A few things might play into that...
1) He's a diehard Hokie already
2) While he is dynamic and quick, electric even, he is only 5'7" 160 and many teams don't have a role for a player that size. (Go Fuente O!)
3) He plays in a mid-tier level football division so his domination of the competition is not as mind boggling
Dude reminds me of a young Devon Hester. Can't wait
Can't wait to have a pimp and a hooker on the same field. i'm hopeful for some really embarrassing moments for announcers...
"and Hooker delivers for Pimp yet again!"
"Pimp really couldnt ask for better service from his main man, Hooker!"
Pretty good kicker, so I've heard
But does he also play Linebacker?
with a name like that how can he not?
Some post season bowl rankings updates
http://247sports.com/Article/Shrine-Bowl-sparks-several-four-star-update...
Farley showed out at the Shrine Bowl. 247 bumped his rating from an 85 to 93. Which took him from 952 overall to 186. Solid 763 spot jump. Says Fuente will give him a shot at QB but this dude is an elite athlete and can be a burner on the outside at WR.
Target Brad Johnson also killed it this weekend. Was bumped from a 87 to a 92 and has very mean tape. Sized as a perfect hybrid olb/de for bud foster. USCe and UT as competition
Don't think I've ever seen a bigger bump for a recruit so close to signing day than Farley just received.
He's the real deal.
Last year Dickerson went from a 3 star to the number 17 player in the country just after the HS season. That one hurt.
Forgot about that one. He jumped in basically every service as well. Sucks, because I think if he were in this class we would have had a much better chance at him. Fuente recruited him pretty hard but was way too far behind to catch up.
Brad Johnson was in beast mode during the Shrine Bowl.
Dude's a flat out baller and should be high on our target list.
He has a big enough frame to play DE and has a motor.
He would be a great get for VT.
Going by 247 Rankings, with Farley's big bump we now have the 16th best class and six 4 star commits (including Dzansi.)
But I thought we weren't going to sniff a Top 15 recruiting class
Not with Fuente. Everyone knows he can't recruit...../s
I came here to say the same thing. Decided not to, but glad someone did.
I spent more time than I'm proud of Ctrl-F-ing 'sniff' in various recruiting threads only to come up empty handed.
However I only see maybe 1 or 2 schools VT can jump, but I see a handful or so of schools that have a good chance of jumping ahead of VT before it's all said and done.
I disagree. If Tech gets the recruits they expect to (yes always guessing 17yr olds minds is a crapshoot, but we have a heavy lean to get at least 4 more 4-star players if not 6) then they have the potential to pass 7 or 8 teams with only 1 or 2 teams that have the shot to jump them.
That's a bunch of if's and lean's and best case scenarios.
Assuming the players are what VT wants needs, I hope it happens. But it's more likely than not VT goes down than up.
Wow! What would commits from Devon Hunter, Tyjuan Garbutt, Brad Johnson, Markquese Bell (doubtful), and Ameer Speed move us up to?
Is bell doubtful?
The untrustworthiness of CB's struck again and after we got 3-4 CB's for him, a few days later he got two to the Twerps.
Were those credible CBs?
I have no idea which ones are credible at this point, they just change so often. I view them as momentum more than anything.
Honestly, I'm not going to read into any crystal balls for Bell until December 31st or so (he announces on the 1st.) A day or two before the announcement is when stuff starts to leak.
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits/Preview
Have fun!
Aren't we in the running for Harrison Hand? That would be a big pickup too.
Why is it when I click your link it shows me the six 4 stars but if I go straight through 247 it doesn't? I like to see the stars man!!!
EDIT: Composite score as opposed to 247 score. Got it!
One was 247's and one is the 247 composite rankings.
This is my guess to your predicament.
There are two class ranking systems on 247. 247 has their own rankings in which we are ranked 16th and have six 4 stars. The 247 composite averages the 4 main recruiting services. The composite is usually the go-to for recruiting rankings. When 247 updated their player rankings, only 25% of the composite score was affected. That's why we remained 27th in the composite class rankings.
Clearly the composite sucks, and 247 knows whats up
But in all seriousness 247 has taken over as the premier football recruiting source. If you look at guys like Hooker, Willis, Farley (until today), Keene, and Pimpelton are comically undderated by other recruiting services that just havent done their homework.
You also have to take into account the time required and the return on investment for that time spent. 247 has the largest dedicated staff to do these evaluations compared to any of the others from what I have seen. They also have contributors nationwide compared to ESPN trying to do it from afar or just using Nike Sparq or similar camps to do their evaluations.
Another major factor is trying to evaluate talent against varied opponents. Its what makes basketball so much easier in that the best of the best usually rise up and play each other in AAU or other avenues of competition. Football is so varied from state to state, even level of school inside of states. How would the QB from Blacksburg have done if he had been playing 4A talent all year, even in the playoffs?
Sure there are measureables that help to compare guys but that doesnt touch on instinct and the ability to shed a block or using the proper hand position and leg position in blocking as an offensive lineman. Guy might be the best QB in the land but his team doesnt have any quality receivers so they run the ball instead. Just too many variables unless you have people everywhere, even ferreting out tidbits of info from coaching staffs, parents, twitterverse, etc.
Holston is a 4 star on ESPN and Pimpleton is a 79, which an 80 would give him 4 stars. I do think ESPN does occasionally get it right. Obviously not always. Hopefully these 2 play like 5 stars.
This doesn't suck:
Hopefully he becomes a Hokie and one of the better NFL DBs like Kam too.
If we miss on Devon Hunter, it's going to be one of those misses that we talk about for years to come.
If we miss out, it was never meant to be. There's quite literally nothing else we could do to try and bring him here.
I feel like we say that all the time with many other recruits from the past years lol
I wouldn't even be upset. We did everything and more.
I know we have gotten big time recruits with Shane and Loeffler and a lot did not pan out. The current staff got more out of less recruited guys at Memphis. This may be the best recruiting class for all the ex-Memphis coaches and Foster and Wiles never recruited highly touted guys. Burden came from ODU so Im sure VT is where he has done his best recruiting and I know he is our best recruiter currently and I do not know about Mitchell. I know this much... Capehart, Farley, Willis, Pimpleton, Savoy, Hooker, Deiuliis, Keene, Smith, Holston, Grimsley, and Ashby have all had beastly senior reviews and it's proven that some of the guys who were under recruited were diamonds in the rough and this coaching staff has found some serious weapons for RB, TE, WR, QB, LB, OL, and CB, DL, and S are still being addressed. The other day Fuente said Belmar, Patterson, and Rodgers had impressed him a lot and he is trying to not get overly excited about all of the OL guys from the 2016 class but it sounds like a solid bunch. Additionally Foster has been calling out Beckett as being a good pickup and me personally I hope Ladler is as good as before his injury.
I no longer care that much about stars but I do obviously hope we get some 4 stars and 5 stars, but regardless 1 kid does not make or break a class when you recruit the talent that we have recruited and have the coaches that we have. I am glad we have the coaching talent to evaluate these kids and find the hidden gems so when we miss out on a 4 or 5 star we have someone who has just as much potential. I am sorry for going into class of 2016 recruits, I know this is the thread for December 2016 for 2017 recruits.
Good post. To take your points a bit further, there are three main recruiting skills:
1. Scouting - finding players early whose standing increases and identifying players who hit your system are hallmarks of a good recruiting staff. The current staff extends this as a traditional strength of VT football.
2. Player development - the next step of good scouting is adjusting your schemes to match your talent and making players better. Being better than the sum of your parts. This was a strength of Beamerball for years but fell off recently. Foo's staff did a great job with this in 2016 and previously at Memphis.
3. Closing - this was the obvious weakness of the latter Beamer staffs. It's not necessarily closing on the highest ranked recruits, but it is closing on the recruits for whom you invest the most resources. This year, that is Hunter, Garbutt and probably Proctor.
I'm happy as long as we are competitive each year. I just know that to win it all we need much better recruiting though.
Honest question: who were the big recruits that shane brought in?
Everyone had this idea that he was a great recruiter but I was personally underwhelmed.
Ones who didn't work out...Holland Fisher, Cequan Jefferson, CJ Reavis and others from the Richmond area, Loeffler brought in Andrew Ford, Shai McKenzie, Dwayne Lawson...a lot of 4 stars who were unable to get on the field on starting roles, McKenzie I thought would have been a good starter. Josh Jackson is another Loeffler recruit that remains to be seen how he turns out, same with Chris Durkin.
Pretty sure Shane recruited this guy:
Rumor has it he will be enrolling in January of 2027.
who is it? Harris?
Pretty sure he was instrumental in getting dudes like Alshon Jeffery and Marcus Lattimore to USCe
He was the primary recruiter for Clowney too.
Off topic but speaking of recruiting Clowney, his high school highlights are the most unreal thing I've ever watched. That film was absolutely outrageous, he's gotta be the best high school prospect in the last 10-15 years. I literally can't begin to imagine how another high school team scored on them.
There's never a good excuse not to link them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkmiBdoBDc
That is unreal. If I were a QB about to play him I would have been thinking like John Kruk against Randy Johnson in the all star game, just do anything possible to not have the ball in my hands.
I live in FL and this kid is a friend of the family. What's the correct way (trying to avoid recruiting violation) to get his tape to a VT recruiting coordinator (he is an offensive lineman): https://www.hudl.com/profile/3492195/cole-schneider
If there is an existing relationship you have more leeway.
JUGS SIGNAL!!!
You could maybe Twitter DM or email Thomas Guerry the highlights.
Emails to Cantor, Guerry, and/or Bartelstein are appropriate and in no way a violation.
http://www.hokiesports.com/staff/
yes to all of these, email is a great way.. also an email from the player is another good idea.
The more the better IMO, its easy to send a 1 sentence email with a link, got to be different when hunting for offers.
Have him link his Hudl, include any SAT/ACT scores and GPA.
What grade is this kid in? Looks pretty big while still being mobile, and plays very angry. Would love to see in O&M.
Idle curiosity here (and highly unlikely given the spectacle of the original commitment) but is there even an outside chance that Khalan Laborn opens back up IF Cam Akers does indeed commit to FSU?
Doubt it but Fuente is still actively recruiting him.
Maybe not actively. But if Cam commits, which is expected, I wouldn't be surprised if Burden calls to test out the waters. Although I would love to see TKPs reaction if that happens
Akers is a man. He's rated higher than Dalvin was coming out of high school. I fear Khalan's skill wouldn't be enough to match up with Akers' s larger frame and quicker speed.
This season Dalvin has rushed 268 times. The second closest is Jacques Patrick with 60 carries.
If I'm Khalan, I definitely take a step back here and question what I want out of my college football experience.
Unfortunately he probably won't. Unless the FSU coaches straight up tell him to look around for other options, Laborn will go to FSU with the same mentality as before. As in, he's always been the best player on any field, so he assumes he can win the job at FSU too.
For what its worth there are some FSU guys that think Patrick has been hurt. Got 20 carries against South Florida early in the year and then basically stopped playing. And other than this year and last when their RB depth behind Dalvin just fell apart Fisher has always rotated backs to the point that it drove FSU fans crazy.
But there's always the point that Akers makes 3 RBs in the class and they already have two committed for next year's class so there certainly are a lot of people competing for carries. I'd definitely imagine at least one of those guys leave
Koby Cumberlander, 6'3, 240 Lbs, DE, Roswell, GA, C/O 2017
HUDL Profile
Cumberlander from Roswell. Name doesn't check out.
Zion Debose, 6'3, 230 Lbs, DE/TE, North Rowan High, Spencer, NC C/O 2017
HUDL Profile
247Sports Profile
Are these offers to fill spots we didn't get other players in.
Defensive end offers this late in the cycle make me wonder about guys like Proctor/Garbutt.
It's possible these aren't commitable offers and that they're throwing out their safety net option offers in case we don't get one or both of the aforementioned.
Johnson?
Forgot about him for a minute. Looks like a stud.
Free rivals update
For what it's worth all of the CB's we got for Bell have officially been switched to Maryland...
Nathan Proctor 6-3 220 4*DE/LB. Down to VT Pitt and Penn St. Announcing at UAALLAMERICA game.
He was supposed to originally visit Penn State in January and announce on Signing Day.
Either he's afraid Penn States filling up and commits, or we are in good shape.
Insider on TSL says we're in good shape, FWIW
#SAUCES
Steve Wiltfong, one 247s main recruiting analysts, just crystal balled Proctor to VT.
The 6 most current crystal balls all to VT.
247 looks like Proctor is coming to VT and Laborn wants Akers at FSU, he said he won't decommit, if he does take any other official besides FSU it would be Oregon. He said VT said if he ever decides to decommit that they are still there for him and he said with a laugh he was just like yeah. The 4 and 5 star kids in VA seem to look down on VT for the most part, I don't get it. Why do they take pride in other states schools? They worked hard so they deserve to go where they want but it just gets old from a fan perspective and no coach can change this, the kids have to want to come to VT or it don't matter who the coach is it isn't happening.
Because the last 4-5 years VT has been so far from sexy.
Yeah Oregon isn't super sexy but the swag and gifts are unreal so for a kid who committed in a lambo he would fit right in.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'll ever want a player who committed in a Lamborghini.
Same here
No offense but I don't get why people say stuff like this. The kid can play, and that talent has afforded him a chance to announce his commitment in a fun way. Who cares how he announces it?
I respect your opinion but for me that type of commitment is just incredibly excessive. It has no place in high school sports in my opinion. It exudes a very "look at me" type of personality which isn't indicative of the type of culture at Virginia Tech
I see where you're coming from and I get that 100%. Though I think the excessiveness for that one came more from Bleacher Report using Laborn to try and get more kids to announce with them. Either way I guess I'll just never get worked up one way or another about how a kid announces his commitment, I don't know them personally so I have no room to pass judgement
That was a stunt thought of, funded, and facilitated by Bleacher Report. It wasn't a reflection of the kid except he said "sure." Honestly, why would any kid say no to that?
The new era of modern recruiting and social media lends for recruits to look more regionally and nationally at schools as well as schools getting bigger recruiting staffs and expands their territory as well. Laborn is a good player but Hunter is a much bigger need for us at Safety than at RB (plenty of young RB's, despite no consistency) and I think Slade next year is a way bigger get than Laborn.
Then go to FSU.
Fuente and co. are doing some special things and I think we're going to be a contender in the near future. He can watch as VT does great things.
If I've noticed anything from the snaps and twitter vids are the players better leave their ego at the door. Or the coaches will do it for them. Moto was one of the last players last spring to get a maroon jersey, or was it white?, details aside, his on play improvement showed this year. I'm sure the coaches love Laborn's talent, but they probably don't want the locker room cancer to come with it.
I just watched the video released today where he laughs at VT still pursuing him. If I'm Burden or Fuente and watch that, I have to wonder why I'm wasting any more time on him. He obviously thinks VT is a joke, especially when he says if he does take a non-FSU official it would be to Oregon, just because he went there for the Opening and the facilities are cool. He's not interested whatsoever in us, and F$U has inflated his ego beyond belief. I would just quit wasting effort here when there are other people who actually want to play at Virginia Tech.
Agreed, he obviously thinks he's too big for VT. I just hope that he isn't surprised when Jalen Holston is getting early playing time here while he sits on the bench behind Cam Akers and others at FSU.
and when Dax Hollified starts leveling him when VT faces FSU.
Here's the video. Sorry for no embed. I'm on mobile.
https://youtu.be/Auu2_tbmphY
The way the Noles247 interviewer answers questions for Laborn pissed me off.
Yep... Screw it he thinks we're a joke. Not worth spending another ounce of resources on recruiting him. Wouldn't call him again and would pull the offer. There are just some things you don't say if you're being courted by schools and I don't care if the answers were being steered, he made his thoughts known. Ain't worth it anymore.
...I'm sorry I brought this up.
Yeah perhaps that was a little over the top, but I still stand by my general stance... The kid showed his hand, and at this point, its really not worth following up on this recruit anymore. His reaction when talking about VT is all you need to see to understand how seriously he takes our recruitment.
At this point, we're better off focusing our recruiting efforts on kids who would appreciate an offer by VT. Eventually, if you're not buying into #Statement17, its not worth the effort anymore.
Now that statement I can stand by as well. I would rather us spend our efforts on the guys that seem genuinely interested in coming here.
On this note - this discussion reminds me of the 247 article I read the other day on how much energy and time Urban Meyer put into trying to flip Deshaun Watson to OSU and ultimately it was time wasted. It went into detail about how he changed his philosophy and started only recruiting QBs that showed a high level of interest from the start. Goes to show you that every program, even the blue-bloods, can get bitten when they spend too much time trying to recruit guys who don't show mutual interest.
Yep. Would it be great to get Laborn into Blacksburg to play for us? Absolutely, but if he himself doesn't really care to be here, then why even bother? He would end up resenting his time if he ended up here, and I'd just rather not deal with that. I'd much rather the coaches find someone who might not have the exact elite talent he does, but will fully buy into and appreciate the VT brand and run with the opportunity we'd present. You get a bunch of players here who are bought into VT from even before we reach out to them, and you can develop something special.
I agree. Watching that video, he says that VT still tweets him saying "if you change your mind, we're still here for you." If true, that is some truly weak recruiting. That's like that nagging person who has a crush on you and constantly texts/messages because they can't take a hint that you just aren't interested. I don't know why we spend so much effort on kids who honestly think we are a joke. Puts us in a really weak position, IMO.
One thing that I think other schools do really well in recruiting is diving into a recruit's personality and shaping the recruiting pitch to meet that. Kind of a diva type? Blow smoke up their tail and beef up that ego. Hard-working, team-oriented type? Sell them on coming in and competing to earn the job. Family-oriented person? Promote our family atmosphere and drive the "This is Home" angle. I realize we are not a diva, prima donna culture, but we aren't going to attract these types of recruits to Blacksburg with the one size fits all, family-friendly, blue collar work ethic pitch. So we either need to change the message or cut losses and stop wasting time on these types. Looks embarrassing having them laugh at us publicly.
Is sending a few tweets really putting in much effort? I think it's exactly as you described it's putting in the minimal effort to stay in the mix if something was to happen.
I think you guys are overreacting a bit to this...the fact that he picked up the phone and is talking to Tech shows he respects what the coaches have to say and is curious (he didn't respond to Carolina). I think him laughing was just a chuckle at how he worded his statement about them sticking with him.
I do agree that he is not worth more time for recruiting. It is pretty clear he is set on FSU but no harm letting him know they still want him.
I did not catch him laughing at us. But then I could hardly hear him.
so Nathan Proctor. He is listed as an OLB but I think I've read that he is expected to be a DE in college? Is that true?
for most schools he is projected as a DE. PSU was recruiting him an OLB.
In most of his highlights he is a pass rusher...stand up and hand on the ground. I'm sure VT showed him film of Nicolas.
Your assumption is correct. Nicolas's role was discussed at length.
thanks!
No problem.
The USA today named 3* LB and VT commit Rayshard Ashby defensive player of the year in the state of Virginia.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0605758261244729937-4
Well that's not very good...:/
DRINK!!
Haha just so happens I'm at a bar right now so I will accept this punishment you have bestowed upon me
Take this with a MASSIVE grain of salt. Recruiting high school students is difficult. I do it for a living. These coaches have been here just about a year now. I fully doubt they have 100% memorized the correct name for all of our majors.
Many high school students don't have a clue what majors are called. I'm thinking this is an error in translation. For example, Cartoons Plural wants to study Pre-Med. Coach Bender says "HELL FUCKING YEAH WE HAVE PRE-MED!" X-Wing @Alicioussness wants to study Criminal Justice. Again, Coach Bender say "GOT THAT FOR YOU TOO BUDDY!"
Here's the catch, VT does not offer either of those majors by name. Look at the official list of majors. We have "Pre-Health Services" AKA Biology and Criminology. It is so easy to twist what a coach has said or mistakenly said to a recruit. I don't even need to know the recruit, just let me know what major the student said they wanted to study.
Glad we landed Cartoons Plural... he looked like a beast in the East West game.
DRINK!!!
Uh drink?
A drink within a drink? Do we call that an Irish Carbomb now?
maybe a bear fight
Definition number two though
oops..didn't bother reading that...
I can say, though, that the drink is brutal. I've done a few bear fights in my time and all of them have ended with me really really intoxicated.
Oh yeah, back in the techhoops days, I would follow their rules of taking a bear fight anytime we beat someone by more than 30. As our team went downhill, and I moved to Richmond, I told my VCU friends about it and extended the celebration to any time VCU beat someone by 30. I still have one on deck for the Citadel game, and with NYE this weekend....it can only end well, right?
yeah, about that...if you'll notice, my one that was the reply to the OP actually links to my comment that was the reply to the correct post ;-P
Beamer's Auto Garage + Hokie20,
The past few weeks have been boring and bleh, and nothing makes TKP smile more than overly confident reports from delicious #sauces. It's now been four weeks since you said good news was "a couple weeks away", so let's play a game.
Wink once if true, twice if wrong, and three times if your #sauces have no idea what is going on.
1. Hunter is committing on Jan 7
2. Dazz is committing on or around Jan 7
3. Some of the good news you were anticipating has fallen through
4. Pie is better than cake
5. Proctor puts on a Good Guys hat this Sunday
6. Brad Johnson is a lock. He gave up on USCe months ago
7. Garbutt says this phrase again, and actually means it this time:
All I can say at this point is that your 3rd point is true but there 5 is a strong possibility and we will have plenty of time to close. Some of the excitement has worn off from the official visit but our current commit have been doing a lot of recruiting while in The "dead period".
VT will have a month to close and Coach Fu is gonna be showing off his closing skills.
I do know there is one other silent commit but I don't know who it is.
Oh and the Labron thing has some legs. Even though he plays a punk and he's been treating VT like his side chick, he's been in constant contact with VT even after his commitment. Don't really care what he does but he won't see the field unless he eat humble pie at VT
Be ready for the other schools to start using the excuse they have no more spots when guys start committing to VT. Penn states already in full excuse mode on Proctor
Damnit.
In my opinion, we are in a much better place this late in the year then in years past. I remember keeping fingers crossed for 2 stars and low 3. In one year VT is trending very positive with some big names in the state and outside the state too. Could finish with a very strong class when the coaches are back out on the trail. Remember Coach Fu let's his staff recruit and then he closes. He has a plan and don't be surprised to see him all over Twitter in people's houses.
I wish we could get more info, but I understand.
I'm very optimistic about the job that this staff is doing and I hope they can close with some great players down the stretch.
I just wish he would spend more time with the recruits when he's in their houses and less time on twitter. It's kind of disrespectful, but as long as he says hi to their mom.
***This comment is sarcastic, I'm sorry for not making this any clearer***
Why do you think he doesn't spend much time on home visits?
Edit: I wasn't sure because I have seen complaints about Fuente and Co. recruiting since they were hired.
If the coach ain't sleeping over at the recruit's house he ain't trying.
I may be in the minority, but I honestly think Jim Harbaugh is hilarious and his antics have kept me quite entertained all season/off-season.
Harbaugh is like Jerry Springer: funny until you stop and realize that this is a real life, honest to God person doing this crap. Then you just have to turn away until something restores your faith in humanity.
Was a joke. :0
Oh good God! When I meant he will be on twitter a lot, I meant recruits will be sharing photos of them with him in their house. Coach Fu's Twitter is ran by a GA or intern most of the time.
We also still have a very busy OV schedule in January, thank God our basketball team is fun to watch and only helps recruit.
Side note: Can we recruit who ever is behind the Belk twitter account to be in control of VTFootball? Just pure gold everyday
Their social media team is A1.
They do many of the same things that people complain the VT account does.
Disclaimer: While I have rolled my eyes at some VT Football tweets, I am not one of the hardcore bashers.
As someone who grew up in the social media age, there are subtle differences that make them quite different. It's difficult to explain, but the Belk guys understand internet/twitter/whatever humor better than PM and his staff do. It's not a huge difference, but it's noticeable. The VT Football account isn't all bad, as you said, they do a lot of the same things and hit on the same stuff, but there are probaly 5-10% of tweets that are just super lame, ill advised, or come off very stevebuscemi.gif-ish.
TIming is everything and damn if VT footballs timing is consistently awful. I mean the earthquake one was bad.
Yes, those are the ones I would file under "ill-advised" just a seeming lack of awareness at times.
i like to think I understand Twitter; they don't always bother me but on your timing remark, their tweets when we are losing are extremely annoying to me.
To me the proper way to run a team account like that while losing in a bad way is to either shut up completely or just post extremely simple score updates, but the VT Football account always seems determined to keep the corny stuff coming and try to distract you from the game we are losing.
The pele birthday in relationship to going after 10 wins was the largest reach Ive ever seen!
losing to miami in 2014 and tweeting about keeping the not being shutout streak alive, at the end of a 30-6 ass kicking, was nice
I don't know why you'd want a Lamborghini. I mean, you already complain about putting gas in your beater honda and you'll still have to do that with a lambo. You have to turn the wheel and press the pedals JUST LIKE YOUR HONDA. They're practically the same thing...
I know what you meant on the twitter comment, I was trying to make a joke off of how you worded it. Apparently I should not make jokes on gameday until after everyone has had their bourbon...
Thanks for the update sir! I really appreciate it. Who's the hardest recruiter on the staff? Seems like Zohn and Charley are really getting after it this year.
Zohn broke into the top 10 recruiters in the ACC this year and had a huge impact in the 757 and other coastal areas. He is really doing work on the 2018 class.
Wiles is a master at his game at this point, he always pulls in a few we don't expect and now with an offense, it makes his job a little easier.
Still in the air on our approach to our OL recruiting, I know the coaches are excited about the progress of our current young guys and we have some beef coming in. I expect to see a different approach in this area after February.
Fuente isn't tied to any of his coaches and he is expecting big things quickly. Being a friend of the coach doesn't promise you a job and these guys know it.
Just saw this on ESPN:
from ESPN's Jeremy Crabtree
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0606147148387455675-4
All momentum pointing towards Maryland. I haven't been expecting this one to go our way for awhile, which is okay, as we came in hot as hell with a strong late push but it just wasn't enough.
So I've been wondering something over the last few years. I understand that you don't like the overreactions to missing out on recruits and you've mentioned a few times that you aren't looking forward to them. But at what point is "oh, well, we tried!" or "hey, at least we were in the conversation!" not good enough?
Every year, there are people touting similar sentiments. Didn't matter what coaching staff or who the recruiters were. It's always the same thing, "you guys are over reacting", "we can't win them all". Every year. At what point is it okay to admit that Virginia Tech isn't desirable to high-end recruits or that coaching staffs aren't closing? The last few years everyone wrote it off as negative recruiting against Beamers longevity. Obviously that was partially valid. But at what point is it okay to admit that current recruiting levels aren't satisfactory? Last year it was "well, Fuente has only had one month with these recruits." Again, I partially agree with that except he didn't loose any big names that weren't already going to turn us down anyway. What's the excuse going to be this year? That we've seen improvement, so that makes the big misses okay? Is having big names interested in early December but ultimately dropping okay with everyone? At least we were in the running in the last few months, is that a valid consolation prize? It all seems like a bunch of 'moral victories' kind of justifications for our lack of big time recruiting.
I'm curious, for you and others what level ( specific teams) do you see Tech recruiting at the same level as? What level do you want them at?
I see VT at the same level as NC State. A middle of the pack ACC team with no real identity to separate us from the rest of the middle guys.
I say this knowing that this is currently changing but still only year one of a new staff. In two years I see recruiting being right above UNC and right below Clemson. Not a consistent top 10 class but in the top 15 with a few good years. Got to be honest with ourselves, we aren't blue bloods but we will be annoying the shit out of them for a very long time.
This would make me very happy. It just seems like it's always right around the corner, yet we can never find that dang corner.
I don't follow your answer at all. There is a HUGE gap between Clemson and UNC recruiting.
Right now UNC has 10 4* on their roster and 0 5*
Clemson has 37 4* and 4 5*.
We have 9 4* and 5*
Right now we are about even with UNC and if we pull ahead like we should, we will still be nowhere close to Clemson.
Don't expect to see us have a top 15 roster ever. I mean even right now, Oklahoma and Florida don't. That's how hard it is to crack the top 15.
Being around 20 like Oregon and PSU are should be our goal.
Sorry there is a big gap there but we should recruit better then UNC and mainly everyone in the coastal but UM.
What I meant is we should be 4th to 5th in recruiting consistently.
FSU
Clemson
Miami
Virginia Tech
Louisville
UNC
Sorry hope that cleared up what I meant. I thinking faster then I type
But you think we should occasionally get a top 10 class? Or frequently a top 15?
I see 15 being more realistic. I mean right now we are at 17. Top 10 is hard but top 15 being a reality and an expectations.
But if the coaches recruit for personnel fits over stars then it may be lower and I will be fine with that if there is success on the field.
BTW I don't listen to the composite ranking.
top 25 with an occasional top 20 class is the best I see us doing. As much as everyone here loves Blacksburg it's just not a draw for a lot of kids. Our best class ever was like 16th.
I am not opposed to be wrong..... as long as the players we get aren't "filler" recruits but intentional. Also remember our coaching staff isnt afraid to go outside our current pipelines.
I say give it time, the state of VA is typically very rich in talent and what we are used to and what we can be are two different things. Virginia Tech may be in the middle of nowhere but I can may a few other top 20 colleges that have colleges in some pretty low key locations.
well said. Penn State and Clemson aren't in huge towns with tons to do either..
Clemson is 30 mins from Greenville and a 10 minute drive to I-85 from being 2 hours from Charlotte and an hour and a half from Atlanta.
But Penn St is within ~4 hrs or less drive of a half dozen major metro areas.
Clemson is closer to it's major markets than VT is to it's major markets. And in the Charlotte airport, I saw UNC, NCSt, Duke, WF, Bama, LSU AND Clemson hats in the gift shops -- but one I didn't see was VT even though VT considers it one of it's a major metro markets.
Hmm... Interesting. I drove up to Charlotte from ATL and stopped at a gas station in South Carolina off the I-85. They had a lot of Clemson and South Carolina gear. But, they had coozies and few other small items from other schools. VT was among UGA, Mich, OSU, FSU, 'Bama, Auburn and UF (no NC schools). So, perhaps VT is bigger in SC than NC. But, it is a sample of one gas station.
Unless Whit manages to increase revenues by 50% quickly and permanently and/or the size of the student grows to 40k, this is very likely correct.
Meh, we've had good recruiting classes in the past. We were starting to build the program up, but never turned the corner as a program. We lost in high profile games and had abysmal results in many bowl games. Over time, recruits saw the program was stagnating; and a lot of our talent was frankly, poorly utilized with an idiotic offensive scheme. We just never made that next step.
Remember, kids want to display their talent and play for a winner. Building a winning program begins with having a scheme that can showcase talent and WIN. We've taken the first step this year with a new coach.
Unfortunately the evidence shows that winning is a small part of the equation. Texas A&M hasn't done crap for 25 years, yet their recruiting is as good as ever. Texas, Florida, Michigan, Miami, Tennessee have all had recent lengthy droughts but their recruiting is still top tier.
Money, location and regional alumni/fan/business/media support all trump winning.
UNC & VT have been very similar in recruiting for quite some time. VT has been a notch above NC St for quite some time.
I've never looked at it that way. I haven't really compared us to anyone. I think Alabama and OSU recruiting levels are absolutely ludicrous and it makes me a little sad that schools are capable of hoarding all of that talent.
I'd just like to see us stop missing out on regional big time recruits, especially those that grew up in the state. All those guys we are always oh-so-close to that end up elsewhere? I'd like to see us land some of them.
Maybe more than anything, sometimes the continuous "it's fine, everything is GREAT" gets frustrating when you see an abundance of good players on the field, but very few exceptional guys. Obviously everything isn't great.
The reality is that there are a dozen or so teams who will consistently challenge for a NC. Every now and then a VT will catch lightening in a bottle (MV7) or a coach innovates to have an unstoppable O (Kelly at Oregon). If a kid is top rated and his primary focus is to maximize his chances at being on an NC team Bama, anOSU, USC, FSU, etc are the teams to join.
While you definitely make a good point about how hard it is to compete with schools like FSU, Bama, OSU, and Michigan, I think we about to see VT jump into those dozen teams starting next year and continuing for awhile. I think Washington with Peterson and Clemson with Swinney are the type of programs that aren't traditional blue bloods that I think are in those a dozen teams and will continue to.
Coach Fu is that type of coach and if he can continue to evaluate talent like Hooker, WIllis, and Farley along with bringing in more elite guys like Hunter, Slade, Dax, etc. we will see a CFB playoff appearance or two over the next 5 years for the Hokies. Although Blacksburg and all its glory is a tougher sell than a place like Clemson, SC, I think this recruiting class (will end up top 15 in 247) along with a revamped Hokie Club will continue a trend of being in "those dozen schools".
We may. I thought that we had a real shot in the early 2000's after the NCG appearance, but that didn't pan out.
I doubt we ever recruit at a FSU/Clemson/OSU/Bama/USC level with any type of consistency. Recruiting for the most part is really static at the top, Clemson might be the only team to have consistently broke into that level of recruiting in the last bunch of years and they have a lot more to sell to a football recruit than we do. Not saying it's not possible for us to go out and get a top 10 class, just that it's unlikely we could do it consistently.
Yeah i agree there are many factors that prevent Tech from getting consistent top 10 classes but under the new regime if we can get can consitently around the 15th best class in the nation, I think our coaches will develop talent to compete with the big boys at the top of the recruiting rankings.
Clemson was recruiting at that level, before Dabo. That was part of the fan/donor base frustration with Bowden. Top level talent, but consistently Clemsoning at least one game per year combined with losing to the likes of FSU.
You have to also see the top guys kept us as "favorite" just because we were the state school and we were really never in it. It was a lot of pity inclusion. There have been a few shocks in the mix too, but this was all under a different regime. The feeling with recruits now is a lot different, we may still miss because if Alabama FSU and OSU is knocking at your door you listen. But the kids we lose to Maryland, Tenn, UNC will slowing become less and less. Winning heals all and a more aggressive group and younger group is in charge now. Foster's gained like 20 years back to his life.
We should consistently have our class be close to 20 with a few teens sprinkled in.
http://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite
Looking at total team talent, which is basically an average of the last 4/5 classes, we are below WVU, Miss st, Arizona st, lousiville, unc, arkansas. There is no reason for that.
Ignore the rankings. They reward quantity.
If you look at the star avgs. You'll see that you're quibbling over 100ths of a point on the rating scale. In the grand scheme of things, there's no real difference between, say, 85.49 and 85.61.
Year Three. Also, you have to realize our coaches have priorites, and sometimes what the fans want really isn't what the coaches are looking for, so in all instances you have to take a chill pill with individual results and survey the class as a whole.
I can already see our coaches have a great eye for talent. Pimpelton had no offers before us and now he is Michigan player of the year, Farley is newly 4star and 2nd team all North Carolina. Hooker is just straight first. Another commit is defensive player of the year by US today. I mean stars help you win bust sometimes stars are wrong and players fit better. We have some studs coming in, and some game changing players in the waiting. I promise we will be a lot happier at the end of this year, than years past
My stances against overreactions are usually based on two things, do we have what the recruit wants? And is it really worth getting that upset over based on circumstances or just the fact that it's high school kids making a big life decision. The latter is pretty self explanatory, so here's an example of the first.
ex1) player doesn't have to go to a perennial winner, wants to be a part of a "comeback tour" or "restoring the glory" >The last few years, this player is one we should be a little more upset about missing.
ex2) player wants to compete for championships and against top competition in prime-time games.
>We haven't been able to provide this for years, and I don't blame kids who grew up fans like Sweat for going elsewhere to achieve this. I think we impose our "do it for Virginia!" or "Why wouldn't they want to be a part of something special in state!!?" mentality on kids who simply don't have that as their primary goal. They might think that's cool, but they might think getting a big ass ring and a championship is cooler.
I think it's foolish not to admit that we aren't recruiting at a championship level. It's also important to understand logically why we aren't. The down years hurt our recruiting, we lost the winning and championship contender pitches to offer recruits. The middling out-dated offense was also unappealing to recruits. And perhaps the biggest two that will be difficult or maybe impossible to overcome: Virginia Tech is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and that geographically hurts our recruiting, some guys just want to be around a little more action, and we aren't able to put the money into recruiting that other schools that recruit at an elite level are able to. This goes back to our overall issues with the Hokie Club. If we had donors pumping money into the program like the programs who close on a bunch of blue chips in january and throughout each class, then we'd certainly see an uptick as well.
No, I will definitely be disappointed as hell if we don't swing a few of the guys we have big time momentum with now. I think missing on Hunter, Proctor, or Garbutt would be really disappointing. But I don't think it's realistic to assume we get all 8-9 guys we got some momentum with after the awesome OV.
I think we will miss on a few this year, and I think we will land a few really great ones. What is less of an excuse and more of a true statement is that Fuente has now had about one year in the program. The guys in this class and next have been being recruited for years. There is some legitimacy to the idea that once he's been here for 2-3 years he will have been recruiting guys all the way up through their recruitment and that will help, but it also doesn't mean you can't have significant successes in the early years, as we've seen in some other programs.
I will also add this. When Clemson started winning a lot of games, they went through these steps. They'd land a few big guys, and they'd also miss in top 2's and 3's to other programs on a handful of others. It wasn't until the last two recruiting classes that they started really nailing a big proportion of the blue-chip guys they were "in the top 2/3" for. Keep in mind these last two classes come on the heels of 6 straight 10 win seasons and a national title game appearance last year and now back to back playoff appearances.
edit: thanks for asking my opinion, I love having these discussions, just not when they are laced with gloom-and-doom hot takes.
I like the way you think
via GIPHY
with regard to your "do it for Virginia" bit, I think we will see a marked shift in players attitudes over the next decade with regard to this. I mean, there are players who don't even remember the last time we didn't win the state. In the next 10 years, we'll see parents of players who don't even remember the last time we didn't win the state. A lot more kids are going to be growing up as VT fans and I think we can parlay that into an "us vs the world" recruiting pitch. Sure., we'll still lose some kids to the blue bloods, but if we can maintain competitiveness and at least keep getting to the conference game against these other powerhouses (FSU, Clemson) we can claim that they will push us over the top and make Virginia a big deal again.
Just my thoughts based on never losing to LOLUVa again, ever.
In terms of remoteness, we don't have ANYTHING on Penn State...It's in the middle of no where.
I'm not saying we're the most remote or anything, merely pointing out that some of the programs we lose recruits to have more favorable locations in the minds of a lot of kids. Penn State is an interesting case, but they did have a long, long streak of success as a football program that certainly helps recruiting.
Huh?
I mean yeah I'm in Pennsyltucky but State College is a way more developed town than Blacksburg and Christiansburg combined. You don't have to leave town for anything and what we've got here is all you need (major brand stores and the like).
Pittsburgh is about as close to State College as Charlotte is to Blacksburg. Philly/SC is an hour closer than Blacksburg/DC. Altoona is a good comparison in both size and distance to Roanoke.
All in all, I'd say they're about the same but the local SC gov't is better at developing the local business scene than Blacksburg is. (Not to get political, but there was a discussion about this a month or two ago on here).
But HOAT, you just don't understand. This is Blacksburg, where concerts that end by 9 PM need to have the cops called on them and town councilmen dis the university and its relationship with the town. You mean there could possibly be a better way of doing things? I'm not sure I believe you! /s
Yea all of our CB's swung to Maryland last week.
not an AC/DC fan, eh?
2 more CB's for Proctor this morning giving us a total of 11 now. I wouldn't normally put too much stake in this but it's nice to see so many coming in this late in the game.
Proctor is most likely going to commit to the good guys but will keep his OV with PSU and Pitts. Coaches have really done well showing him how he would play similar style to Dadi. The Penn State OV worries me a bit but it rare for a guy to flip that quick and they currently "don't have the room" and are saying he waited to long to commit. Same thing is being said about Brad Johnson in USCe.
Here we go again...
Awesome video by OK Go.
Check out Upside down Inside Out if you haven't seen it yet.
My 2nd favorite https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZB_rGFyeU
Awesome.
Thanks for the tip.
I'm interested to see how the bowl game impacted the recruits. Can't be anything but good with the result, but some kids have to see that there is real opportunity here now.
Talk about a game going from recruiting nightmare to recruiting spectacle. I don't think I've ever seen a game swing so hard perception-wise from half to half.
Garbutt was there in person!
That's great to know! Garbutt, Hunter, and Proctor are topping out my wish list at the moment, would love to be surprised by a few others.
Johnson and Speed are both dogs. Need them
I want them very badly too. I live about 12 minutes from Pendleton high school, but never really heard about Brad Johnson until we entered the recruiting picture for him.
it's almost like.... we spotted them 24 on purpose?????
Funny! Last night in the windy and cold stadium at halftime, I looked at my daughter and jokingly said "Well we've spotted them enough now." Never in my wildest imagination....
Just took a look at 247 and 7 CBs flipped to VT for Proctor yesterday. Wonder if something leaked?
Also Willis decommited and everyone flipped him to Auburn (boo!)
He wanted to play QB. Was told he wasn't gonna play that at VT. Auburn recruited him as a QB, which he mostly never play due to the Baylor transfer having 3 years of eligibility left and is a much better prospect at QB
Thanks BAG...I look forward to you bringing the goods as we get closer to signing day.
Beamer's Auto Garage... BAG
All these recruiting tidbits
He's... he's the Bag Man isn't he
I thought this EXACT same thing when I read his comment
Not really any new news on Proctor but it's something to fill our new footballess void.
Some would say Proctor is a silent....
It's amazing how much that can add to a post.
Doesn't matter if he's silent or public, if he still visits PSU in January, he's still on the market.
Harrison Hand got a Baylor offer today and some Crystal Ballz for there. Makes me wonder how hard we are still recruiting.
Ameer Speed is an important recruit.
Hand has moved on apparently.
Now we need to find a QB ASAP if Evans leaves...
Why? We have two guys coming and Jackson in the wings. I am very confident with our future at QB
Well....JJ has played zero snaps....Reports are he looked good in camp...but not proven obviously. And he wasn't exactly a highly sought after player coming out of HS. Hooker coming in the summer.
So we go into fall camp with JJ with no game experience and his backup is a guy who has been there 10 minutes? Not exactly reassuring - to me at least. You counting on Click to step up?
Farley as well.
But I imagine if Evans leaves, we bring in a transfer.
Malik Zaire????
Chris Coleman tweet starts some rumors
That didn't take long for Malik's name to come out.
Well, the last time we had a first-year starting QB who had never taken a snap at the FBS level, this happened.
Worst case Durkin gets a look at QB again, not ideal but could be in the cards as a last resort
I hope you're right. I would like a few backup options though...
looks like Nathan proctor is announcing during the pregame today
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/1/1/14076766/under-armour-...
Somebody please start a January 2017 recruiting thread, this one is taking forever to download on my antique steam powered computer!
Proctor commits to the good guys!!!
The silence has ended