SEC Country reported an interesting tidbit about 757 stud Devon Hunter's recruitment, Auburn was his temporary leader.
A source close to Hunter's recruitment told SEC Country that, prior to Wesley McGriff's departure, Hunter felt comfortable with his decision to select the Tigers. Once McGriff left, Auburn dropped a few pegs. Now the Tigers are working to move back into contention.
"Basically I've got a list in my house actually of all the pros and cons for the schools. The schools I have the most pros in and like the most, I circle the answers. It's kinda evened up right now. That's why I pushed back my decision. I still need to check out the little things with the schools on my officials," Hunter said. "I would say Virginia Tech has about two more pros than everyone else."
The Hokies, as Hunter admitted, hold a narrow edge right now.
"That's only because it's local to home and I know a lot of people there," Hunter said.
Comments
With Hunter, I won't believe anything with any team until he signs.
So he's a normal kid?
To be fsir, is say the vast majority of high school kids stick with their original commitments. But they aren't highly ranked so no one cares.
FTFY
I am sure he is a good kid, will be an all American and hope it is as a Hokie. But he has been recruited hard for 2-3 years, obviously loves the process or wouldn't be all this drama. Really doubt his decision hasn't been made regardless of where he ends up.
Have any of his top schools offered any of his teammates?
https://m.popkey.co/0bcbe5/aOWk3_f-maxage-0.gif
Still trying to figure out how to get the actual image in the comment instead of having to click. Geesh.
Click the button at the top-left of the comment box that looks like the mountains (or the state of VA, depending on how you see it). Paste the GIF link in the box. Click "insert" and you're done.
First button above the comment box.
Looks like this, but reversed:
drop the link in the popup after you click it and then hit insert. Preview below the comment box should show you if you got it right.
When you go to post, just above the box where you type, click the button all the way to the left, that looks like a little mountain range. Copy and paste the url of the image in the text box that pops up. Presto!
I'm an enabler.
So the gnashing of teeth here when he postponed was actually a good thing. Interesting.
if you believe the article. Feeling comfortable with selecting a school isn't the same thing with actually selecting them. I'm sure he would be comfortable selecting any of his final choices.
Don't be surprised if this ends up being a VT vs Ole Miss battle in the end....
With looming possible sanctions, that's a battle we should win this year.
yea, that's helped us with some of the guys that went to UNC.
Well, it did hurt teams who actually got sanctions like USC and Penn St. UNC's multiple years of avoiding punishment certainly make recruits less wary of their situation (whether they should be or not).
You mean this year's Rose Bowl participant's?
Are we going to pretend like they weren't down for several years?
I mean, we're pretending they didn't deserve to be in the Playoff so what's the difference?
(sorry, I couldn't resist..)
Are we going to pretend that many of the guys playing in the Rose Bowl weren't recruited during those several down years?
Sure some of them were, and some were recruited in the later years as the future looked clearer. At first it wrecked them outs, and scholarship losses hurt depth more than it hurts your ability to land individual talent. Took both teams awhile to get back to being solid. You can spin it however you like, but it hurt both programs for several seasons.
Article about USC's sanctions. I'd ask that you read the entire article, considering every single point helps support my claim that the probation had significant impact.
We know how Ole Miss gets down. We are going to need a serious bagman for this one.
So that's what the Drive for 25 is really about?
Drive for 25.
25 football recruits per year.
I know a guy
I really hope we end up landing him. That's about all I got.
At this point I'm just ready for signing day.
Yeah, I don't like the sound of that. He's loyal to VT only until something better comes along. The fact he's putting off his commitment as long as he is, at least to me, leads me to believe he's going to delay this as long as he has to in order to find a reason not to come here. Hope I'm wrong, but at this point, I am writing him off of our commitment list for this year.
Recent history suggests that we'll be let down.
I'm hoping our new staff can close the deal.
FTFY
DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Welcome to Virginia Tech recruiting.
This quote was a dagger to my heart. Why do the top players from Virginia not take our program seriously? Are there any ex-players on TKP that can chime in?
Auburn went 7-6 (2-6 SEC) last year, and played Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. This season they went 8-5 (5-3 SEC). I would understand him choosing Clemson or Alabama over us, but Auburn? Damn. We have more work to do in Virginia than I thought we did.
Here's the uncomfortable truth about recruiting. Auburn, despite having a pretty chaotic line of success and failure, still recruits better than we do and has won an NC in 2010 and played in another in 2013. They have a huge, beautiful aesthetically pleasing stadium, and a lot more donors and national recognition. Regardless of how well the ACC did this year, there is still more prestige playing in the SEC West, and there is really no arguing that in the SEC West you are going up against better players (4 schools in division recruit on elite level) on a more consistent basis with lots of exposure.
That's just how it is, and the appeal of the ACC, while we have great coaches and sometimes we will have great years like this one where we had 6 or so of the best QB's in the country will happen, overall isn't as exciting of a draw for football until teams in the ACC start taking football more seriously. Most of the teams in the ACC don't come close to selling out their on average, smaller stadiums every week. Clemson and FSU pretty much cornered the market on the "easier road to the NC" pitch playing in the ACC and those schools have a lot to offer recruits with few downsides.
The part that most people don't get. Recruiting doesn't follow win loss records. Hell ND right now has a top 10 class. Recruiting follows closer to money. Fans in the stadium. Donors.
Yes! It's a dynamic relationship between those things and winning. Winning is important, and can be a catalyst towards recruiting but it must align with the other things you mentioned for sustained success. Clemson was hit or miss in recruiting for most of my life, once they started their current 6 year 10+ game win streak, they were able to capitalize on their newfound winning ways, BUT the winning aligned with already solid (but increased) donor contributions, a rabid fanbase, and an influx of money poured into facilities and recruiting.
Well hell, not sure what the problem is then, cause we have one of the best fanbases and probably some of the best facilities in the ACC, but maybe not the donors or the history of some of these schools. But having an abundance of "donors" isn't always a good thing when it comes to NCAA sanctions. I guess we're doomed then to get the reject 3* players that Clemson, FSU, and the SEC doesn't want nor need. Then again, we've all seen plenty of 4* and 5* busts that had little to no impact for one reason or another. That's why the biggest intangible in all this is coaching, and why we have Justin and Bud to coach these guys up. We'll start making some noise in recruiting, but it's not going to happen overnight. It would be great to get Hunter, but it's not going to make or break us.
Yep... all those people who for so long have said "just win and recruiting will fix itself".... Its just not the reality anymore. Recruiting is a game that exists outside of the wins and losses record of the programs. Clemson started recruiting Top 10 classes when they were a middling team in an ACC Atlantic Division that, at the time, was dominated by Boston College.
Yes, wins help, but they're not going to make your classes elite. You need people who know how to recruit and close, and if you don't have them, you don't have a prayer in securing top classes. I like what I am seeing from our current coaches, but I don't think we have a staff or an administration that has the dedication to recruiting to make ourselves a program that routinely brings in the best kids. We just don't know how or refuse to play the game.
I think plenty of people on the Hokies staff and admin know how to play the game of recruiting but the resources are not there to do it.
I agree that we need to drastically expand the Hokie Club. But the reality is, we are up against programs who are not afraid to tiptoe the line between what is allowed and what is against the rules. Other programs have bagmen and offer a ton of stuff under the table to recruits, period. We don't do that because we adhere to the exact letter of the NCAA bylaws. Just stating the obvious that this is what we are competing against and what the big time college football recruiting game actually is.
This. Thats not to say we are completely innocent but we definitely can't compete programs like Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgia, and others who consistently "tip-toe" or step over the lines in recruiting to try to get a recruit to commit. Isaiah McKenzie is just a recent examplr that comes to mind.
I clearly have my VT goggles on. Good answer.
Hypothetically speaking: If we were given $10 million tomorrow to spend on our football program, how would you use it, and why would that translate to better recruiting?
bw, are you saying you'll give $10 million tomorrow if we can give good ways to spend it to improve recruiting? :-).
I would hire a good bagman and distribute it equally among all the recruits I wanted.
You're looking at all wrong.
He said VT has about 2 more pros right now than anyone else - local and a lot of friends.
That means we're pretty much equal standing otherwise with his top schools. I'm sure there are dozens of factors that contribute to his assessment but still, you gotta like that we are neck and neck with some big-time programs to the degree that our proximity to home is a notable factor.
In the past proximity didn't matter because we were overshadowed too much in other areas. So the way I read it, Fuente, Babcock, & Co are putting us on the right track to be in the mix for talented players like Hunter (and Johnson and Garbutt, etc). Now we just have to close.
He said they are all even with Tech sitting higher because of that. I'll take a narrow edge over no edge every day of the week. As a matter of fact - that's a pretty strong asset to have in our pocket.
My first thought when reading that quote was, does that mean playing for Bud Foster is a not a 'pro' on his list? A player of his ability, playing in Foster's secondary is basically a ticket to the NFL. That's not the case with Auburn and Ole Miss.
From the way that I read it, I think that he means those two points differentiate VT from the rest, as in "other things are close to equal but..."
2014-2015 Revenues
#11 Auburn $124,657,247
#40 Virginia Tech $80,230,095
Is there a breakdown of where that money is coming from? (e.g. How much AU receives from donors, bowl monies, etc).
The obvious disparity in revenue is a problem in multiple areas including recruiting.
While I agree higher revenues correlate with better recruits and success in college football in general, I fail to see causation.
Are recruits actually looking at these numbers to determine their commitment?
They are looking at what that money buys.
So, what is bought?
Does VT not have the facilities? Not providing the right meal for their trip? What is VT lacking due to revenue that is involved in recruiting?
VT supposedly has top-notch facilities, good food, good experience. So, what are recruits seeing at higher revenue schools?
We hand out cash on recruiting visits. Or we don't wink wink. In reality I'm having trouble understanding as wel how the money translates into recruiting. Are you paying someone to make more phone calls, texts, tweets, etc.? The stadium is what it is unless you want to build a new one...does that help? Since you can't, I guess, actually give guys cash then what is it
A few ways spending money could help with recruiting:
OK, that first one was tongue in cheek, but the rest seem like viable ways to spend more money.
Most of the list is an abstract and/or speculative relationship between increased funds and better recruiting. Out of your list, only "[t]ravel expenses for coaches to get face time with recruits" and possibly "[p]aying support staff" seem viable reasons for why a recruit would want to join a particular team.
Face time is always huge, but I'm not sure if VT is really limited here. I just have never heard of VT being limited in this capacity, besides Beamer not really doing in-home visits as much during his older years (not money related).
I also don't know what a bigger recruiting support staff does that would win over recruits. I'm sure the greater resources truly help in determining offers, planning events, etc, but seems tenuous to closing the deal. VT seems to really impress recruits on their visits and often get rave reviews, but it's closing on the deal in the waning moments where VT falls behind. I'm not sure how a larger staff improves this ability.
The rest of the list, in my opinion, is abstract, speculative, or not a problem at VT. I could provide my opinion on each, but it'd be long and boring. In sum, I have a hard time believing that any of the other factors weigh in on the recruit's mind when deciding on another school over VT, with the exception of facilities. VT will never have a waterfall or slide. If these grandiosities are the reason a recruit decides on a school, well, then VT will not win.
In addition to funding the facilities arm's race, which we aren't the best, but we have good facilities, extra money helps hire huge "support staffs" and these roles range through a lot of different areas including analyst positions, quality control, and as we are discussing recruiting assistants. I can't speak to all the functions and tasks the recruiting staffs carry out, but I can assure you, the schools that are recruiting the best have HUGE support staffs.
At least that's what Saban tells all the ladies...
via GIPHY
Tech has "good" facilities they can always be upgrading, and Whit is doing what he can now with what he has. But staff is the largest long term expenses. Compare Clemson and most of SEC to Tech and the staff's. Both support and recruiting and pay of assistants.
It manifests itself in many ways...facilities, local, regional & national passion for the program, national & regional media presence, etc. All of these things combine to give big budget programs the inherent advantage over smaller budget programs.
Is is really any different than when a VT type program goes up against, say, Syracuse or East Carolina for a borderline 3*/4* recruit? Those programs are on the edge of their seat for players like that, but a VT is going to win that battle way more times than not simply because it's perceived as the better program - for a variety of reasons, but most are directly or indirectly tied to financial resources.
How does higher revenue increase passion for the program or media presence? I agree both passion and media presence probably do have an effect on recruiting, but I'm not sure the money from high-revenue schools generate either.
VT will and should out recruit Syracuse and ECU, but I fail to see how that demonstrates a causal relationship between revenue and recruiting.
Cmon...they're interconnected. It's chicken and egg. More passion means more money. More money means more media attention. More media attention means more passion. And so on.
Then throw in what the money does tangibly buy...better facilities, better support. Add it all up and money is by far the biggest indicator of the general perception of a program and where it falls in the recruiting pecking order.
You may not see the causation but kids see the end result. And that's what matters. It's the predominant reason programs like Auburn outrecruit programs like VT and programs like VT outrecruit programs like ECU & Syracuse.
If VT had a donor donate $20M to reach elite levels (is $100M enough?) every year for the next 5, you're saying that all of the sudden they'll be top 10 in recruiting?
I don't buy it.
Money is important, but you speak as if it is the be-all end-all. Money covers up a lot of deficiencies. But, I just can't agree that a lack of money is the only thing holding VT back. Clemson makes a similar amount of cash compared, yet they recruit way better than VT and are solidly in the top 15 every year. Wisconsin, UK, Arkansas, SCAR, Minn., MSU, and Iowa all make over $105K a year, yet recruit similarly or worse than VT.
Funding Info from USA Today
The bigger thing than the money is actually what it represents - fan support.
- large alumni base
- large stadium, raking in sellouts or near-sellouts
- large TV audience / national brand (due to alumni size or historic notoriety)
- large donor base
more fans = more hype
and then there's the bag men. Along with that larger base of fan support comes more people willing to offer... perks.. to student athletes. It's not the be-all-end-all factor, but its something that differs greatly from a school with a 100 hands-clean $1,000,000 donors and a school with 100,000 $1,000 donors from all across the moral spectrum.
Okay this I will buy. It was my comment from earlier about giving money to guys straight up with a wink. Or a free tattoo. Or whatever the perk is. Do it based with deep pockets playing a little loose with the rules. But that in and of itself is not the Hokie Club. And I support the Hokie Club, am a member, and want everyone to play by the rules including Tech. But the crazy SEC fan or FSU fan with a Lambo doesn't strike me as playing by the rules and that's where the donations really come into play in recruiting. Not Thomas Fuerry sending out a few more tweets or some support staff sending a few more texts
The support staff does so much more than than send out messages.
JUGS could you maybe in your amble free time do a post/thread about the role support staff play at the SEC/Clemson schools.
I can do this for sure... might release it Monday if I finish it this weekend. Supposed to rain like hell in FL so wouldn't be a bad way to spend the day.
It's snowing like hell in Virginia so reading it would be a good way to spend the day!
Read this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/sports/ncaafootball/clemson-tigers-tha...
The big time schools have guys like Thad Turnipseed (holy crap can't believe that name is real) who go out and do every little thing needed so the coaches can have success. They set up teams of people who do nothing but "new meida" outreach, work on fundraising, work on capital projects, talk to recruits when coaches can't. Money buys the support staff, and when you've got entire teams of people working for you, you can get a hell of a lot more done.
I hear he's the best at cultivating the relationships. The coaches just have to harvest the fruits of his labor.
He makes the recruits ripe for the picking.
Geeze both of you just take your legs, but I'm not happy about it
Coaches have more free time since he hoes his own row
Those numbers are going to change a lot once the ACC Network funds start coming through. I have seen reports where that should bring in an additional $15-$20m per ACC member as soon as it kicks in. Won't quite make up the gap, but it'll give us a nice healthy boost.
Won't quite make up the gap is an understatement. Even if the number is that high, it still leaves VT 25%-50% shy of it's aspirational peers.
Repeat after me: Money isn't everything.
I would wager that being local to home and knowing a lot of people here are the "two more pros than everyone else". I think the quote is just poorly phrased, especially without the context of this other quote.
The dagger to me was the "That's only because". That changes it from our location and his familiarity with our players and staff being an additional selling point to being our only selling point. I don't like that, and reading between the lines, leads me to believe he doesn't think we are that good of a spot for him for his career, and is waiting for that opportunity to come along. We're essentially his fallback option.
That's why I say it's poorly phrased. Yeah, that sounds bad, but the reason it's "only because" that is because we measure up in all other criteria. That is if we're to believe that we have two more pros than everyone else.
Or we could choose to talk ourselves into the glass half-empty mindset. I just try not to do that.
We also need to sometimes take a step back and remember these are 17 to 18 year old kids - yeah, they're probably a little more media savvy than most their age because they're around it more often, but I don't see the need (or find it healthy) to scrutinize every single phrase they utter.
Perhaps, they uh, maybe just, like, don't always have, like... a huge grasp on how obsessives like us will read into things and pore over their every last word?
Consider the sauce - a scoop from an SEC site is a going to be pro SEC. It's like MSNBC talking about democrats or FOX News talking about republicans...
or CNN talking about touch-screen graphics.
Not sure how you got that out of what he said. He just said that VT has a few more pros right now, with them being a local school and knowing people there. For all you know everything else is equal with regards to other schools.
you could take this ALOT of ways. without actually seeing his list it doesn't mean much. if I was a kid 17 years old my list would look something like this.....
...............................................................................................................Auburn..................... VT
Do I have a chance to play soon............................................ *................................*
can I get to the NFL.........................................................................*.............................. *
how I do like the coaches............................................................*............................... *
hows the weather.............................................................................................................. *
hows the social life..........................................................................*............................... *
how are the girls.............................................................................. *.................................*
hows the fishing...................................................................................................................*
do they have the classes I want..............................................*................................ *
how close are they to home and family.................................................................*
where are my friends going.......................................................................................... *
do they have a mellow mushroom.........................................*.................................*
do I know what the mascot is......................................................................................
who has better uniform combos and wears nike............................................*
obviously this isn't a serious list but as you can see VT has a couple more reasons as to why I would go to VT over AU.
I don't think its to hard to believe that ALOT of reasons you would pick a school maybe very close or similar with AU or a lot of other schools. its a really hard choice to make. I think those 2 reasons while may seem like "eh this is why they are ahead" can have a major role in his decision. So being in the lead at this point I think is a pretty good thing. I just hope it sticks. because well recruiting.
Ehhhh I think most kids would give Auburn the edge on the weather front.
false vts weather is way more fun, interesting, and all over the damn place
yeah, if you're into that kinda stuff...I imagine most football players are going to prefer the Auburn climate to the VT climate no matter how much we might disagree with them about it
They're the ones who have to run conditioning in August though, I would still say point Blacksburg. Girls on the other hand, there's no accounting for the sec hunnies.
ehh they are in the middle of nowhere Alabama, I will take my girls with teeth please
depends, i for one would rather run and play in cold weather than that grueling humidity but thats just me
As someone who played sports in middle Ga. I can assure you the cold would be a welcome sight to play in.
I'll take 15 degrees cooler, in the winter, over hot and shitty, in the summer, any day.
I've traveled that area in May and it was miserable. Don't even want to think about July and August.
And the girls.
Source: went to VT and Auburn. AU kills Tech in sheer number and quality
yeah I know. but its one of those things. you know you just don't want to admit. but if we were going for just the girls id commit the gators right now!
USCw, UT Austin, ASU and Miami.
There's only one USC
....................but which one?
It's not on the east coast
But calling them USCjr and making their fans angry is so much fun!
Maybe we should call them The Citadel Jr
What ever happened to the SCar moniker? I agree that USC is in Cali.
Some South Carolina fans resent SCAR and insist they're USC (and again, there was a legal battle between Southern California and South Carolina over the initials) which leads some to label them USCe just to differentiate orrrrrrr folks like me who despise that school (and, tbh, the entire state) use USCjr to incite rage among the Cocky faithful.
Edit: grammar, sorry for folks reading this twice
I'm surprised they don't pull an OSU and Okey St. tOSU or tUSC but w/e. I got used to seeing SCar back in the day and I'm to old to change shit up now.
USC Song girls.... (sigh)...I'll just leave this here.
This is all solid except I'm not sure why VT gets the weather nod and not Auburn haha.
Is their coach Bud Foster-----
Do they have a pizza place with slices that are equal to if not larger than my face -----
Joking aside, I loved/love VT, but I think Andy Bitter might be right with the weather. If I am being honest, if 18 y/o me had opportunity to play college football anywhere in the nation, Id probably head down south too. Id at least take the visits. Both my older sister and brother are hokie alum, so, I dont know, Im sure VT would start out as my first choice, but some of those visits to warm weather in January would be a mighty tempting.
It's not like VT is in the tundra. You people act like we are located in New England or Michigan. Or even Ohio for gods sake. They have no issues pulling in 5* talent. Hate hearing how VA has bad weather. we have a nice mix of Hot as hell in the summer and still sees snow for Christmas. I was in Birmingham working back when the Iron bowl happened and guess what. It was 7 fucking degrees. Its not like they have seasonal weather like the tropics. If anything it gets TO DAMNED hot down there during the summer. Va's weather is a + in that category as far as I'm concerned.
As much as I hate to say it "is in the SEC" should be on the list. Kids especially in the south are very attuned to SEC.
Not this year. The SEC is the sucks.
They had a down year, one year removed from a strong year. Additionally, even when the teams are down, most of them have huge full, or mostly full stadiums every week. It's absolutely a better game day environment than the ACC week in and week out. VT, Clemson, and FSU are the only ACC schools that offer that kind of environment. It will take a long time and shift towards football from the basketball schools in the ACC to change overall perception. One down year for the SEC and one great year of having lots of great QB talent in the ACC won't change that.
You forgot to add Tots to that list... that should be numero Uno with fishing number two
Has all the symptoms of blue chip kid that genuinely loves Tech, but wants "bigger". We might have a solid class, but this is the one that will change perceptions.
via GIPHY
Could someone pass along to young Mr. Hunter the following information:
Thank you. :-)
didnt' they have to increase that stat by the end of the game??
. Why yes, yes they should!
don't you just love the ups and downs of following VT football recruiting /s
Kam would be very disappointed....Kam is not the guy I would want to disappoint.
Who was it that revealed the Battle at Bristol jersey and Kam tweeted telling them to not put it on if they don't plan to play in it?
Hunter
This has thirty-one upvotes. I will not give you a leg, and I say we leave it there out of respect for #31 Bam Bam Kam. Wouldn't want to anger him.
Look at the top 20 Virginia based players in the last 5 years. I the only player we landed in the top 5 was Tim Settle. We are losing the in State battle, these recruits in VA are amongst the top on the east coast and sometimes the country
How many had VT offers? Don't just look at "best list" for example best kids on a lot of all state teams hold low level FBS offers at best.
Most
The last 5 classes we offered 24 of 25 VA top 5 (Hackenburg was the only pass).
Of those 25, we got 2. Settle and Fisher. Hunter would make 3.
UVA got 3.
I know you want to defend VT recruiting, but the results speak for themselves.
I would expect top 5 to be offered, but he said top 20. I read that as top 20 each year.
Well getting the 10-20 guys is good, but those are regional prospects. Top 5/10 guys are what will get us trophies, and we aren't doing great with them.
Those are also the recruits getting offers from 30-45 other FBS programs.
What does that even mean? His point is that we need to close on kids that have more competition for their services. You just pointed out that they do indeed have more competition for their services. I would bet that FSU, and Bama have taken more Top 5 kids from VA in the last 3 years than VT has. Hell, ND might be on that list.
Do you really think VT the last 5-10 years has had a compelling reason to get kids to take VT over Bama, ND, Auburn, OSU, FSU? Yea we all love Tech but what is a top ranked recruit looking at and comparing? You can have the best pitch man in the world and things like NC, conference prestige, NFL pipeline, school rep, school budget and facilities all matter just a little more.
And UVA getting as many as we do? Or Duke getting even 1?
Because that 1 kid liked Duke better, your saying the ONLY reason VT doesn't get a player they want is because the coaches don't work hard enough at it?
I'm saying UVA getting more blue chip VA players than us is inexcusable. You can excuse that if you'd like.
Why? They were part of systems that pushed them towards that school and that school made promises to them that Tech couldn't.
Edit: I'm not saying Tech can't do somewhat better and should have in the past. But recruiting goes WAYYY beyond the pitch man/coach, VT falls behind even UVA in revenue and donations. All things that help recruiting.
My point was that you are arguing with him but you have the same point. Those kids are the ones that help fill up trophy cases and are the ones you have to close on if you want to play with the big boys. Even UVA figured out a way to land two 5* recruit in the last 3-5 years (and yes I know the TBs, shady recruiting blah blah, it still happened).
AND it's this reasoning why we never won a National Championship.
I think some of that sentiment is purely perception. Someone can do the math and back check me, but since 2013 in VA. VA 4 or 5 stars kids, I got VT with 8-10, FSU with 7, Penn State with 6, Bama with 2, UVA with 7.
I counted 43 4 or 5 star kids from VA since '13 (including this class), with VT landing 8-10 depending on how this class works out. Thats about 1 in 4. I'd love to see that number jump to 2 in 4.
Eh, going back to 2012 and taking only the top 5 in VA (per 247 composite) and counting the cumulative commits I get the following:
UVA: 5
FSU: 4
VT: 3
Bama: 3
OSU: 2
Stanford: 2
PSU, Mich, Oklahoma, Clemson, Duke, Marshall: 1
We are tied with Bama and getting out recruited by FSU and UVA for the elite VA talent, since 2012. If you take 2012 out of it then UVA drops to 3. Bama drops to 2, and Stanford drops to 1.
You could add Marshall's 1 to Bama, since he committed there but couldn't qualify.
Good point. Also if you add in how 2017 stands right now, FSU, Mich, Clemson, and ND all get a +1 with Hunter pending.
True but thats only top 5 in the state.
Many of those in the top 5 come from the same high schools...which leads me to believe there is some coaching politics involved. More on this to come...
I'll be interested to see what your have. Looking back through the top 5 during that time, there are some commonalities in high schools but not enough to do a study on them. I also don't see a complete pipeline where if X player when to Y HS then they always went to Z college. Admittedly I'm just clicking through quickly in between working but nothing jumped out to me.
Phew that was tedious.
Looking at the top Virginia Recruits from 2004 to 2016 (typically 247 listed around 40-50 athletes per year by the state)
Schools with most VT Commits per Athlete to Least
1. Hampton: VT 5 UVA 2
2. Stonewall Jackson: VT 4 PF 1 GF 2
3. Highland Springs: VT 6 UVA 1 PF 5 GF 1
4. CD Hylton: VT 4 FSU 1 PF 1 GF 5
5. Oscar Smith: VT 4 UVA 3 FSU 1 PF 7 GF 5
6. Phoebus: VT 3 UVA 2 PF 6 GF 6
7. Ocean Lakes: VT 3 UVA 4 FSU 2 PF 3 GF 7
8. Stone Bridge: VT 2 UVA 1 PF 10
9. Bayside: VT 1 UVA 5 FSU 1 GF 2
10. Lake Taylor: VT 0 PF 6 GF 4
11. Woodberry: VT 0 PF 7
12. Briarwoods: VT 0 PF 7
*PF being another Power 5 not labeld and GF being a group of 5 team. Not scientific by any means, but I was more curious. These were also schools that came up recently, Landstown probably has a bunch that went Power 5 out of state in the earlier 2000s along with Hermitage.
VT has not had a recruit as far as I could tell from Lake Taylor, Briarwoods, or Woodberry. It could be just coincidence, I have no idea, I just thought that was strange, and I dont know if Woodberry is a Prep or something like that, Stanford had about 3 or 4 kids from there.
So looking back at the Josh Sweat thread because I was too happy for the day and needed to be sad.
---anyway, I read a rumor that the Oscar Smith AD isnt a big fan of VT since we didnt give Boone a legit shot at QB.
No idea about Lake Taylor or Woodberry, Woodbridge (add them we got 0) and Briarwoods why Tech has never been able to land a kid from those schools.
Woodberry Forest is a private boarding school costing more than $50K/yr.
So that explains all of the Stanford, ND, UVA commits...
Strasburg played them in the '90s, got blown out both times (including the year of our 1995 state championship run). They bused their entire student body up to the game at Strasburg and they marched into the stands as a unit. Had coordinated cheers and everything.
We got them with a "we've got girls, how 'bout you" chant, as they were all-male at the time. I think they allowed us a TD in that game.
For comparison, they beat Benedictine 43-7 and FUMA 56-27 this year.
It's time for the VT alum in the areas where these kids go to school to start pressuring these dickhead HS coaches to have loyalty to the state that's paying their wages.
Yea that's going to go over real well.
I'd rather the HS coaches have loyalty to their kids and push them to make the best decision for their futures. If that means going to VT or another in state school (because loyalty to the state includes other universities in Virginia, right?) then so much the better for us. Otherwise, good on the coaches and students for doing what they see as best for the student.
A lot of those wages are way less than they deserve so....
Recruiting isn't regional for the big boys anymore. The days of walling off the top players in your state - for VT or any school in a state w/ talent, yet with revenues 1/3 less than the competition - are long over.
Not expecting to wall off the state at all. We can't do what LSU does. Getting the majority is impossible but getting a plurality of top10 players seams reasonable. Or at least not rank 5th. Last 5 years UVA has us beat 7-5 for top 10 guys.
I think its reasonable to get 3-4 top 10. Right now were lucky to get 2 a year.
LSU doesn't do it either anymore.
http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/RecruitRankings?InstitutionGro...
This is an off year because of their coaching change. The previous 5 years they averaged 7 of the top 10. That's locked down. No one else in the country does that. Watch what they do in 2018
By "wall off the state" I mean "keeping elite schools from coming in a cherry-picking the very top players in the state".
Again, the elite schools recruit nationally now. They're not looking for the best players in their region and state, they're going after the best players in every region and state. VT being able to go toe-to-toe with them is far more dependent upon VT leadership, Whit Babcock and VT alumni/fanbase than on Fuente, Foster, et al.
I really doubt Tech is ever going to be able to cherry pick with the elites in recruiting. I think VT's best path to being an annual contender for the ACC and playoff is to be a regional powerhouse. We need to make the 757, 804, and NoVA view VT as the home team, and make it cool to rep your state and home school. We will likely never keep everyone from leaving, but locking down the majority of these guys would be outstanding. We then need to squash the stupid DMV2UMD movement and convince NC football recruits that UNC is a basketball first school and has never been a true football power. Win some battles here and there with PSU, Clemson, and UGA, and dip into FL here and there. But being the mid-Atlantic regional power will make us yearly contenders.
working on the numbers will respond when finished.
This was also discussed in the recruiting thread and someone posted, and I agree, that it was an auburn writer (could be a fan too) wrote this article. In some ways, I'd take it with a grain of salt.
What scares me is that he put off his announcement and has some big visits coming up.
Don't believe everything you read hah
/thread
Thanks BAG.
so he's actually committing to 'bama...?
/s
But it's on the internet so it has to be true.
Can you please put this in gif form so we can believe it?
Auburn is looking for excuses on why they are going to miss on this guy. Excuses are like buttholes.......
This guy is loving the attention and living it up
This is weird for me. As a Tech fan I'm used to always being on the negative side of this trend.
Just look at Penn State fans dishing out their excuses for Proctor. Every fanbase does it, VT's is just used to it haha.
Welp read through a lot of despair and depression before I got to this comment. But okay I'm happy again.
UGHGHGHGHGHGHG
messed up my comment. :(
Signing day couldn't get here fast enough. The sooner it gets here, the sooner I can mend my broken heart.. with bourbon. Lots of bourbon. Lots of bourbon. It's kind of a yearly thing.
Signing Day is my favorite drinking holiday.
I think Signing Day is a good drinking holiday. I don't really remember much of them....
It's not my favorite, but it certainly is a day where alcohol needs to be involved.
True, but the March Recruiting Thread is going to look exactly the same as this one.
Well, the most recent CB on him is still for the good guys. Again, I lack better sources.
You have to remember, the quote is from SEC Country.
Given the nuanced nature of the quote, I'm not going to believe anything with him until he signs or tells us he's 100% committed, and then signs.
via GIPHY
Ever since the Sweat debacle I've managed to stay pretty passive when it comes to recruiting. You can only play with the kids you can get. No use getting anxiety over the ones you don't.
... and you don't know who you've got until signing day.
Even then you have to make sure they actually enroll. Few big names have never enrolled at Tech over the years.
Not to mention following for position changes (TE,QB,DE,OL,LB) or gauging their reaction to competition. I've even heard about some kids transferring (I think Lawson did that but I'm not sure) /s.
Anybody know cool Hokie website where I can get all that info? Is there a way I can help that website pay for a full time beat reporter to keep us aware of all these rumors, hints, and allegations
Hey now, don't count Harris out yet. Any day now I'm sure... any day now...
Oh I keep tabs on it. I read the recruiting news on here and watch Twitter. I'm just not going to get elated or depressed over news that changes hour to hour. And when I see a crystal ball landslide to the bad guys I go enjoy my day and forget about it.
Do yall remember this kid who played football in Virginia a few years back, I think his name was Josh Sweat?
Ill see myself out...
Signing Day: Take as needed. Refill as needed.
We have a good shot at a top twenty class by signing day. Even if we miss a couple we really want, it looks to me interest in VT is surging through the on field performance and recruiting efforts. Give Fu some time to build momentum. A little better class and a little more success each year over 5 years equals a much better class and much more success.