AJ Bush, a former Nebraska QB who transferred to Iowa Western prior to this season, announced on twitter that he has committed to VT.
God has has blessed me.Thankful to say Ive been offered and committed to play at Virginia tech university!! #hokies pic.twitter.com/0J7VsTzAp6— Aj Bush (@ajbush23) January 6, 2017
Originally a member of Nebraska's 2014 recruiting class, he should have 2 years of eligibility left.
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Fuente gets his shit done fast.
AJ seems left handed. VT had very successful history with a certain left-handed QB. The competition should be interesting. It will make everyone better. I like that Fuente is a WIN-NOW-MOOD!
Oh jeez don't start comparing AJ Bush and Michael Vick please.
Maybe he was referring to Will Furrer?
If he's a left-handed Al Clark I'll be happy; he'd make a quality backup at the very least.
All we need is a left-handed Motley.
I blocked out his time at QB. Don't think it was because it was stellar play, but maybe I'm wrong...
Al Clark beat Alabama.......
Uh, that was a different Bama. They were 7-5 that year. Dubose was coach...
Clark was there in 97, when we lost to Miami of ohio...
Maybe...but Bill Roth once said this about him: "Ordinary name, extraordinary game".
Or Andrew Ford...
Having another Ford back for a season would be an excursion
We need to Escape these puns
Yep, we need to Focus on the real story.
you guys realize that the ford is no longer on the lot right?
we may have lost our escort, but looks like we can replace it with a hooker.
I don't care who plays QB, so long as we get back to the ACCCG and stomp that team up north led by a Bronco.
via GIPHY
Someone say Bronco?
on an unrelated note, I saw White Ford Bronco ('90s cover band) live on NYE
Don't shortchange the new kid. He did play in Lincoln.
Should TPK welcome him with a Fiesta in Blacksburg?
Edit: Hopefully he'll help us mend our feelings since Evans departure really Taurus apart.
The Placekickers?
If he can just control the game Tempo, we'll have an Edge.
JUCO
He was a 2014 Nebraska recruit who never played at Nebraska. I guess he has 2 years' eligibility. Can anyone verify that?
yes, just like Evans was an AFA recruit who never played for Air Force.
yep, but AJ Bush was actually on Nebraska's roster for a couple of seasons and only did one year at CC. Hopefully the college S&C program has helped him get game ready.
Evans:
AFA Prep x1 (didn't count against college eligibility)
CC - FR, SO
VT - JR, going pro early
Bush:
NEB - RS, rFR
CC - rSO
VT - rJR, rSR
FFS, why are we getting kids who don't even know what the school name is /s
I'm happy to announce that I have been blessed with a chance to play at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Next recruit to say this is going to do great things at VT
I know that you are being sarcastic, but I don't get the vitriol that some spew over this name issue. Are people expecting "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University" or something else? The kid may be thinking that "Virginia Tech" isn't providing the proper reverence to the university. At least they stopped using "VaTech"
It could also spill over from seeing the phrase used by some of our professors in their published writings.
You mean VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH Tech?
Apparently he has been properly informed.
This actual makes me a little disappointed. So many people tweeted about this the kid wrote a new tweet, wish we would just move beyond it when a kid says it.
It shows me he doesnt take himself too seriously. Playing along with the fanbase. Remember when brewer made fun of himself for not knowing what a hokie is.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and StateUniversity = Virginia Polytechnic UniversityVirginia
PolytechnicUniversity = Virginia Tech UniversityMakes sense to me.
/s
VTU!!! Or is it Vahh Tech U?
I'll worry more about what someone says if they get it wrong after attending, like hearing VPI without the SU from alumni. /s
Any idea how good he actually is? This is the first I heard of him. I imagine he wouldn't bother to transfer unless he figured he would at least be competing for the starting job.
I'm sure he sees that our QB depth chart is R-fr, early enrollee true freshman, and a walk-on and being an athlete, considers that a favorable situation from a competition point of view. That said, I don't think he will win the job.
I haven't heard a lot of good things, but we'll see. We weren't looking for a starter though, just someone to play backup in case JJ gets hurt. That way Hooker can have his red shirt year to learn instead of getting thrown into the fire.
Honestly, if someone told me I could get a degree from Tech and play football, but wasn't going to be relied upon to be the savior, I'd totally take them up on that. Especially if my time playing JUCO hadn't been great (in other words, not Evans).
Ah yes, the Alex Moran "trickle down" mentality.
Good enough for Fuente to want him.
Much needed depth at QB. Not sure he will ever start, but hopefully he will enjoy his home and new friends in Blacksburg.
He will play in 15 games, I mean Jackson can't be in when the Hokies are up by 30.
I like where your head's at.
Where is that, specifically? I'm assuming you don't mean "in the clouds" or "up your butt", but I'm still curious.
Maybe we'll rotate them against UVA and still win.
Maybe we'll rest all 3 qbs and still win.
Someone needs to inform Bush of the correct name for his new school, but otherwise I'm excited by this move.
Trusting in Fuente!
JUGS called this earlier in the week
Are JUGS ever wrong?
I do not want to live in a world where they ever are.
How can it be wrong. We have jugs and bush.
And if that doesn't work out, we have a Hooker on the side
Not to brag, but we do have 2 Johnson's....
And maybe another. ..or are you counting Brad?
Do we have any Richards?
One really big one that went to Bethel.
don't sleep on this kid either.. yes he's a JUCO.. yes his stats are not that great but we kinda got spoiled with Jerod.. Not every JUCO QB will have unreal stats coming out like he did.
Win Win for VT. If he wins the job great if not will give us a year to RS Hooker.
If he can throw a decent ball and make a second read, he can push for starter.
Just based on film I've found online he's pretty accurate downfield and on touch passes. I didn't see one clip of him zipping a ball for short or medium yardage though seemed like everything was thrown on a loft. He can scramble well though so there's that. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in contention for a starting spot he's got good experience for someone that's still got 2 years of eligibility left. Regardless its nice to see some depth at QB
Even if he doesn't start, his impact will be felt in the potential redshirt of Hooker. That's big in itself.
For those of you looking for more information
Nebraska's Bio on AJ Bush:
AJ Bush Bio
Here's an article from a Cornhusker blog, written on August 19th, when he decided to transfer:
Husker quarterback AJ Bush transferring to Iowa Western; Mike Riley wanted him to stay
This GIF is weirding me out because I've got RTJ3 on and she's nodding her head in perfect timing with the beat.
Also, yay, recruits! Or recruit, singular. Whatever, I just come here for the GIFs.
I think it's safe to say that we all just come here for the GIFs.
Nope. Not all of us.
OT: RTJ3
Yes.
Visible comments at the bottom of that article just go to show you how classy the Cornhusker fan base can be. Nothing but "thanks for your time here, and good luck to you in your future"
Yea, I wish we had more games scheduled with them.
Pretty class stuff.
Meanwhile Miami fans be like "2 bad cuz he suks"
VT fans be like "I wonder what this means for Lawson"
Just the ones the Tkp hard enough
Mike Riley is a QB guru so if he likes him, I like him. Plus, Fuente knows a few things about QBs, I'm excited about this commitment.
Happy to add depth to the QB room and expect this competition to run well into August. I don't want to count AJ out, but hope JJ or Hooker can win this thing for the long term.
As previously stated, his stats aren't great, but in Fuente we trust.
He's going to have to learn to not turn the ball over, if he's going to be Fuente's starting QB. In the single year at Iowa Western, he played in 10 games and turned it over 15 times. 8 interceptions and 7 lost fumbles.
That's including the fact that he had the 2nd most pass attempts and the 3rd most rushing attempts but he has the most interceptions and fumbles than anyone else on the entire team.
Color me cautiously optimistic about this guy becoming a major contributor next year.
Evans can't speak about fumbles either.
I think its easy to look at stats and so oh man kids a TO machine. but you have remember hes also playing with some of the couldn't make it in D1 football kids and the QB gets credit for handoff miscues, bad snaps, option pitches not handled, dropped passes that turn into picks so unless we have actually sat down and seen the film on all his TOs I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgment at least on that aspect of it. if im wrong and hes just throwing into triple coverage and dropping the ball every time he takes a hit then hopefully he can figure it out but until then.... lets get on the BUSH train!
His stats are pedestrian at best. Hopefully he figures out real quick that turnovers are bad. He was a well-oiled turnover machine at Iowa Western.
Hope he can figure it out and push JJ and HH and make everyone better.
Yeah, going through the stat line I saw he had 8 fumbles with 7 lost... oh and he threw 8 picks. So apparently he's good at the one thing we don't need to be good at: turning over the ball.
HOWEVER! I'm going to trust in Fuente and I'm hoping French or someone will be able to dig up film on him to see if he's a legit player for QB1 in 17'. Personally, I say give the keys to #17 and let him drive.
Does his scholarship count against/towards this recruiting class?
they can use a 2016 if they have one available.
Alright, I guess.
Didn't we have another player on the roster recently from Norcross, besides Plantin? Anyone recall?
D'Andre Plantin..
I think D'Andre Plantin is from Norcross
I thought he was from Bethel....
No, I think that was Mark.
Ohhhhh wait, are you sure it wasn't the other guy? The one who's name is pronounced "Kevin"
I think he lives in Winchester.
Kevin Walker from Winchester seems somehow familiar.
Wait.......how do you pronounce that?
"Ricky Walker"
I'm really excited for another QB competition. Pulling for no injuries and trust in the coaching staff to make the best decision come August.
Let's GOOOOOOOOO
I would have been more excited without one, personally.
I mean, I would be more excited if Evans was sticking around, but that's old news. A healthy competition with these two or three pushing each other to be better can only be good for the team
The scars are just too fresh. My heart is not yet ready to love again.
Since we can redshirt Hooker with his commitment......
How long do you say before we.........pull the shirt off of Hooker?
Hopefully JJ and/or Bush stay healthy. Wouldn't want to have to burn Hooker's shirt.
If worse came to worse, couldn't we just re-redshirt Hooker as a sophomore assuming AJ and JJ are healthy in 2018?
Or when will he transfer out, now that Bush is in.
Glad to add depth, but nothing about his stats or high school film stand out outside of his ability to run with the football. Hopefully Fuente can work some magic.
Question for anyone that has the answer: I know we are currently in a recruiting dead period, which from my understanding basically means no face to face contact between recruits and coaches, they can however talk over phone, text, Skype, twitter etc. Do the recruiting dead periods also include JUCO and Grad Transfers?
I find it hard to believe that Fuente and Co. would offer AJ without seeing him throw in person, but the timeline of J Evans declaring while we were already in the dead period, then the whole follow on twitter a few days ago it would lend me to believe that Fuente was not recruiting him prior to Evans announcement. Anyone have any idea.
might be blurting out too much info but dead period only pertains to college bound kids from high school...
Thanks! And I don't think that is blurting out too much info. This actually makes me feel better about Bush because at least Fuente and Co would've had the opportunity to visit him and see him throw the ball in person, and based on Fuente's recruiting philosophy in person performance weighs higher than game tape and highlights.
I'm really confused . I thought that once you went JUCO you had to spend 2 years before tranferring up.
Anyway.
Man I like that band's music.
He'd already enrolled at a FBS school. He had to be out a year before playing at another. Spent that year at JUCO.
Kids that go straight to JUCO from HS have to meet certain requirements; those requirements shaped by whether they were qualifiers coming out of HS or not.
So, we don't have to use a Hooker......?
The move speaks to JJ talent
Really like his film, nice addition to the team.
Reminds me a lot of Evans. Huge arm and likes the truck stick.
So we will have a Hooker Clicking with a Bush in the backfield?
Good for depth, but there's no way JJ loses the competition. We all forget the fact that he pushed Evans to the limit as a TRUE freshman last year before taking the shirt. That, my O&M goggles, and our track history with (r)Fr talent bursting onto the scene? I'm all aboard the JJ hype train.
If he does beat out JJ he'll probably turn pro after next season too.
My hope is that he's the second coming of Dave Meyer.
Also, Fuente works hella fast.
No one could throw a deep ball into a trashcan after practice as well as Dave Meyer.
Both of you get legs for the Dave Meyer reference.
and you get a leg for an outstanding profile pic
I wish I could take credit but google did all the work whilst I was looking for UVA forums to troll.
Meyer was one of my classmates so was Al Clark. And Joe Marchant and so was Jim ferugio
I could definitely live with Deep Ball Dave 2.0
Nice job Fuente Co.
"Malik Zaire, I unfriend you!"
- Justin Fuente
"I don't know how this works. I don't know how any of this works."
- Mark Bronco Clay Mendenhall
6'3" 220? Maybe we should move him to TE. /s
Wide receiver
"tell him about the twinkie"
Could've sworn people were talking about how this staff couldn't recruit...
The discussion is that this staff hasn't proven it can recruit the top level and that Fuente did not fill his staff with proven recruiters (like UMD did).
And this class isn't signed yet.
BTW along those lines Time Cop headed to Howard u as head coach
Um...is this considered a top guy? He was a low rated 3 star guy. Why does someone make this joke with literally every kid that sign with us? Even Kansas gets kids to sign, doesn't mean they can recruit worth shit lol.
I'll echo what's already been said in that his stats aren't super impressive, but I think his signing signals good things. CJF wouldn't be wasting his time unless he thought Bush could be a valuable asset to us at some point. Who knows, may Coach Fu works his magic and the guy develops into a super QB lightening quick.
Jackson's a dude and he's THE dude come next fall, which makes me giddy with excitement.
Fuente will allow Jackson, Hooker, and Bush to all compete for the starting job. I feel a lot better about our depth now.
If Bush wins the job, we have the option to redshirt Hooker which was not realistic if Jackson and Hooker were the only scholarship QBs on the roster.
If Bush doesn't win the job, he could end up transferring out as a graduate transfer (depending on his academic situation) or FCS transfer after 2017. But even in that situation, it solves the problem of 2017 QB depth.
My bet is Jackson wins the job, Bush is the backup, and Hooker redshirts, but may the best man win.
Hudl highlights:
Obviously good on his feet.
Two ways of looking at some of those throws (1) fit it into a tight window; (2) ill advised but got away with it.
at the 2:36 mark did he wear a "no contact jersey" in a GAME??????? (highlight beginning says first 8 games)
Could that have been a scrimmage or spring game highlight?
Something I like from his film is that even when he scrambles, he keeps looking for someone to throw to before tucking the ball to run
Kid has some talent, don't like the turnovers at JUCO, but Fuente's system might be just what the Dr. ordered to cut those way back. (One read and run, don't force the ball into coverage, etc)
Coach Corn did a great job prepping Jerod in one offseason , gotta like the odds that he gets the most out of AJ's talents too.
via GIPHY
Sweet, we got our backup!
Quote from his private quarterbacks coach (Link Here):
Question: Does this take us out of the Malik Zaire sweepstakes?
Tech was already out, he is looking for an almost guaranteed started shot, UNC for example.
Started shot? Is that like when you take a shot of tequila at a pregame?
It's the tequila shot right after kickoff.
I think it signals that we were never really in it.
Here's his high school highlights from Norcross:
He led Norcross to the 6A State Championship (6A was the top classification at the time) going 17-23 for 303 yds and 2 TD in the championship game.
#sauces say this is primarily for depth and to redshirt Hooker. If he surprises us, great! But I am expecting JJ to start.
Meanwhile, up in C'ville, Fuente's bitch........I mean Bronco.......
Fauuuuuck!
Can we assume he'll be on campus for the spring, and thus apart of spring practice and competition? That would be ideal.
Yes.
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-former-nebraska-qb-a-j-bush-anno...
Excellent. Thanks for the link.
IMO, the biggest turn-off about Zaire was his desire to not enroll until the summer. That really speaks a tone of selfishness and would really prevent building team/wr chemistry .
Weak sauce but I've read where he wants a team where he is the presumptive starter.
If I'm wooing Malik Zaire?
And he's looking for a QB1 guarantee?
I'm no longer wooing Malik Zaire.
That's the technicality he isn't looking for a "guarantee" but he doesn't want a lot of true competition either, for example Jackson at Tech.
Well, yeah. He'd never out & out ask for one, and no coach worth a damn would ever give one.
I doubt 3* kid from Michigan like Jackson is considered much competition for a guy like Zaire, who started for a top 10 team.
We like JJ a lot, but he's seen as roster fodder by the rest of the world. Nobody this offseason will see JJ as the starter and appreciated his potential.
I'm not sure where/when Malik Zaire became such a great QB. Notre Dame loses to UVA in 2015 if he doesn't get hurt. He went 7-18 for 115 yards with a long of 59. Most of his highlights in college are of him running the ball.
The best DT QBs can run decently and pass at a moderate to high level, (see Evans, Jerod) - and I just don't see Zaire as a consistent and accurate passer. I'm not sure Bush is the answer, but with more college film on Zaire I definitely don't think he is either.
Whether or not Zaire is good isn't the point. It's how good he perceives himself, which seems pretty high based on this April commitment condition, and how good the college football world perceives JJ.
All summer, we are going to hear the same thing. Fuente had a great first year but Evans left and now they have nothing at QB. The number of people who believe in JJ is probably about 1,000 of vt footballs most astute followers.
I'd put it around 30k that saw him play in the spring game.
Fuente could have easily told Zaire that he had to compete for the starting job and regardless of who would have to compete against that could probably be a turnoff for him. He probably wants to go to a place where the staff guarantees him to start and with his unlucky history I don't blame him one bit.
Several tweets from beat writers indicate he'll enroll for Spring semester.
I want to thanl this thread for getting my head straight. I thought for sure that any new guy would be the assumed starter. I do want to see JJ play. Have since he signed. Bush runs much like Jerod but has a weird throwing motion!
Looking at things like 'his tape' and 'his stats'...
...if he earns the starting job, we're... well, we're in a very different place than I thought we were, talentwise, at QB. This is not Jerod Evans. This is an insurance policy.
With that said, I appreciate the decisive trigger by the staff, I like the enthusiasm from the fan base. He's a Hokie now, so I'm a fan. Welcome to the party, pal.
*praying to dear god Coach Fu gives him number 7*
Can he run a 4.15 forty?
Appaently AJ is team first, high character guy, will put in the extra work to get better day after day, and will not pout if he doesn't win the starting job but instead support whoever QB1 ends up being.
So basically he's probably another Motley, and that is a very good thing and just what this team needs right now.
That, and something to keep Hooker and Jackson grinding. We'll be fine.
Looks like twitch in his throw. Looks more like motley.
This is nothing more than an insurance policy. JJ will be the starter and a good one. Much more accurate than Jerod. People are sleeping on this man. He'll be able to look past his first read without tucking to run or get sacked. We are going to be just fine at QB.
A football in the hand is worth two in the Bush? No? Okay, I'll see myself out now...
As a point of reference, Lamar Jackson was a 3* recruit that everyone wanted to turn into a WR.