This is most recent photo on file, which tells you how long this flip has been in the works. [@dylan_rivers]
Virginia Tech just pulled off a major coup and flipped 4-star LB Dylan Rivers from Penn State.
Respect MY decision! pic.twitter.com/Re9YLFZzde— Dylan Rivers (@dylan_rivers) January 22, 2017
The 6-2, 230 pound Sherando HS product committed to the Nitnany Lions on November 21, 2015. Rivers officially visited the Hokies the weekend of December 9.
Is this what recruiting momentum feels like?
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Wow. This recruiting class is nuts.
My reaction to this commitment
So who wears number 7?
I'm not going to post the disturbing gif but...
EVERYONE!
This one?
BRING US
This is the disturbing version:
Michael Vick....forever
Ok, so this is now stale news. Who's next?? /s
Becton + Porcher GIMME
Is it weird that this is all I can make out??
"Yesss. It's my baby! Wooo!"
We are truly witnessing a new era of Hokies football! Way to go staff and welcome to the club rivers!!!
Congratulations to these coaches and thanks for all the hard work , they can recruit as well as coach!
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Amazing.
Just watched his HUDL. Looks very good doing a lot of different things. He'll be a monster on special teams. Is he a backer or Mike...or can he play both?
has to be a Mike. He is very Boulware-esque. I love Motu, unlike some, but Rivers does what Motu is weak at. He sifts through garbage at the LOS and is active in keeping blockers off off him. Honestly reminds me of a more athletic, bigger boulware and motu. His Athletiscm leads me to believe he wil make an impact in pass defense. Really good get Gobblers!
You mean he's white?
I think he's more of a Jack Tyler myself.
The Houston Rockets GM doesn't allow player comparisons within race. It clouds the mind.
Lol no but, they will hit you very hard and are willing to let you know about it afterwards.
Ugh. Please don't compare him to Boulware. I hate that guy.
Fair enough, but minus OM shades the guy diagnosed plays, made big plays, was the tried-and-true leader, rubs off swagger the team fed off of, and was integral to a Championship winning defense. If that's not what you want from your mike, I suppose thats fine. As for me, I'll take him on the squad any day.
Unapologetically grabbed grundle too
I had something but, but can't break community guidelines on politics.
Now I'm just laughing at myself like
"I grab other dudes' ballsacks all the time. Only losers don't grab other dudes' balls when they aren't looking." -B. Boulware
It was a complimentary prostate exam. A friendly gesture.
Actually, I guess it was more like a complimentary hernia check.
BB calls it a 'hisnia'.
Boulware's the kind of player you love if he's on your team and despise if he's not.
He is the kind of player that plays so well you are willing to over look all the problems outside of his play if you are a fan, and really notice and focus on them if you are not. I doubt many Clemson fans love the character issues, but they love having that level of play maker on the team.
They don't mind at all, because he doesn't have actual character issues. He's not out getting arrested, raping girls, etc. He just says ill-advised quotes and got a few personal fouls, which is VERY common for high motor, high intensity defensive players. We've had plenty of great players get those same fouls.
Yeah, not backing down on this one. He hasn't done anything to suggest he has legitimate character issues, but go right ahead and keep thinking that, I'll keep actually knowing him.
Choking someone? Saying assaulting a player is normal and people who don't get it just haven't played football? Yea no he isn't normal.
Like I said, you are free to think whatever you want from your high horse, I have literally known him most of my life. Your opinion from afar based on a few events is not equal to knowing someone personally.
Not sure what that's supposed to accomplish in continuing to have a constructive debate
Seems to me that this fact is clouding your judgment
because it's not an argument worth having. Knowing someone certainly gives you a lot more data points on someone's character than what the rest of us have seen. Personally, I think Boulware is a dick from what I've seen on the field and in interviews, but what do you and HF gain from trying to convince someone who actually knows the guy that that's really the case? Hardly a constructive debate
So the finger up the butt on an Ohio State player and the choking of Jackson and at least one other isn't a big deal?
That kind of extra curricular activity is what finally got Marcus kicked off the team and eventually out of school.
I think the ball grab against OSU was Wilkins, not Boulware
not really arguing with you though
you're right, on my spectrum of player stereotypes, I'd put him somewhere between Wyatt Teller and Marcus Vick, probably closer to the Teller data point. Translation: he does enough to piss people off (who aren't fans, team mates or close family friends), but not doing things outside the game that are illegal. Teller doesn't have the quotes which is why choke-hold boulware is worse, in my book.
Very similar to Wyatt Teller. The dumb quotes are certainly unwise, but they are definitely the result of frustration towards how big of a deal they made that whole thing out to be. It was definitely stupid and unnecessary, but that whole thing got blown out of proportion.
Perhaps it is the generational gap showing, but my definition of character issues seems to different than yours. Getting arrested and committing crimes makes you a criminal, and a thug, not just character issues. Do you think Grayson Allen or Ndamukong Suh have character issues? To me, and again maybe its my age showing, but character issues includes doing things you would not teach your kids to do, or want other kids to do to your kids. I do realize there can be a difference between on the field the character and off the field character as well, but they are often not perceived that way. (edited because I re-read with reading glasses on)
I think there are a lot of fans that don't condone dirty play even on their own team. And yes even those that played the game for a long time. Condoning it on your own team is the height of hypocrisy. When you intentionally take cheap shots at players in the pile, after the whistle, to try and hurt them, that's not high energy or playing with attitude, its just being a dirty player. Teller has done some questionable things, but we don't have a pile of evidence that shows him punching players in the groin or choke holding them.
Think twice before you become an apologist for dirty play. Bottom line is when you play dirty you are acting a coward, afraid that you can't win without cheating. That is weak character and what one of my coaches referred to as chickenshit. I expect better from anyone who gets the privilege to play this game at a high level.
I'd prefer the comparison to Peter Boulware, the former FSU and Ravens OLB.
Boom !!!!!!!!!
Was he a recruit that some people had us possibly flipping ?
His name was mentioned more recently as a flip, yes. Not sure how much it was expected previously though, especially with the momentum penn st had coming off this year.
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Dayummmm!
Man a few months ago I would have been pretty happy with getting three 4* guys (Hunter, Garbutt, and Capehart). Fuente and company are blowing all expectations out of the water right now. What a great time to be a Hokie.
holy shit, WHAT
BECTON NEXT.
3 crystal balls of Becton to VT in the last hour.
Edit: 8 now
We want all the balls. All. The. Balls.
Louie!!!
Small balls , big balls , let's get all the balls.
We already discussed Boulware upthread, didn't we?
The word is he had an incredible visit, right?
Everything is awesome! This class is getting an abundance of defensive talent! Now if we can lock down Garbutt or Brad Johnson this will set up a dominate defense for years to come!
Hokie nation right now!
Holy shit!
This is a huge get on its own but combine with everything else we have going for us right now... Holy hell it seems like a corner has been turned in recruiting.
Seriously, I came here looking for a buzzketball preview and found this? Holy crap. Great day to be a Hokie! Beat Clemson.
And we beat Clemson too!
wow, great efforts by the program. Finally we have some good LBs. Now let's close strong and focus on development during the off-season. If we can maintain the same level of success in the next year, the momentum will continue.
Here are a couple of suggestions!
hell of a weekend!! Go Hokies!!!!!!!
folks,, if these mac coaches were any good, rivers would of never committed to Penn state in the first place
You win the thread.
But I thought we weren't going to sniff a Top 15 recruiting class....
Going by 247's rankings (non Composite) we are currently 11th.
BAG! You knew about this too didn't you, you sneaky bastard
honestly no, This guy has played everything really close and quiet. I am blow away by this.
Then that means you're keeping quiet about some OTHER big time recruit that's supposed to commit this weekend right?!
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oh dear. So ANOTHER flip?
not sure about the flip but more commits
I SEE THAT "S." PLURAL COMMITS. IT BETTER HAPPEN OR ELSE, BAGMAN
So you're saying this years recruiting is LIT???!!!!....
If all the recruits BAG thinks we're going to get commit to VT:
Am I missing the meaning here?
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"WHAT?!" to this not being the big recruit commitment you've also been expecting.
And the other is if we get all of the big recruits that you've been alluding to for months now, then we'll give you a big honkin' medal.
I'm no hero, just looking out for fellow hokies.
I'll just take a rail and a hardy pat on the back.
I don't know what I'll do if this keeps up...I had assumed Rivers was the mystery flip.
Apparently he has visited VT 5 times in the past year and Proctor was recruiting him hard to come here
Always follow the girl.
Smart tactic by the coaches making sure all the girlfriends got into Tech. Man are the PSU fans on twitter PISSED.
I choked on my celebratory bourbon at this. I'm giddy as shit right now so I'm an easy mark, but this one got me good. Cap tip, Gal.
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I've never seen so many recruiting stars in one week!!! Go recruiting! Go Hokies!
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Finishing this recruiting cycle like:
HOLY SHIT.
May be lost on you young-uns
Was thinking "Flip WIlson" when I heard the news. Great GIF.
So Killer is finally revealed as Justin Fuente?
I don't think BAG knew about this one
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So is this the 2nd one we were expecting or should we look for more?
More.....much much more. I was only clued into two commits for this weekend. Wyatts and Rivers I didnt know about. Hunter I knew and I am still waiting on the other one. Dude is dragging his ass for god knows what reason.
Garbutt?
Maybe they want to give each other a bit of their own time in the limelight before the next commits?
Coach Foster
HYPED, CRACKING A BEER TO CELEBRATE!
According to 247, he took his OV to Penn State this weekend...so...did that happen?lol man oh MAN. Did not see this coming. I. Am. Pumped.
He did. Apparently he showed up to tell them face to face he was going to decommit from PSU and commit to the good guys. That takes a lot of guts. Pretty awesome.
That's incredibly classy.
Now I think I'm on Window Pane.
Just watch his highlights. Reminds me of Jack Tyler!
Hey Garbutt was just mentioned. WTH is he doing?
And this my friends is the big time "flip" I was referring to in the other thread. Couldn't give up my #sauce......more like an invisible hot / dry rub.... BOOM!!!!!!
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Is it possible to acquire some of these #sauces and if so where might one do so? Thanks.
South main Kroger, I believe
One bottle sends a kid to camp? That must be some camp...
No, I think he's telling to to buy a bottle AND send a kid to camp.
They're both things you should do.
Up to 6 CBs to the Hokies for Becton this afternoon. We could hear an announcement there shortly as it seems someone spilled the beans...
Picked up 3 CBs for Porcher including Watkins today as well
So excited to the lesabre melt down if becton comes our way
It's already started!
This deserves TWO big fat smoked turkey legs!!!
I feed off of Wahoo tears....
WTF is this guy doing!
That would be SaltBAE and it is a really, really long Twitter story.
A really really long, and really really glorious story.
Sprinkling more L's in LOLUva's future... Or it could be
Casual fan: Virginia is having a rough go at it.... At least they have basketball.
me: Yea...not everyone is blessed to be competitive in all relevant sports
Chokies, eh? It's such a shame that PSU pulled out that hard fought bowl victory this year, while we didn't. Not that UVA had a chance to be in that conversation, as the best 10-loss team in the country.
Somebody replied that they have a chance to get the 5th best player from Hawaii. So they got that going for them.
They have one commit this month but look to be losing Owusu to ND, who was their best commitment.
It's not going well for the best 10-loss team in the nation.
Just wait....
oh dear...
Need someone to refresh my memory on "Bitter'd."
Having news break while away from Twitter to tweet about it.
Bitter'd: Being out of pocket when big news breaks.
I assume it is a reference to Andy Bitter, VT football writer for Roanoke Times.
That's about as far as I had gotten.
Legs to everyone who replied though.
And here we go!
Does Fuente know magic or something?
This kid went to a rival high school of mine. Pretty awesome seeing him wreck us in his highlights haha
Coach Fuente ridding the recruiting trail like:
My wife just asked me why I'm making my "O" face...
I'm on vacation in FL visiting my pops and he gave me quite a look when I blurted out, "Holy sh!".... and since he's a proud PSU grad, the frown just got bigger when I told him it was PSU flip! Sorry Charlie.....
And championships!!!! And championships!!!! And championships!!!!!!!!!!!
Trust the Process
Just watched his Hudl video for the first time. This is how a linebacker should look and play. I am pumped!
Man penn state fans are giving him the business on Twitter. Very mean and nasty things being said. I am so glad our fan base is not like that.
Unfortunately, all fanbases have people like that, including ours.
We have them especially when they can be anonymous on twitter.
And type in ALL CAPS...
Did you miss the superfan in Devon Hunter's commitment video?
Yes! Yes!
.
.
.
Haven't known much about him til today. But man what a score.
Naturally pursues the ball and then the moves on offense. Real talent.
The Winchester Star named him All-Area defensive Player of the Year. One of the better football recruits to come out of Winchester area in a good while.
Mark?
Cool man thanks for the info.
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT ARE THESE FEELS I'M FEELING
So after a couple years of just reading this message board I finally signed up in hopes that posting on here will prevent me from Yelling with excitement and scaring the hell out of my wife and kids after each commitment.
Go HOKIES, Welcome, Hunter, Watts, and Rivers.....
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHH!!!
welcome aboard....now write the check....
slightly NSFW (Language)
His tackling reminds me of watching Dick Butkus wrap up running backs. (Yes, I am old) Once initial contact occurred, there was no escaping him. Not saying he will turn out to be an NFL-HOF player, but I love his tackling mechanics.
Have a fellow old guy leg. I'll see your Butkus reference, and raise you one hope that he plays with the same mean streak that Nitschke had.
I'll take your Nitschke reference and raise you one that I hope that he plays with the fire that started the War of 1812.
I'll take your fire that started the War of 1812 and raise you that I hope he dumps more RBs on their backs then Boston colonists did tea in the harbor.
I'll raise you that I hope he controls his gaps as well as the Spartans did in the battle of Thermopylae.
I will see you and raise you that I hope he attacks quickly through the line like Ramses at the Battle of Kadesh.
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Stop making me laugh all you old guys, I have enough wrinkles already. Take your legs and your history lessons back to your recliners and enjoy waiting for the next recruiticorn to pop up.
Proud 26 year old here with a fascination for the anything ancient Rome/Greece, who also lived with a history major for 4 years.
Plus 300 was a pretty great movie. Made a trade with my gf that if she watched it with me, I'd sit through watching the Notebook. Worth it.
I've seen some of the comments that PSU fans have said on Twitter (real internet tough guys) and it is absolutely pathetic. The kid is 18 and made one of the biggest decisions in his life and what these people are saying is just flat out wrong.
The crazy thing to me is that some of them are adults (40s - 50s). Get a life.
I read those as well, it was pathetic, gave me a new found dislike for PSU...
Our fans do the same thing unfortunately. No reason to let twitter influence your opinion.
Oh no that just helped, The ESPN Love fest for the"BEST CONFERENCE IN FOOTBALL" the BIg 10 helped me the most........Glad the bowl season helped clear up that issue....ACC ACC ACC
Conversation between me and my best friend who is a die hard psu fan:
Me: I'm crying tears of joy right now, we got Rivers!
Him: eh
Him: oh well
Him: his loss
Him: We still have a ton of guys at olb so I think we good at that pos
Me: We never get good lb recruits and this year we get proctor and rivers
Not all PSU fans are jerks
Obviously not all PSU fans are jerks. I know a guy that is diehard and went to school there. He's a great guy.
It just blows my mind. A kid didn't pick your school...move on!
I think I saw on 247 where PSU offered Ellis Brooks yesterday after Rivers left the fold. It's nice making other schools offer their backup plan.
you should point out to your friend that Rivers is an Inside Linebacker, not Outside Linebacker..
Just returned home from watching our guys beat Clemson (thankyouthankyouthankyou!) to this glorious news! So incredibly hyped!
So where do all of these linebackers fit? I love the big class, but there are only two true linebacker positions. The third is more of a hybrid DB. I know the cubbards were about bare in the LB classroom, but is this a ton of people for one class?
Nathan Proctor, OLB (0.9221)
Dylan Rivers, OLB (0.9045)
Aundre Kearney, OLB (0.8538)
Rayshard Asby, ILB (0.8524)
Jaylen Griffin, OLB (0.8435)
Isn't Rivers more of a ILB (Mike)?
And if Proctor adds bulk, won't he move to DE?
I was thinking along the same lines. A really strong LB corp might make it easier on our thin DE's. How long has it been since Tech has been deep and hopefully good at LB?
Vince Hall, Xavier Adibi, James Anderson starting with Blake Warren and Brenden Hill providing depth. 2005.
Those are the gentlemen I was thinking of and hoping I was wrong. A decade of less than excellent LB's is a long time.
I think we've had some good ones. Jack Tyler was good and so was Bruce Taylor before he hurt his foot.
BUT...we haven't had big commits since Hall and Adibi....until Rivers. I also hope that Dax Hollifield joins us.
We've gone from having zero depth to pretty good depth at both spots. Here's how I see it.
Mikes: Motu, Huselkamp (Walk-On), Eron Carter, Tre Hubbard, Daniel Griffith (Walk-On), Dylan Rivers, Rayshad Ashby
Backers: Tremaine, Tevante Beckett, Aundre Kearney, Jaylen Griffin
Defensive Ends: Emmanuel Belmar, Nathan Proctor
Nickels: Mook, Shegog, and I can see Devon Hunter potentially having a role here....?
There is lots of flexibility here. These are all athletic kids who should bolster out kick coverage teams as well.
Beckett to Mike. Hubbard to TE/HB. Maybe.....
Throw Dax Hollifield on that list after the 2018 cycle and we'll be set at linebacker for a few seasons.
Hopefully we nab Dax and Artis next year. We will be loaded at LB then.
Dont forget about 4 star Keshon Artis
Per 247 he's a 3 star:
http://247sports.com/Player/Keshon-Artis-88658
Composite 3 star, but 247 has him as a 4 star
Your 2017 LBs
Starters:
Mike: r-Sr Andrew Motuapuaka
Backer: Jr Tremaine Edmunds
Whip: r-Sr Anthony Shegog
Depth:
Mike: r-Fr Emmanuel Belmar, r-Fr Eron Carter, Fr Dylan Rivers, r-Fr Rayshard Ashby
Backer: r-Jr Raymon Minor, Fr Nathan Procter
Whip: r-Fr Tavante Beckett, Fr Jaylen Griffin
Proctor and Belmar are both likely ends.
Dang, that is a lot of freshmen on the 2 deep.
0 scholarship sophomores will do that
1. I think Motu gets beat out. Sorry I'm not sorry.
2. Emmanuel Belmar and Proctor are probably DEs.
3. Whip is no longer a thing. Mook and Shegog are our nickels. Devon Hunter could be in play at Nickel depending on how we organize the secondary.
4. Tremaine is our backer, backed up by Tevante.
Speaking of Devon Hunter...he's probably one of the fastest players on our team. So excite.
Moto starts next year, had a good year this year.
Whip is still a thing especially when Shegog isn't as good in coverage as Mook.
Moto had a good year, relative to his prior year, which was a terrible year. He is not good relative to our last decade of mikes.
I don't understand your second statement. The idea of 225 lb OLBs playing whip is dead. It's a nickleback now, albeit with some of our bodies being larger than others. Ronny Van Dyke was the end of our whip being on a traditional linebacker frame.
Nickel, Whip, Whip-Nickel, Nickel-Whip, Nickel-Alexander. The position is listed as a Linebacker by our staff (Note, Mook Reyonlds is a LB on the roster) and still exists in two forms. A bigger, stronger more traditional VT WHIP LB (itself a hybrid LB-FS) and a smaller, faster more traditional Nickel CB (CB-SS hybrid). Who is on the field depends on the opponent's offensive scheme and personnel.
Shegog happens to be flexible enough to play in our Dime package as the 6th "DB" as well as the Whip LB role against 21 or 22 personnel. For the Dime, taking out a DL and putting him in the game and you've got a guy who can handle both pass coverage & open field run defense.
People hearing Dime might think we're running a 3-2-6, or 4-1-6 but with Shegog in the game it's really more like a 3-3-5
Griffin is around the size of Shegog size as a HS senior. Strictly from a size perspective I see him playing the WHIP role in the Nickel-Whip LB position. He might turn out to be more of a Backer though. Tavante Beckett comes to mind as someone who is a good bit shorter/lighter than the other Backer LB's but whose skillset is very well suited to that position over the WHIP LB. Won't know for sure about Griffin until he's on campus and gets evaluated during practice.
Was just looking at Griffin at 6-2 215 wondering if he has the ability in coverage. Sure hope so.
Huelskamp will still be here for backup Mike.
From a PSU board:
Yeah totally considering Rivers openly admitted that Proctor recruited the hell out of him to join the ranks at VT
Grasping at straws is what Penn St does best
It will be funny to see after those guys on Reddit were SO convinced from their #sauces that Proctor would go back to PSU the second a spot opened up.
Either we just traded Proctor for Rivers or they were completely full of shit.
I have never heard it called that.
.
Had to look it up. 247 has Payton Wilson as a 2-star Jr OLB who has offers from Wisconsin, Penn St, duke, ECU, MD, NC st, UNC, etc.
He just took an unofficial visit to VT last Sunday the 15th. edit: That visit was for Junior Day.
Payton Wilson 247
I think you meant a 3*
I'm not good at that whole twitter thing....what does this translate to?
I know right!? Laughing monkeys and eyeballs? And are those sad eyeballs? Im right there with ya man. I dont get emojiis at all.
It's kinda hard to convey, but its kinda like "yo I see that and its cheeky but im not gonna comment on it because that's improper but I definitely see it and like what you're saying and want people to know that I saw it". And the monkey has his hands over his mouth like the see no evil hear no evil speak no evil monkeys. But in this case the evil isn't a negative, it's just something you don't want to comment on kinda like you're snickering/laughing but trying hard to contain it by covering your mouth. Hope that helps.
This is why they invented emojis
And as a society, we've returned to hieroglyphics
We did that with wingdings.
yeah, but does anyone understand wingdings?
Obligatory xkcd
Great interview with Rivers in the local news, lots of detail about his recruitment.
Rivers Interview
Interesting tidbits -
#1 Fuente (and Foster) was communicating with him every day since the end of his HS season. Franklin left the recruiting of Rivers to his DC.
#2 Rivers expects to play on the edge in a Will Linebacker role... so I guess Backer rather than Mike? Or maybe even Whip??
If any of you are getting any flack from PSU fans after this week like I will, just remind them of this old gem and how much of a stud Dylan Rivers is
Seems pretty silly to hang your hat on us keeping one guy in VA when they've taken
Ford
Brandon Smith
Cam'Ron Kelly
maybe Hakeem Beamon
Ricky Slade
Nana Asiedu
Yetur Gross Matos
Jonahtan Sutherland
in the last 2.5 years.
The one guy we kept at home is the only one that matters to me.
PSU basically walked into our backyard, punched VT football in the neck and walked off with our girlfriend and our dog this recruiting cycle. Rivers is very small comfort.
In addition, this was supposed to be the coveted year of great VA talent.
Was it? Because there is only 1 five star player in 2019 class in the state.
I think it has been posted elsewhere, but "our girlfriend" is only 30 minutes closer to VT than PSU, not exactly in our backyard. VT being in SWVA means that we aren't even the closest ACC school to the 757 area. A lot of area people want to consider "our backyard" we're actually only the 5th closest ACC school, behind LOLUVA, Duke, UNC, & NCSU.. and in some cases even Wake Forest
What's worse, potentially losing Ford to PSU or digging up threads from over a year ago?
Definitely losing Ford, but it's close.
Don't blame me, IceHockeyGuy started it...
(Ducks the incoming puck)