http://www.roanoke.com/sports/columns_and_blogs/blogs/andy_bitter_virgin...
As usual, it's a good read from Bitter. He analyzes each player from the class, reminds us how many stars they all had, and there are links to his reviews of each class since 2007.
Here's a blurb.
Of the 28 signees in the class, seven developed into someone who started for an entire season (Ekanem, Stanford, Edmunds, Conte, Baron, Williams and Clarke), with Coleman sort of in the middle ground of starting status (13 starts over four years.) Of the initial scholarship players, only five -- Ekanem, Conte, Baron, Williams and Clarke -- started at least 20 games in their career
We were the #23 recruiting class that year....
Before you go too crazy on signing day, here's a sobering look back at the #Hokies' 2012 signing class https://t.co/cRTfAdFU5C pic.twitter.com/QGTCFXFQRd— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) January 31, 2017
Comments
These articles are always a sobering reminder for me to taper my expectations a bit during recruiting season. A lot of people tend to take a "best case scenario" approach to their evaluation of players and classes.
This is why I'm very nervous about WR. On paper we have numbers and depth but for two years almost nobody has stepped up behind Isaiah, Cam, and Bucky. In 2015 Lefty said we were going to have to establish some viable depth behind those guys. Nobody was able to capitalize. This past year CornFu essentially said the same thing. Prior to the season we talked about all the guys we thought would step up. Bradshaw seemed to look good in the Spring Game. Deablo seemed to have the size to make an impact early. Other names got tossed around too. When it was all said and done though we saw more of the same. Now the reality is that when you have Isaiah, Cam, and Bucky you want to play them as much as their conditioning and health will allow but we still didn't see much viable depth behind them. After those 3 guys C.J. was next (in reference to WR's specifically) with 18 catches for 258 yards. C.J. excites me but with his size I'm afraid he'll be a liability blocking and as a result wont be an every down kind of guy. The real problem though is that production all but disappeared. Next down the line is Murphy and Bradshaw with 3 catches a piece.
For two years we have talked about the need for somebody to step up and for two years nobody has (with the exception of possibly C.J.). Now somebody is going to have to whether they are ready or not. Again on paper we have all the depth we need, however articles like this are a sobering reminder that the depth might not be quite as viable as many of us may think.
Good Bitter.
I suppose it's Bitter to err on the side of caution than be over confident?
2012 was a good class. It could have been Bitter but it wasn't the worst. /S
the same pun twice in a single comment? That's a foul!
I thought we don't post info from Bitter because he thinks TKP is stealing his business/readership?
http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2015/september/25/bitter
No no no no no no no no no no no no no, don't let this start again.
I'm pretty sure Bitter doesn't mind if we read and discuss his articles.
I'm aware that it's okay to post Bitter articles and it happens periodically. I was saying "no no no no no" to the potential very long argument thread for/against Bitter, which happens almost every time he gets brought up.
i agree, that sort of discussion leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as well
My bad, I was but a mere lurker still at that point.
I just enjoyed the read, and I can't imagine getting clicks is something Bitter opposes
That said: VTGM, feel free to pull it down, if need be.
This thread is fine. And if you're going to start solid threads like this, please feel free to do so in the future. There's a ton of good articles on ESPN, SI, RTD, Roanoke Times, etc... related to Virginia Tech and/or the ACC that never show up on TKP for discussion.
Good article.
Something something lack of high quality OL recruits.
If you get one good one out of every class, your line can still only field 4 good linemen on average.
Could this be the reason the pass protection and run game has suffered.
I'm sure having four OL coaches in four years didn't help either. (Recruiting or development)
Honestly I feel like this is our downfall in every recruiting class
I always find these sorts of retrospectives both fascinating and sort of depressing. And I don't mean depressing in the sense of "look at these guys who never helped VT win games," but rather "look at these guys who were so touted and celebrated as recruits, and then they transferred to some CC and couldn't even make the depth chart there." I get that some of it (most of it?) is brought on by the kids' own actions, but it's still sad to think about the trajectory they seemed to be on versus where they ended up.
Yeah it's crazy looking back at some of the past classes, reading about some of the 4* guys and thinking "wait who is that again?". On the flip side, it's also crazy looking back on the '08 and '09 classes where it seemed we had a ton of unheralded guys who ended up doing big things. It's definitely sad, and it makes you realize how much attrition we have to manage year in and year out.