Blacksburg HS running back Cole Beck reported a Virginia Tech offer late Saturday night.
Thankful to receive my 28th from Virginia Tech! pic.twitter.com/CF6dZDV6mZ— Cole Beck (@ColetonBeck) August 6, 2017
The 6-1, 185 pound local speedster previously announced a top five of North Carolina, East Carolina, Virginia, Louisville, Pitt on July 3. Beck camped at Tech in June in an effort to earn an offer, but it took a couple of months to come to fruition. It's unclear what prompted Tech to offer now as opposed to shortly after an in-person evaluation.
Beck was named the 2017 All-Timesland Boys Athlete of the Year in July.
In December, playing football with a shoulder that needed surgery, he was a key man in Blacksburg's turnaround from a 5-5 regular season that saw the Bruins win the Group 3A football championship.
Beck rushed for 1,214 yards and 13 touchdowns in five playoff wins, including 436 yards and six TDs in one game.
He underwent shoulder surgery and missed most of the remainder of the indoor track and field season before winning the 55 meters and lifting Blacksburg to the team title in the state meet.
The track star clocked 10.41 seconds in the 100-meter dash. That time was good enough to win VHSL Group 3A championship and place second at a national meet.
Comments
Right under our noses the whole time. How did everyone miss this?!
Shoulder surgery. JUGS or anyone else in the know, can schools that are recruting a player ask for medical records or other information about an injury or surgery?
I imagine you can ask all you want, it's up to the player (/parents) to approve.
And fast too, time for jet sweeps
I think he chose those Top 5 just to taunt us. It's like a list of places we'd pull out the lawn chairs and smores for if they were burning.
"North Carolina, East Carolina, Virginia, Louisville, Pitt"
Correct. It's a who's who of VT hate.
Maybe deep down he KNEW he was getting a VT offer, and was trolling all of them.
His is certainly not a boring recruitment.
He probably read the wonderful threads about him on TKP.
For his sake, and for that of VT, I hope he decides to go with VT.
He's a speedster, and I'm sure VT can put that to good use.
If he comes here and we keep him at RB, he'd probably be the fastest RB we've had that I can think of, discounting that MV7 quarterback guy. Get him up to about 205, and with that speed, he'd be lethal.
Sounds like a tough kid too. I wouldn't worry much about the shoulder thing. Not like it's a knee, and last time I checked, not too many guys retire due to shoulder issues, since they usually seem to heal pretty well. And if he was able to play through it, it couldn't have been much more than a low grade separation or something along those lines.
Please hold for David Wilson on Line 2
Kevin Jones would like a word.
I was trying to wrack my brain to come up with a faster Tech RB, and the best I could come up with was Lee Suggs due to his (taken with a grain of salt) 4.3-ish 40 time at tech.
David Wilson is a better candidate, but I'm 90% certain even Wilson could never have run a 10.41 100-meter dash. The only Hokies at any position that come to mind that might have been able to hit that mark are DeAngelo Hall, Michael Vick and Andre Davis.
...
Okay, just Googled and Andre Davis ran a 10.24 to set the Atlantic 10 record in the 100.
This is my first time chiming in on the Cole Beck phenomenon, but I have to say I had no idea he was that fast. I'm sure he's already the fastest man in Blacksburg.
Wilson's personal best was 10.84 according to MileStat.
Track speed is great, but we don't play in track shoes and short shorts and run in straight lines.
I missed the TD runs Beck made in the video while wearing track shoes and shorts
This is definitely a strong contender for my favorite gif of all time.
Speed is speed, just ask Andre Davis or Michael Vick. It is true that a 100 meter dash doesn't fully translate for football, because it is a "long" sprint compared to bursts of speed used in football. Two of the greatest 100m dash runners of all time, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt, were notoriously slow starters. They would probably have not been able to translate that speed to the football field.
Being national caliber in the 55m would probably be more impressive, from a track-to-football comparison. I just checked and Beck's top 55 time is 6.36, which is really fast. He would have easily have won the 6A meet this year. For comparison, Noah Lyles from T.C. Williams ran a 6.27 in 2015. He's a world class sprinter who will probably compete for the US in both the 100m and 200m in the 2020 Olympics.
If Beck never played a down for the football team, I'd love for him to run track for the Hokies.
He had 26 of them last year.
uh.... but we do time kids in football cleats and shorts running in a straight line for 40 yards
As a metric of how fast they are sure. Lotta people are fast, doesn't mean they are going to be good football players for us. Forgive me if I'm skeptical of his tape being a lot of him outrunning Christiansburg, Staunton River and Lord Botetourt.
His level of competition may be suspect, and it could be true that it fails to demonstrate ability to play on the big stage. On the other hand I can't think of how many times I have watched NFL and seen someone's school pop up and it isn't a P5 program. Sometimes where a kid grows up doesn't define their ultimate ability. It may be true in this case, it may not. Only one way to know for sure. Look how many 4*'s we had that we were excited for that barely saw the field, yet we have had a long history of walk-on's and low star kids becoming something great. Sam Rogers is playing for the freaking Rams. If he is the only question mark on a otherwise solid recruiting class I think it's an acceptable risk.
All I'm saying is that he needs to translate his straight-line speed onto the football field. He had a few good cuts against the Roanoke area teams. I hope he can do that against Michigan and Penn State, because he'll have too. I want him to succeed. I like when small school guys are given chances at major programs, but I think the expectations on this kid are going to be high and I don't think those expectations are realistic.
.
In track, Bryce Watts ran a 100 *meter* dash in 11.2 seconds. The yards/meter conversion is 1.08, so you can estimate he can run a 10.37 second 100 yard dash.
James Clark ran the 100 *meter* dash in 10.43 seconds. Converting to yards that is equivalent to a 9.66 second 100 yard dash.
Normally estimating one timed event from another is rough, at best... but estimating a 100 yard dash from a 100 meter dash is not such a stretch.
They are all running 100 meters, including Beck. The 100 yard dash hasn't been run by anyone in decades. The only track and field race still occasionally run in non-metric units is the mile. And those are "special" races.
oops, yes.
Actually you were right with the Lee Corso pic. Not so fast!
I should have thought to check Virginia Tech's Track and Field team. Apparently Michael Davenport from VT ran a 10.24 100m to take second at the ACC Championships this year.
BTW, we have a REALLY good Track and Field program.
Cole Beck is reportedly faster. In the 100m, Cole beck has a PR of 10.41. DW4 has a PR of 11.01.
Strangest recruitment ever? I would love to hear the whole story sometime.
Tech coaches have been well aware of Beck's abilities and have been following him for some time. One hangup that they've reportedly had has been gauging which player he truly is: Is he the back that exploded during the state playoffs, or the one who barely looked the part of P5 prospect during the regular season? His athletic ability was never in question. From what I understand, the secondary concern was his ceiling versus the other guys on Tech's board (as well as what position is the best fit).
Beck's Top 5 did not include the Hokies, and understandably so. ECU has reportedly been extremely high on Beck and has been recruiting him very hard. According to my sources, Beck was a Pitt lean prior to the Hokies' offer. It will be interesting to see if/how Tech's offer shakes up his recruitment. If Fuente & Co. believe that Beck has the talent to earn an offer, than I would love nothing more than to see the staff snatch another coveted player out from under Nards.
HIs top 5 didn't include the Hokies, but wasn't that because he didn't have an offer?
Yes.
Skutt, cough once if he's coming here. Cough twice if he's not.
That 5-5 regular season was just very perplexing. A team that will probably have 3 guys on offense that will get good offers to play college football shouldn't be 5-5. Especially a team that plays the type of competition that they get in southwest Virginia.
And honestly, I'm going to blame that on the head coach over at Blacksburg.
He went into last season having announced they wouldn't be punting, and kicking onside kicks most of the time during games. That didn't really work out for the first half of the season.
They got demolished by Salem and the coaching staff decided to go more traditional, and allowed some of their most skilled players to play both ways.
Jeez he is SO MUCH FASTER than everyone else.
Why haven't I heard of this guy before!
Is it possible he ends up playing slot receiver with that kind of speed? I know there's a lot of young talent at slot receiver at the moment, but someone that fast getting the ball in space could be seriously dangerous.
Get him. Hilgart him for 3 years. Can't tell me he wouldn't be able to contribute. You can grow and get better in lots of areas, but speed is really hard to get, if you ain't got it to begin with.
ALL THE SPEED
Hey Skutt -
6'1", 185
That legit? Seems considerably smaller on tape - and that's vs generally undersized guys.
Not calling anyone a liar - but I've heard that every once in a great while, a player/coach/etc will embellish those numbers. See Iverson, Allen; Wilson, Russell; Barkley, Charles; Miller, Von...
EDIT: just dawned on me what a stupid post this is. It implies that I'm not pulling for him, which no. Also puts Skutt in a shitty position - what are you gonna do, say "yeah, he's smaller, don't tell anyone k"? Dumb of me to ask. Sorry, y'all.
Kind of like our D-line recruits who were 6'2-6'4 in the 17 recruiting class but now all of a sudden they are all 6'0-6'1?
You can check 247 class of 2017 roster and compare that to the roster on Hokiesports and it will confirm this, that is if anybody is even interested or cares haha but I think 6'3 was the tallest not 6'4.
It in no way implies that you are not pulling for the kid, it implies that like a lot of times, the height and weight aren't true. Unless they wear cleats, pads, and helmets for high school measurements and weight and then in college they don't use them for measurements and weight. But I have noticed the kids in this class are shorter but actually a few pounds heavier. As long as they can play I'm fine with it, coaches got it all under control.
Their QB last year is around a legit 6'4" or 6'5". Take that as you will.
Well, our TE was 7'10m, so it's all relative.
I have it on good authority that it was actually 7'15"
Sorry friend, but I'm pretty sure that's way under reality.
I doubt your post was interpreted that way by most people. You are just asking a fair question. LOTS of players in football and basketball have their heights and weights embellished.
And if he turns out to be as good (and short) as Russell Wilson or Allen Iverson, hey I think that would be okay.
Obviously the coaches read the previous thread and were persuaded by our armchair analysis to offer him.
Now that he holds an offer, let the tweeting begin! /s
Maybe he's our version of Christian McCaffery?
They play rb as polar opposites. McCaffery is lateral agility. Beck is straight line speed.
Both have sneaky speed though.
Yeah but white
There are a few things that worry me about Beck getting an offer. First, does this imply that Ford isn't real interested in us next year? We had said that 1 RB this year was all we were after, we have 1 and now we offer another one. With scholarships getting tight, and there still being a need of OL, what does this mean about our OL recruiting? We could have the best WR's RB's QB's in the world but without the bigs up front it doesn't matter.
I was wondering the same thing. Who has eliminated us or who are we no longer interested in. I think it would be great for Beck to come here, and have been hoping he would all along. That said, what has changed that got him the offer now?
It is my opinion that we need to get Beck and Tiquest Terry from Blacksburg to VT, there will probably never be a collection of talent in our back yard like that. Terry's tape as a freshman was as good as Ive ever seen. (from a fr) He is very talented and would be a good fit in Fuente's offense.
The numbers always work out.
As far as whether Beck getting an offer means Ford might be cooling on us, it's too early to tell and I'm not sure it really matters that much given that Ford is class of 2019 while Beck is a 2018 recruit. If I'm the coaches, Beck's speed is too tantalizing to pass up and at the very least, projects as a very good kick return guy.
Or does it mean not everybody currently in the RB room comes back next year?
Let's say one player has a phenomenal year running behind what I can only guess is the biggest pound for pound OLine tech has ever had and decides to go pro and another guy, buried in the depth chart, finishes out his degree and decides to get in with his life?
Maybe Steward comes in, but switches to slot receiver
For the scholarship point. I had read in an article about his Pitt recruitment that he wants to go to a school where he can compete in both football and track. Wonder what the odds are that he could be getting a track scholarship to free up a football one for someone else?
Does anyone know how that would work? I know a lot of schools have done this before.
I'm fairly confident that if an athlete plays both football and track, then the scholarship has to count against football. Miami was known to stash super fast athletes on the track team and consider them "walk-ons" for the football team. So the NCAA abolished this practice.
They basically said that football is more important than track and needs to be more regulated without saying it.
You are 100% correct. If an athlete is on the football team and plays another sport, the scholarship counts toward football. End of story.
In previous years, as you mentioned, schools would stash athletes on the track team to free up football scholarships. This is now regulated.
To include basketball even. If you're a football player and you're on a scholarship, you're on a football scholarship. Period.
Too bad he won't sign with us since we did not make his top 5... :)
I dont understand how much people are questioning the competition and using that against him. Im sure there are pretty bad teams they play, but overall it is not a bad area for football. (Im not from there btw) There have been several NFL guys from SWVA, and several that have gone to VT. The small schools from areas considered weak from this state have produced a ton of NFL talent over the years. Blacksburg beat Phoebus in the state semis and a good Staunton River team somebody was making fun of, for the title. The state tournament has been watered down, but they played some pretty good teams from stronger districts.
I think I made one of the initial comments about competition when I was chatting with Skutt. My sentiment there was I would leave the decision to Fuente and Co. and trust them on this one. Think Beck would be a good pickup.
I wouldn't use the competition against him....but the competition I saw in the Hudl is weak. I have not seen Beck in person live therefore it is hard for me to judge him based on his film. He didn't look shifty in that film but he didn't have to be. He was playing against inferior talent and size - in the film I saw. Would he do the same against bigger and better? Maybe, but I don't think you can tell from the film. Which is why I am glad he camped for Fu. Apparently he saw something in person.
Also FWIW, 247 has changed all 11 of their crystal balls for Beck to the Hokies.
It'll be interesting to see how he progresses at the college level.
Would make for a nice story if he chose VT.
I am seeing a trend with Fuente picking up some bruising backs and some backs that can move out wide and be a mismatch against a corner in the open field or be able to stress the LBs with a sweep. If he can keep another starter off the field by handling KR and PR duties, it will be a great fit.
I just watched his film highlights for the first time. If I hadn't read about his speed beforehand, I would have never guessed it from his film. Similar to Jeremy Knowles, Samuel Denmark and certainly others, I don't see the football speed, burst or lateral athleticism. Those holes he's hitting in the film would be long closed in big boy football.
Hope I'm wrong, but I don't see him being a significant contributor as a RB, WR or DB. Maybe a KR. Certainly not a PR.
You can see it when he starts to pull away, but it takes him a while to get going.
Even then it just seems to my eyes like he's simply faster than everybody else on the field, but not super fast.
It's too early to label r-FR Sam Denmark a bust since he hasn't even played a game. I think you are referring to Demitri Knowles, who was a lot slower than Cole Beck and only played FB for a couple of years before coming to Tech. I had visions of Kevin Jones when I saw Beck's film BUT we'll have to see how he develops. I'm hoping he commits to Tech.
The only label I'm giving Denmark is he didn't look football fast to me in his HS highlights. I saw them before I heard about his track prowess -- and when I went back and looked at them again I saw the same thing. And said so at the time.
I've seen little (or none) of him since then. Could he still make an impact? Sure. But is that lack of football speed I saw 2 years ago a reason why he hasn't made a splash yet? I don't know, but it certainly fits.
If he chooses the good guys, this will be waiting for him
Wasn't the inside info on his recruitment basically summed up as we'd only offer him if we'd decided we no longer had a chance with an RB that was higher up on our list?
I don't have any real opinions on the guy as a non football expert (though the drama surrounding him is a bit surprising), but I could have sworn some of the guys on here with #sauces basically said he'll never see an offer unless we whiffed on some bigger targets.
yea his film doesn't look impressive at all. He may be faster than all the others but his competition looks slow.... real slow. Those holes he is running straight down field look way too easy.
I dont really know what you guys are looking at. He looks fast to me. Hes not a 5 star football player, but he is the fastest player, most productive player we will have in our backyard probably ever. Im not saying he is going to be a great college player, that is hard to project. Im not saying he is the shiftiest or has the moves to be a great running back. But on his hudl video, he is breaking runs against Phoebus, Salem, and Brookville just that I can tell. Those are powerhouses in Va football to say the least. He isnt running all over Auburn High or a down Christiansburg, or Bland County in all of these clips. He is making pretty fast guys look that much slower. We dont have anybody on our team that could catch him, so you better hope he is fast.
I'm very excited to see how this kid does his senior year. Given all the hype around him, I was surprised to see that he doesn't appear to have elite acceleration or slick moves, but his top-end speed is off the charts and he looks slippery as hell. It seems like everyone gets a hand on him, but nobody manages to drag him down. A very promising talent, who'll hopefully light up the scoreboard for the good guys.
I'm not overly concerned with his burst. It looked good on the quick hitting plays. Other times he was just being patient waiting for blocks to develop, which impresses me because burners usually hit the hole too fast and then want to bounce everything. The only thing that worries me is his pad level, especially around goal line situations. Overall, I'm glad we offered him. Hope he picks the good guys.
cough
You're not my physician!!
Meh, he stayed in a Holiday Inn last night. It's cool.
Is he about to officially be a Hokie?
I'll just say that Fuente has been known to try to start off big recruiting weekends with a bang.
Give me da speed.
I can't wait to see him finding holes out there in lane stadium for the HOKIES
If anyone knows how to find a role for that guy's assets, it is Corn:Fu.
It's official. Cole is a member of the good guys!
Blacksburg winning the 4A state championship will make this pickup even better