A ton of good information here: What Justin Fuente said after Virginia Tech finishes National Signing Day
#HokiesLIVE » Coach Fuente talking NSD & the newest signing class https://t.co/5QkZwhaiv4— VT Football (@VT_Football) February 7, 2018
Fuente: "It's time for us to reap some of the rewards of stability." #Hokies— Ricky LaBlue (@RickyLaBlue) February 7, 2018
On naming Galen Scott Co-Defensive Coordinator
Fuente says assistants were approached with multiple job offered elsewhere. Says Bud Foster expressed "strong desire" to keep Galen Scott around. #Hokies— Ricky LaBlue (@RickyLaBlue) February 7, 2018
Fuente says Bud brought up the idea of naming Scott the Co-Defensive Coordinator. #Hokies— Ricky LaBlue (@RickyLaBlue) February 7, 2018
On Farely....
Fuente says Caleb Farley may switch positions this spring, but says they haven't really talked about it yet. WR tore his ACL at the beginning of fall camp last year. #Hokies— Ricky LaBlue (@RickyLaBlue) February 7, 2018
Comments
It's time for us to reap some of the rewards of stability.
Love it. Also, the Galen Scott promotion makes a whole lot more sense now. Thanks.
Yeah, I only hope he's not speaking too soon.
Stop with them negative waves.
Not being negative. Just being cautious & watchful. Stoked that Dax chose us & for the increase in 4* croots. However, that does not erase my disappointment for: a) not securing a 15-20 spot, b) not at least landing 2 off from #20 or especially c) UNCheat getting a higher spot than us.
Agreed. I'm still waiting for that recruiting bump
We're 22 in ESPN's rankings if it's any consolation.
I know this next comment sounds like a bit like a John Madden comment - but I'm okay with this class as long as recruiting continues to improve. We've gone from 42 to 26 to 24 (according to 247) since Fuente took over. Too soon to tell if this is improvement or if the current staff will just sit around 25.
Just look at the depth in the position rooms...Id say weve gained in talent across the board
QB - I dont think weve ever had this depth at QB
RB - down compared to previous years
WR - up
OL - ?
DL - same?
LB - up?
DB - same?
K - up?
Thoughts?
I think this is the most promising RB group we've had since we got Shia/Marshawn. Unfortunately, neither of those worked out.
I don't pretend to know anything about the OL, but the fact that Vice has a 'type' (per French), and that he is able to recruit that type, gives me some hope. I've been a fan since '08, and I don't think there's ever been a 'type' of linemen we consistently target, much less successfully recruit.
You think Beck and Steward are promising? Or the RB room in general?
Not sure I agree with either statement.
More like Holston, Mclease, Wheatley, Peoples is a much better runningback room than when we had Michael Holmes and JC Coleman as our backs that we were going to rely on.
That's a pretty low bar you are picking for comparison.
I mean, it's not our best running back stable ever, but it is our best in some time.
I mean you literally just disagreed with a statement saying that the runningback room is the most promising we've had in a while and if you think I'm setting the bar low then you should really take a look at what we've had recently which really isn't much. What we have had was riddled with injuries so it didn't really work out. The runningback room isn't perfect by any means, but promising yeah I'd hazard to say im more excited about our potential there than I have been since david wilson was running free in 2011.
DL is way down. Hill is the only above average player at DE and same for Walker. It's going to be a big problem and soon.
Hard not to agree with this. Vinny is solid and Gaines can be disruptive, but yeah - DT is going to a problem, and DL depth across the board is a major issue.
Hewitt gets pushed around. Unfortunately I have to agree with you guys.
He did get better as the season went on. He was getting abused early on, and spent a good bit of time on the ground. He progressed a bit during the season. Hopefully that progression will continue. It needs to.
We were higher in 247's rankings, ESPN's, Rivals', and Bill Connelly's blended rankings. Don't let whatever algorithmic oddity is going on in the composite fool you- this class was better than UNC's.
If you look at the numerical rankings and consider the error range, this class is essentially tied with UNC, Nebraska, and Michigan.
#StableThingsTogether
Stable. Horse. Haaa.
Oh dang...in all seriousness I didn't even think of this at the time. It was more a dig at LOLUVA than anything else. Your response is worthy of a leg regardless!
There's still hope for Farley on the offensive side of the ball AND it was Bud's idea for a Co-DC? Epic info.
Edit: Stability also seems to be "mantra" for the upcoming recruiting season (19').
Bud takes care of his coaches. The DB coaches are the only ones that seem to move and thats probably because they make offers they can't refuse.
#Stable19
Fascinating to here him say they talked to AJ Bush about working at other positions. Confirms what many TKPs thought in 2017, and it says a lot about the staff's faith in JJ. In 2017 Bush was the safety net for JJ. In 2018, JJ is the safety net for everyone else.
Life can get a lot worse than having your "safety net" be a 2900 yard, 20 TD passer entering his 3rd year in the program.
[Sigh] Every damn thread? Until someone beats him, JJ is the presumed starter. Comments like this are really embarrassing, especially if JJ ends up being the starter.
I agree he is the starter. When I called him a safety net, I meant they had enough faith to go into 2018 with JJ and the next best guy, whoever that is. I don't think they would have felt that way this time last year. I love all the new talent, but JJ is the man until proven otherwise.
I got you, it just didn't sound like that's what you meant. Perhaps it should have been phrased as "there's no need for a safety net any more with all these quarterbacks on the roster now".
Personally I'm a little nervous how next year's team is shaping with all these stars bolting for the NFL. But whatever happens, we have too much talent at quarterback now to blame inferior quarterback play.
Re: Farley, didn't somebody say one of the coaches confirmed the switch at some Hokie Club event last month?
I don't see what reason Fuente would have to lie or cover that switch up at this point if it is indeed happening.
At the Arlington event, Wiggins (WR Coach) said Farley was switching to defense when specifically asked about a potential switch / battle with Mitchell for him.
This seems very relevant and I don't understand why it was not included in the original release.
Holoman Wiggins was asked about it at the Arlington Hokie event and explained that it was just a title not much of a change of duties.
Very solid B+ class. Big inroads to NC like planned and got a number of good baseline guys that should be contributers. Would have liked 1 more true DT. Next step is to supplement that baseline with 1 or 2 top100 players per class. Ford and savion seem to be the candidates right now for '19, but those are the kind of guys that bring trophies
Year 2 full recruitment. I liked the first two words and last sentence of your comment.
[Edited] Anyone else see this tweet and notice the jersey designs are a little different? Could this be a hint?
Yea there's several MV7s in there. This class is going to be extremely hard to tackle
They are the same as last year.
Bill Connelly (who compiles the S&P+ Rankings) has Virginia Tech as the largest positive change in recruiting for a Power 5 school over the past 2 years: 14 spots - from 38 to 24. Part of this is because how trash our recruiting was right before Fuente took over, but I still like the way it's trending.
Full rankings and methodology here: Updated multi-year recruiting rankings after 2018
I'd like to see this as its own thread, I think it needs to be seen and discussed.
the 14 spot bump isn't much consolation when you realize:
UNC/Louisville/NCST are doing about the same
Miami/FSU/Clemson are crushing us
The road to Charlotte goes through a Mark Richt coached Miami and the road to the CFP still goes through the Atlantic (of which 4 teams are doing as well if not better in recruiting).
It's the most of any P5 team. I'd say it's consolation. Gotta start somewhere.