Discuss and share any Virginia Tech related recruiting topics from April 2020 that don't warrant their own thread
This recruiting thread is used to share information regarding VT-specific targets, including PWOs, scholarship offers, visits, camps, and general news pertaining to those targets.
The other monthly Recruiting Discourse Thread is for higher-level discussion of VT recruiting trends and broader conversation regarding the overall college football recruiting landscape and other schools' classes and commits.
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Comments
And I just saw on twitter where Treveyon Henderson had a change in heart over night and my sources are now telling me hes going to commit to VT today at 10 am.
LOL
recruiting threads on April fool's day are a hard place to be
Apparently making an april fools joke is a no no in recruiting threads.
iezzi referenced on twitter that there were commits, plural, and BAG also tweeted up some gifs suggesting we might have another coming soon.
Made the top-7 for Nick Dimitris
what the hell is an unofficial top 7? is he questioning his own legitimacy?
It's the guy version of "engaged to be engaged".
If USC, UCLA or some other blueblood come sniffing I reserve the right to add extra teams to my unofficial final list.....😂
#CA2VT is real I'll just say that...
14 P5 offers
Obligatory:
That road is about what Wichita Falls looks like too. We won't have to worry about the nothing to do in Blacksburg approach, there will certainly be a lot more there than this kid is accustomed to
The Banks will be shut when opposing offensive linemen try to pancake him.
9 P5 offers
Looking at the recruiting thread on April Fools day...
All the tweets i embedded are actually from yesterday 😉
Depends on which timezone you're in
It's official‼️@stmarysryken @SMRbaseball @SMRFootball @Coach_Brady @William23725349 @CoachFuente @coach_ham pic.twitter.com/Ng8CV1IPP3— William Johnson (@Williamj0hnson3) March 31, 2020 " target="_blank">
14 P5 offers, big time offer list
Transfers are going to be interesting and even 2021 recruiting is going to be a sprint.
As someone pointed out on Reddit this is also going to impact 2022 and '23 in person offers and Evaluations too.
This is probably better suited for the Discourse Thread
Possible commitment announcement tonight???
His top 5 we're in it! Yay.
Florida A&M?????
Weird recruitment. Could see that top 5 changing quite a bit over the next few months
Is tech a lock?
is tech ever
You right
Is this sarcastic?
Think he meant is VT lock to remain in top 5?
Yes this
Oh sorry. Who knows? Probably not, considering he's 3000 miles away and can't take an OV until June at the very earliest.
I'm confused...why is Barney in his top five? Also why is Barney green?
I think that is the FAMU Rattlers and if he doesn't go to VT, I want him to go to FAMU..
So...erm...will there be a FAM thread for that? I'll see myself out
It'd be a tough pill to swallow if Tech doesn't come out on top of that group.
Over/under one week before we have a day where a subthread appears that devolves this thread into a shit show?
Hopefully the discourse thread keeps that to a minimum.
not on 247 yet, but also has a USC offer
https://www.hudl.com/profile/11235437/Clint-Stephens
Kamarro Edmonds committed to UNC tonight...just leaving this here.
Not a real big surprise that he committed to UNC. It was always going to be tough sledding in Havelock. Don't think the dead period did VT any favors.
Now the #3 class in the country....great
Mysterious since head coaches need 5-6 years to establish relationships in the state.
Its almost like he's coached there before.....
And surrounded himself with big time assistants.
He left when these kids were -6 years old. How many of the current high school coaches were people he was building relationships with 23 years ago?
Everyone in the state of North Carolina knew his name its not like these kids didnt know who he was or thier coaches. Come on now. This is why people leave this site.
A lot more than you think
No, it's almost like he is a good aggressive recruiter that doesn't make excuses.
Mostly cause they have a lot of early commitments. Now 10 composite 4 stars is impressive, but we will see if they hold onto all of them. Unreal level of talent in North Carolina this year though.
The most salt-in-the-wound part for me is the fact UNC can lock down their state so quickly vs us struggling to do the same...
247 NC State Rankings
They have the #3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21 already onboard with others in the range a strong lean.
If we could only have similar success in VA... *shrug* one can only dream!
You guys under estimate the power of UNC basketball in this equation. That's a big big deal in helping UNC
People underestimate the UNC brand , and a head coach with a national championship, there are only five active. Mack Brown can coach, he can lead, and he can get recruits. I dont understand people discounting his resume.
I dont discount it, I'm just not willing to concede a loss until the game is actually played.
After his stint in the booth, I struggle to imagine him not being a lousy Xs and Os coach but he seems to be a good figurehead and salesman type. But yes UNC is a huge brand, he can flash the crystal ball trophy, and he seems to be an above average recruiter.
UNC basketball was there and just as strong when Larry Fedora, Carl Torbush, and John Bunting were the HC.
Do you really think that had UNC stuck with Fedora and was coming off a 6-6 year with him, their Recruiting Class would look like this??
It wouldn't at all.
Mack has come in, put together an excellent Recruiting Staff and cleaned up in less than 2 years. Give credit where credit is due, if Fuente's class looked anything like Mack's at this point, Hokie fans would absolutely ecstatic.
Its not like this is just kind of a good class for UNC at this point, it's so good that even if they lose a few of these guys before NSD, they will still probabaly have a top 10 class. This will hurt us, no doubt--they are a division rival.
They have made #NC2VT essentially irrelevant at this point...with all the resources we put into NC previously, we should have had a 2 year head start on this class, yet we have barely a sniff from any NC talent this year.
I'll believe they cleaned up the last two years when I see the record those two classes produce in actual games. It looks good now, but the games haven't been played yet.
Yeah, not sure how long this argument will last. For us being a "young team" was an easy excuse for how bad we played, but it never seemed to be an obvious problem. It definitely was A problem, but one could just as easily blame something different such as the coaches. It seemed to me that youth was obviously the thing was holding UNC back. Last year it looked like they were missing a few pieces and some experience. I have this weird feeling that they are going to start putting it all together. I really really hope I'm wrong, but I think the shade being thrown their way will look foolish soon.
When their top 10 class are juniors, they will have big time talent on the field. I doubt Mack will screw that up with 4th down calls or clock management. Talent wins games. It was nice when we beat UNC every year. Now, that got exponentially more difficult.
When their top 10 class are juniors, Mack will be 71. Remember when a lot of you here were convinced the college game had passed Beamer by? You all are now the same people who gives all the praise in a guy who gets practice over by 4 so he and the wife can get the early bird and the good mashed potatoes at the K& W.
I do not understand why everyone is surprised that UNC is recruiting well on paper. For over 20 years, every year you should expect UNC to always recruit well in North Carolina, so forgive me if I'm not surprised and/or don't really look to give all the credit to Mack Brown.
Larry Fedora signed a Top 20 class 2 years ago after winning 3 games. Larry Fedora!
Yes talent wins games but it's not everything. If it was, Miami would win the coastal every year.
Miami's recruiting class rankings from 2013 - 2020 (rankings below start at 2020 and work back)
13, 27, 8, 12, 22, 27, 12, 14
We all know that's led to a whopping 1 ACC Coastal Division title. Sure, Mack Brown is a better coach than Al Golden, probably equal to Mark Richt, and probably slightly better than Manny Diaz. But he also raked in top talent at Texas and turned that into one natty in 15 years.
This narrative of UNC being the boogeyman and the absolute bane of our existence is getting old. VT has rarely out recruited top programs, if ever, but found ways to compete anyway. Sure, it sucks to see them killing it on the recruiting trail but I'll believe they're a powerhouse to be afraid of when they become a powerhouse to be afraid of. Until then this is all just another way to complain about not getting a top 10 class when we've never gotten a top 10 class.
I don't think UNC is the boogeyman but the main reason for worry is that I believe they have a really good QB. Da U has had really good talent on both sides of the ball but they haven't had a QB to make it all work. Howell appears to be the real deal and that could be the difference between what's been going on in Miami and Tallahassee....
Whole ACC has struggled to replace QBs recently. Seems like a new wave is coming up though, maybe outside of Miami. I think the big thing with UNC is they are landing guys that would really help us, like we were in it for a long time with Dyami Brown, it would have been nice to have a guy who took the top off of everyone last year.
You do know that Tre is a slightly higher ranked recruit in the same class....coming off a knee injury....the reason that we don't take the top off with Tre is more our O/QB...
The concerns about UNC recruiting so well isn't just about UNC's potential on field success. It is also about UNC stockpiling talent that would otherwise greatly help VT win games if they came to VT instead of UNC.
Dismissing UNC's recruiting by saying things like, "I'll believe they cleaned up the last two years when I see the record those two classes produce in actual games" completely ignores this equally important side of the equation. Besides, Fuente doesn't have three or four years to sit back and hope UNC's on field results don't track with their current recruiting tear.
VT needs talent. Not all talent will pan out, so teams need as much talent as they can get to mitigate this risk. The talent pool is a finite resource. North Carolina has a lot of available talent and was recently a focus of attention (#NC2VT) but UNC's staff has practically shut down VT's ability to access that talent. They are trying to build the proverbial "wall" around their state and are having much better success than most schools seem to be having. This is a problem for VT recruiting no matter how much people want to downplay it.
You're missing the point - UNC is taking away recruits that could otherwise be going VT. Even if UNC below .500 for the next 5 years, they're still taking good players away from VT.
OT: I've always had a problem with this line of thinking.
It's not like we had them on the roster and then UNC took them away from us. That's happened once, I believe, with Bryce Watts in recent memory and he hasn't contributed to their team on the field.
Anyway, to me, it's like saying Tom Brady took Gisele Bündchen away from me. I may have courted her, and expressed my desire to have her as my wife, but that damn Tom Brady came in and took her away from me.
You can't lose anything you didn't already have. UNC isn't taking away recruits from us, they're just getting commitments from guys we wanted on our team. So they aren't
Please return to your regularly scheduled rant about UNC taking recruits from us.
I know some people will think this is an excuse and even completely discount it but I think location significantly favors UNC in recruiting. The number of highly rated players within 4 hours of Chapel
Hill dwarfs that of Blacksburg. Even the fertile recruiting grounds that are closest to Blacksburg are closer or equidistant to Chapel Hill.
Its an excuse because if location were such a big issue, why is NC State not cleaning up? They currently have 2 commits for '21.
Also, Clemson is essentially equidistant from Charlotte compared to UNC (probabaly closer to Southern Mecklenburg Cty areas), yet UNC is fending them off for some of these guys.
If location is so vitally important, then why are most of our remaining prospects for '21 in TX and CA??
Mack and Co. simply have a better message and are doing a much better job than their competitors. They are pretty much ensuring Doeren's place on the unemployment line and they are miles ahead of us in the '21 class.
I agree that UNC has done a good job but they have not gotten anyone that Clemson has actually pushed hard for.
UNC has momentum and a great message to sell with Mack Brown leading the charge. Them and Miami are going to be are biggest challenges to the coastal for the next 5 years (maybe GT eventually). We dont have the sex appeal of UNC or Miami and will probably not recruit better than them, but we just have to get enough 1st or 2nd on the board guys that fit our culture and scheme and we can still beat them on the field.
Drake Maye is/was number one on the Clemson QB board. He was the first or second QB they offered in the 21 class as well, and they are bigger sticklers about offers than most.
His Dad was a starting QB at UNC and his brother just finished an all ACC basketball career at UNC. Why are we surprised Maye is committed to UNC?
I know all of this. He was also committed to Bama first and then got spooked by sitting behind Bryce Young. Ultimately the same reason he probably won't go to Clemson (DJU), but I know he is/was top of the Clemson QB board regardless.
Sure, but now he's sitting behind Sam Howell for two to three years, makes no sense. I am willing to bet he "committed" to Alabama so that UNC can claim they flipped him. He was always going to go to UNC, I don't believe anything else.
Maye might be a bad example because of family connections. But Bama and Georgia want RaRa Dillworth bad and it seems UNC is going to hold on to him. Zaire Patterson as well. They are definitely battling with some big dogs this cycle.
Dillworth was always going to UNC, don't believe the hype that his offer to Alabama and Georgia are commitable right now.
It's the same situation with Maye, UNC can spin it that they flipped one from the big boys.
Caleb Williams is higher on their board and they really dont need to take another QB with Trevor and DJ locked up until after 2023 season.
Like I said, I wish we are recruiting as well as UNC but besides maybe Maye they arent stealing the most wanted recruits form the blue bloods. The one that hurts the most for us is Kamarro Edmonds, because we really need to find an elite RB and it doesnt look like we have a shot at any other elite ones in this class.
I didn't say location is the only factor. The UNC brand is much stronger than NC State. It's stronger than VT as well. Michigan, Oklahoma, and Florida don't wear a Fighting Gobbler logo on their uniforms.
This - Between VT's location, UNC's brand, and UNC's staff with a history of recruiting, it's not a surprise that they are out recruiting us. I am surprised that they will likely finish with a top 10 class though.
That said, I'm hopefully that recruiting will return to the norm (top 25), and possible surpass it. I really like the message the new staff is sending out. Time will tell if it is effective.
Any interest I had for UNC back in the day was the 60/40 female/make ratio. Apparently a ratio that continues.
But(edit: Not) directed at you specifically clone-a-fuller, but most of the back and forth under your comment is best suited to the discourse thread and is in fact also happening in the discourse threadAgreed, I just wanted to put the info out there because he was a target from what I read...I did not choose wisely considering the climate of TKP nowadays. Apologies everyone.
Sorry that I contributed to this. I forgot which recruiting thread I was in when I saw the comment that I replied to since I was doing something else (*cough* work) and came back to it.
I'll be more vigilant next time because I agree that the UNC argument definitely belongs in the discourse thread, not this thread.
And this whole sub thread could be in the discourse thread instead of cluttering this one.
CBs coming in for Latrell Neville to the good guys.
Hopefully related!
Now THAT is a big boy offer list, holy cow
And being recruited by Holmon Wiggins at Bama...wonder if Shane is recruiting him at Oklahoma...hope we get this guy.
Also...Missouri City, Texas? Wonder if there's a Texas City, Missouri.
Perhaps there is a Texas County, Missouri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_County,_Missouri
🦃— S E V E N (@LatrellNeville7) April 4, 2020 " target="_blank">
There's also this
And this
Update:
he just posted on twitter "Got something for y'all @ 7..🙏🏽"
Word!
Oh HELL YES!
I'm really loving the art that whoever does these pictures is putting out. It sort of has that old time movie reel feel to me. I can't put my finger on exactly why. Maybe is the older pictures.
It's Zach Lantz
I wake up thinking we have some more good news by the number of new comments, only to find out its more bickering about UNC that the Discourse thread was clearly made for. 😒
I mean I think Latrell Neville committed, but cant be sure. Sounded to me like there were a handful of guys looking to commit after the spring visit (perhaps needing some promo shots) according to Fuente. So, there are some encouraging whispers going on.
Edit: I am not real sure we need two separate threads. If we can't discuss recruiting on the news thread, it might as well be a spreadsheet.
Because some people want to see actual VT- related recruiting news and not a 60+ comment slap fight analysis of what UNC's class does or doesn't say about VT.
Because once this thread hits a couple hundred posts it is very slow loading. And there is no need for that slowness to be the same tired ass conversation about UNC we have to see in every single one of these threads. It's not news. It's not clever. It is literally the same argument month after month. At this state in the repetition process, it has exceeded a positive signal to noise ratio. But, people seem intent on it continuing to happen. So, it's best to corral it in one thread. And not this one.
The slowness is caused by tweet embeds and giant GIFs, not people actually talking about recruiting.
The slowness is caused by those things. But you know what? They are news. I click the thread when there are news posts. And suffer the loading time hoping for news. Instead it's the same old drivel.
Is it better to open the thread hoping for news only to see lots of GIFs and "[insert recruit] pls" posts? Cause those are a whole lot more irritating. You can always close the threads where people are talking about recruiting.
Rocco pls
So tech basketball got 2 cbs for a 2021 4 star Pennsylvania recruit
Does this 4 star Pennsylvania recruit have a name?
John Camden, 4* SF out of Archbishop Carroll in the Philadelphia Catholic League. Don't know much about the men's team at Archbishop Carroll, but their women's team is almost always competing for the PIAA 5A State Championship.
Let's get more in the boat and let's go
Just noticed 2 new CBs for Landyn Watson today
To all y'all UNC fans. Hit the road.
VTs moving. #getInLetsGo. Bye now.
Since this worked for Latrell Neville, I'll do this again.
New CBs coming in for Landyn Watson to the good guys.
Hey, look at this. A top 20 ranking
Good chance it jumps even more this week as well.
Commits from Watson and Brown would bump VT up to 13th nationally.
It would make me go from 6 to midnight.
via GIPHY
😈
April has turned out to be a pretty good month so far, and based on the twitterverse it's sounds like it's only going to get better. Potential commits from Watson, Brown, Huggins-Bruce and Quinn.
Commits from these four would bump VT up into the top 10 nationally for 2021 class rankings.
omgomgomgomgomgomgomg good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Leg for posting this
Only one you left out was Beavers
This guy?
Oh snap
Don't talk about it, be about it.
Man it's been a roller coaster so far, but I'm enjoying this moment right now. All started with that Sam Rogers AMA. Thanks TKP.
Goes to show, he's still fully dipped in that dork magic!
Either a top list or commitment coming tonight from a stud corner from TX. not sure if we're actually in play for this guy or not but he interacts a lot with the #TX2VT movement on twitter, including below...
Lots of CBs for OU though. Formerly an Alabama commit.
He had said after his decommitment from Bama that the only four schools he was in contact with were VT, PSU, OU, and Bama. He and Latrell Neville are friendly on twitter (and perhaps in real life) and seemed to want to play together. It sounds like Neville wanted OU more than OU wanted him at this stage in the process.
If it's a commitment from McCutchin tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if it was OU and I'd be elated if it was VT.
Good info, thanks for adding. Also, I have no idea what those other hashtags mean besides AGTG = all glory to God, so if anyone can decipher the code and let us in on the info that'd be great. Unless it tips the scales towards another school, which in that case please keep your mouth shut.
#TTP means "trust the process". #WTMMIMI i have no idea. searching the hashtag just brings up a bunch of his own previous tweets, so probably something personal. In Latrell Neville's tweet, #COMMITTED means that he committed.
i laughed out loud at your "#committed" explanation. well done, keep it up, pls and thank you.
Yeah, would it be awesome? Of course but nothings been said on him so far so I'd have to believe its OU
Landyn Watson commented on Mccutchins tweet about 7pm and said where we goin? With the grinning emoji, to which McCutchin replied with grinning emojis I think this is a really good sign for us and may be part of what Neville was referring to with his "we aren't done yet" tweet yesterday
the smirk emoji could mean anything
I agree, not saying he will commit just that it feels like a good sign with the way things have been trending with Watson, now I will say I don't believe many fans thought we would land Neville but we did so who knows
Ugh, timezones will get after ya
Aaaand
Here
We
Go
beat me by 13 seconds!!
Interesting that he said about a month ago that he only kept in contact with four teams, and PSU isn't even on this list.
VT closest to the groin. We're fucked!
As Ruth Langmore would say:
"get some, skinny bitch!"
good to see former players recruiting for us still
Top 10 list with VT and a bunch of big dogs and no Penn State
Lives in TN now, but lived in Houston prior to that.
He listed us as one of six standout schools in late Feb
ALL THE 4 STAR RECEIVER LOVE FOR VT BABY
This kid's highlight tape is unreal. Sticks his foot in the ground and is gone
New CB for Jack Hollifield from the NC State Insider.
He's projected as a TE, right?
FTFY
I have no clue where he projects for us, but 247 had initially ranked him as a 92 ATH before re-ranking him at ILB and dropping his score to 87. But they still have "SDE" listed as his position, and the tab title of his page has him listed at TE. And if you open his ratings history, it also has him listed as a TE.
Rivals has him as a 5.6 rated (3*) OLB, and ESPN has him as an 81 rated (4*) ATH
Pretty sure VT is recruiting him for offense.
-
If the Hollifield brothers meet in a Oklahoma drill, the resulting shockwave might bust every window on campus.
via GIPHY
#AllTheBrothers
Love seeing all the talk about Beau Davidson by the recruits and VT twitter the last day or so.
If Leigh and Brown come to Blacksburg, I'll consider this class a success. Gotta get those top VA kids.
Just need Grimes to pull the trigger, though I think he's going out of state.
Pulling both would be huge
Why yes those kids would be great because they seem to be top players I don't care where the staff gets the recruits from. Just think about this a 40th ranked Texas recruit is 8th in VA.
sounds like a discussion better suited for the discourse thread 😉
I think Grimes' pops really likes Jham. Never thought we had a shot until recently. It would be a great snag that I had honestly ruled out.
Lol not even in his top
I did say I think he was going out of state 🙄
Slightly disappointing to see this given that it looked like a commitment to VT might be imminent.
Fine, fine. I deleted. Admittedly, I don't scroll through recruiting threads much. Saw the tweet/article from today and it caught me off guard. My bad!
That goes in the discourse thread. Not this one.
Yes, thank you. I misunderstood how these threads work. I shall focus on reading comprehension now (and not skimming through original posts)!
Diego Pounds (top OL Target) just got offered by Alabama. Now, has offers from Bama, LSU, Oregon, and Penn St. among others, gotta get this kid back on campus in June and land him over the summer! Plus Pounds and Bounds (Tristan) would be an elite name combo for O-Line commits.
There likely won't be any summer visits.
To that end I'd really like to see the staff put out even more videos that show the typical kinds of walkthroughs they do for campus visits.
I would think the big boy offers are not commitable so NC State is still your biggest threat
Pounds just got a 4th star from ESPN
Obligatory
"Warm" teams are Penn State, NC State, and The Good Guys
Penn State, LSU, Duke, Louisville, and NC State. If the decision were today, I don't think VT is in the mix.
Context-less gifs-a-plenty being tweeted out by football staff in the last several minutes. News coming? 👀
Ehhhh not seeing much when I went looking other than these two so who knows.
link pls
in the future please include links or embeds
I normally do but this thread is killing my old phone with embeds. Thought it would help. No real news, just a heads up. My mistake.
fair -- even just which staff is helpful.
Sometimes I hate embedded tweets (and just twitter as a platform in general) - the preview is so damn big, and yet it doesn't show his top five at the bottom.
Its Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss, and the good guys for anyone who doesn't want to click on the tweet.
Thank you, I was confused! Good to see no Tennessee in the mix. Would be a good win for us to land him
3 ⭐️ WR from the same hometown as Latrell Neville
Texas boys showing support:
That's what I get for trying to steal your job. Thanks!
All are welcome to post recruiting news as long as it's actually recruiting news! The 247 embed is usually very helpful but it's also good practice to check if it's elsewhere in the thread so we don't kill the load times
Looks like a real gym rat. First in, last out kind of guy.
Deceptively fast?
He creates separation with supreme route running
cerebral athlete. dad's the coach
Real Ed McCaffrey type.
Ed, Christian, maybe even Max. I'd take a McCaffrey being on our team.
23 P5 offers
Big fan of this name.
Kenny Brooks brings in a really good (by what few rankings I can find) women's player.
Anyone know much about Zion Brown? I couldn't find any posts on him or any info at a cursory glance but I saw this post on twitter. Per his twitter bio
That kid has VT stuff all over his social media and has been tweeting at Beau as well awesome to see that.
he's in eighth grade
OT Jack Leyrer from texas posting an offer
Obligatory:
RB Alton McCaskill reporting an offer
2022 OLB/TE Benjamin Gosnell reported an offer. Couldn't find 247 profile so heres his HUDL profile
https://www.hudl.com/profile/8316952/Benji-Gosnell
Here is his 247 profile. 4 star tight end. Older brother signed with UNC this past year.
Ah, didn't think to look him up by Benji. Sneaky sneaky
Beau and Fuente be like
This has to go plaid
George Straight references always get a leg from me
3 CBs in for 3* OL out of Lord Botetourt Who was offered today.
Only P5 offer. Holds offers from half of the Ivy League though. Offensive linemen are so hard to project though so who knows. I'll never turn my nose up at offering a local guy though.
I would suspect that now an instate P5 has offered him, you'll see out of state offers come in if his tape looks good. The ones that are really weird are the instate guys who only have P5 out of state offers. There's a couple like that in North Carolina right now.
If there's one thing I am confident in with our offensive staff, it's developing OL. I'm totally okay with taking a flier on him because he could be excellent, and he's obviously smart if he's getting offers from Ivies. At 6'3" he could stand to gain some more weight but that's the whole point. Program needs guys like him coming in to push the established players and be ready to contribute on the field by r-So/r-Jr year.
This. Vice has an eye for his type of guys and interchanges them at literally every position until he finds the best 5. I trust him on any OL offers. This kid probably has great feet- Vice's #1 criteria. Let's go!
Would be very surprised if we end up being the only P5 offer, but this is the kind of kid that no eval period hurts. He did grow up a huge hokie fan though so I'd bet he'd end up in O&M either way
Can't hurt that he played with Jesse Hanson at LB either
EDIT: sorry, just realized the LB might be misleading towards a position instead of Lord Botetourt HS.
We've offered him 20 times? We REALLY want this kid
Haha this joke never gets old.
disagree, was old the first time
Now I don't know much about crootin' but picking up some big boys from Botetourt don't sound like a bad idea to me. He's got height, Hilgart can get him to any weight, and Vice can coach up the footwork.
Obligatory:
Vice doing his thing
Tony Grimes Top 8
Spoiler Alert : UVa makes the final 8. The Good Guys do not.
Boy, does it leave a bad taste in my mouth to hear top VA recruits say, "UVA, that's the home dog. Home school, for real," and not also include VT in the running.
I realize that everyone makes excuses to justify not being picked, but with that said...
After reading Grime's takes on his top 8, he just doesn't sound like "our kinda guy". It seemed to me that he used a lot of "me" vs team. Very personality motivated versus structure or process. I wonder how he'd fit with our coaches and team philosophy.
I KNOW, I KNOW! HE's a five star! Just not sure he'd like it in Blacksburg. Difference between real confidence and arrogance. I don't know the kid. Could be way off base. Just my gut.
So I hear Davis is still planning on taking OVs and Auburn is hoping to flip him. Talks to Morris 3 times a week. Feel like this is going to go like others in the past..
I'm not doubting your sources or that X school wants to flip Davis, but this also has to be expected to an extent. I can't pretend to know what it's like to be recruited like this but i'd think i may approach it as an opportunity many will never get and to take advantage of it and see some other schools.
This kid has shown us at every step of the way that he wants to be a Hokie. I've never seen a kid be so active on Hokie Twitter, say the right things in the interviews, attempt to recruit other players for us, etc. Neville said how big DD was in his commitment to VT and that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how many people I've seen Davis reach out to.
I'm not saying it's impossible someone could flip him, but he seems more invested in VT in this point than possibly any recruit I've ever seen.
Doesn't our staff have some sort of internal "policy" that they don't like committed recruits to take OVs?
It'll be interesting to see how our crown jewel recruit gets handled. Can't blame him for wanting to take some visits, it's probably the biggest decision of his life so far.
I read the article on the front recruiting page for Auburn Undercover- 247 Sports, yesterday. No big surprise that he's talking to other coaches/recruiters and planning to take other OV's. Big thought that crossed my mind is how CJF will handle other OV's with DD. Isn't that issue a key part of what led Tajh Capehart to switch his commit to UMD, and essentially a policy for CJF?
The issue with Capehart involved lying about taking a visit as well.
This is the situation I was thinking of and couldn't remember. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks for clearing it up
much has been made out of Fuente's comments that have almost reached urban myth levels at this point. In context, he was quoted as (paraphrasing) saying that if kids were taking OVs elsewhere they weren't truly committed. He made this comment in response to a question saying that our staff wouldn't stop recruiting kids who were committed elsewhere. if they are willing to listen and/or take visits other than their committed school, we'd still keep in touch. Since then, that quote has been misused countless times to fit people's anti-Fuente narrative, however they see fit. Just like how Fuente's comments about the transfer portal in February got taken way out of context and made the top story on ESPN.
For the record, i'm not saying that's what you're doing here by any means.
Good to know that DD and other commits choosing to take other OV's won't necessarily be getting sideways with VT staff. Always seemed like a virtuous but losing battle for a program to try to take on. Yielding back to real recruiting news, now... And hoping is doesn't come from out of Auburn.
Fuente only had an issue with Taj Capehart visiting Maryland because TC had promised that he was done with visits - maybe even done with Maryland specifically. The main point was the dishonesty, not that TC was taking additional visits.
and no coaching staff "likes" their commits to take visits elsewhere, it's a fact of life they deal with though
I'm 100% sure our staff will continue to recruit Davis like the star-in-the-making that he is.
So I take it CJF is ok with commits taking other OV's as long as they are upfront about it. DD seems to be pretty upfront about his intention. Seems pretty firm with VT but we all know how it goes when big dogs come a calling;.
"I feel like I'm pretty locked in to Virginia Tech, but I still want to take two or three official visits," Davis said. "Just to see how it is. You just take an official visit to one school and decide where you want to spend your next three or four years. It's really a lifetime decision."
Any policy like that at any school is directly proportional to talent and needs. If Dax or Tre Turner took a bus tour of visits across the southeast, Fu would have been fine with it. Capehart was not that type of player, thus got much less rope.
Incorrect. We won't drop anyone for taking visits elsewhere if they are upfront about it. The problem was that Tahj told Fuente to his face when they were in the Capehart home that he would not be going on his UMD visit, and then left later that afternoon
We will never know, but I'll pinky bet you that if Tre Turner did that, Fu would have been much more "understanding"
You may never know but I definitely do
I understand you have a connection to the program but in order for us to know that would have had to happen, no?
I just reread and maybe I misunderstood him. We would know not about Turner, but I'd be more than willing to be he would have treated it the same.
Yep. I would hope that he applies it across the board but as I have found out many of times, life isn't always fair.
+1 Thanks for your input. Always cool to hear it from the inside.
I don't have any #sauces, but I would take reports from Auburn 247 and their message boards with a grain of salt. Doesn't mean it isnt happening, but "talks to morris 3 times a week" likely just means responding to texts, which I imagine most highly recruited kids are doing with nothing else to do right now anyway. I would hope our staff is texting high priority recruits committed elsewhere as well right now.
You're "hearing" it from a 247 article right? I wouldn't worry about DD. I'd be surprised if he took OV's to anywhere other than Blacksburg. Neville was a big piece towards keeping DD in the fold.
And he is recruiting other players to come to VT. Don't think he would be recruiting them to then turn around and go to Auburn. These guys seem to know each other well.
Maybe he's planning to go on the visits to recruit other players to come to VT. That'd be dope
I do remember that actually happened a few years ago but I can't remember the specifics of the team and player involved.
You sir, are the BEST! I appreciate your levelheadedness.
We're getting someone today
That's refreshing to hear.
via Gfycat
via Gfycat
Live look at the hype train
Oooooohhhhh, and it's someone that Dee keeps in contact with??? This could only be a good sign (any commit is a good commit but now I have my hopes up pretty high, lol)
Yes please.
Not him...yet. He's committing May 10
Dekel better commit soon, our WR room is getting Crowdus...sorry, couldn't resist. I know I'm lame.
Jaron Willis, S class of 2022, reported an offer. 6 P5 offers, unranked so far
Two new CBs for Tyas Martin, DT out of Arkansas.
You love to see us in hot on a DT with this kind of size and out of a state we don't often recruit.
Obligatory:
yes, please
i.e. Tyas, pls
Cross post from Discourse thread
Tyas Martin just committed to VT!! Honestly this one seems to have come out of nowhere but a great get for the interior D-Line.
Apparently had VT in the lead for awhile. Just goes to show how much folks don't know.
Tyas committed to the good guys.
Something else going down?
Def seems that way, bunch of the staff is sending out gifs to suggest it 👀👀👀
Maybe about to round out the DL with DE Watson, DT Williams, and DE Brown?
Love the way you're thinking. All three would be insane
We're graduating 3 of 7 DTs, so 1 more would be needed.
We're only graduating 1 of 8 DEs, but 3 graduate next year. Getting 2 of higher quality would be good to get some depth.
I have us at 20 available scholarships for the 2021 season, not counting any attrition, early graduations, transfers, so we have the space. I wouldn't be surprised if we had the ability to take a full 25 player class, with a player at every roster spot.
ITS LIT FAM
If we actually land Leigh that would be amazing on multiple levels.
No kidding. Dudes film is unreal
It would also mean he doesn't go to Clemson. Which is always a win.
You know it is!!! Mr. Brown and Mr. Leigh join Mr. D! Lane will be jumping!
we offered him in Feb. projects as RB or S at the collegiate level, I imagine we're recruiting him as RB
Virginia Tech makes the cut for Oklahoma running back
Interesting the in state schools didn't make the cut (or didn't offer)
no reported offers from OkSt or OU
Class of 2023 (!!), not on any recruiting sites I can find
He's from VA as well so, based on Iezzi's comments, this is presumably a committable offer being given to a HS freshman.
Coached against him this year. Kid is a stud for sure. Very physical/violent for a kid his age. If his body continues to develop he may grow into a DL. I really like how our staff has been evaluating guys before they hit any rankings! Here's his Freshman Highlights.
Jordan Hall '23 Freshman Highlights
Yeah my son played JM this year and I can confirm I couldn't keep my eyes off the kid. He was in on every play defensively. I didn't know he was a freshman....
Positions: MLB, DE
Height & Weight: 6'2" 235lbs
Bench: 250
😳
and yes, it's Dikembe's son.
This kid got a foot on me, and I got 15 pounds on him...that's nuts. Also, something something, we're allowed to recruit people that are tall?
Sounds like you aren't built for basketball...
Truer than you know
I was walking around in Georgetown in the early 90s or late 80s, rounded a corner off Wisconsin Avenue and nearly ran into Dikembe who was walking in the opposite direction. This was the exact look on my face when I saw him-I'm 5'10" and that dude is HUGE. Leg for the laugh.
.01% we get him, you'd think he would be a Georgetown lock especially if Ewing is still the coach there.
I think a lot of people expect him to stay in the south. I've read GT has hosted him a ton.
That's interesting to hear. You'd think Ewing and Papa Mutumbo are friends and Lil' Mutumbo probably grew up a G'town fan, hence why I'd think he's G'town lock.
Maybe he doesn't want to play in the Big East, maybe he doesn't want to play under his dad's shadow, maybe he just wants to be closer to home.
Obviously he would be a huge get given the dearth of big men on our roster.
Nope....lil mutumbo grew up a UNC fan....as a GTown bball fan I can tell you that we only have an above average/good chance with him as of now....based off the insiders...
Heck yea, my Alma Mater....
We recently made his top 7
VT right under the squat screams "VT is the shit!"
Edit: DRINK
DJ Harvey's top five is expected soon, would be a disappointment if we're not in it. He'd be the first #CA2VT croot and would be a great get for us.
Is Fuente and Co. really building a true national brand?
It appears they are working really hard to do so.
It certainly has that feel and I love it! Despite recent performance, we do have a long history of relevance under Beamer/Bud and initial success with Fuente. The football establishment knows the VT brand so I believe Fuente has a chance to put the shine back on VT nationally to a certain extent. There are many programs in worse shape than VT!
I think most P5 schools are recruiting more regionally and nationally (to a lesser degree) these days. I don't think VT is unique. I think it's just keeping up with Jones.
Just look at the prospects list for a school in a similar place in the hierarchy and recruiting location like, say, Iowa. Lots of offers to guys from outside the usual 6 hr circle...MD, FL, TX, OK, GA, AL, CO, PA, CT (...Connecticut? Huh?).
Actually lots of offers in general. Pretty much like VT and everybody else these days.
Might as well write France. Pene's prep school just happens to be in CT.
Edit: Misunderstood your post being about Iowa. Point stands about our far reaching recruiting nowadays though.
I'm assuming somebody on the Iowa staff has a connection to Connecticut HS football. I guess that's better than, oh, Idaho high school football, but still...
Tape is absolutely unreal
looks like we got in a little too late (lol)
It took an embarrassingly long time to realize what was happening here. He needs a better edit guy
I was very confused for a minute but didn't want to be the guy to admit it first.
He must be going for the 90s retro-graphic look. 64-bit video game screenshot with Windows Paint edited logos. My teenage self would have been proud.
This is absolutely fantastic.
But honestly, we don't stand a chance. I'm just going to pretend the kid doesn't even exist.
Do we have a good chance with Kelvin Gilliam?
the chatter a while ago was OU lean, who knows now. i wouldn't count on him but he'd be a great addition
So...if he goes to OU that means Shane Beamer (if he's recruiting him) was finally able to pull a blue-chipper out of Richmond? And it's not at VT, naturally...sigh
Hmmm, the constant here would be Shane Beamer and the variables would be Oklahoma and Virginia Tech.
AND THE RECRUIT!!
Tell that to the VT fans who complained about Beamer's Richmond recruiting at VT.
No, Highland Springs HS is a discussion topic for the discourse thread.
I'd be interested in hearing that from people with knowledge of the situation. The rumors around Loren Johnson have seemingly oscillated between some kind of animosity toward the program/staff to being seriously considered as an addition to the staff.
discourse thread
we made his top 15 in mid-March and at that point Fuente was having weekly conversations with him. 247 shows us as one of 7 'warm' schools along with Oklahoma, Michigan, PSU, SC, UVA, and ASU. Hopefully TnT have been able to make a good impression on him
edit: found a couple of interviews with VT mentions...
he's planning on visiting once recruiting visits are a thing again per this interview...
https://www.recruitingnewsguru.com/interview-4-star-2021-virginia-de-kel...
and from last summer, he's visited VT multiple times
https://www.recruitingnewsguru.com/interview-4-star-2021-virginia-de-kel...
I still don't understand.
this should go plaid
VT and loluva are his two offers... 6'5" DE!!!!! 😱
I know we're a long way off, but this is exactly the type of kid who thrives under Bronco's system in that OLD role.
Ew
Offered a 2021 3* center from SC.
That's a strong name.
Also appears to be a strong neck.
...Did Mike Gentry have a love child with Heather Dinich?
I don't know...rings a little hoo-ish actually.
At least he's not "the third"
No Hokie should every refer to something with the name Gentry in it as hoo-ish. Get it together fam.
Ahhh, I get it now. Slow on the uptake...
so skrong.
Anthony Beavers to USC
EDIT: Hokies had made top 5, he left USC out of his top 5 **shrugs**
He lives minutes away and his hometown school finally gave him an offer.
Hotty Fuckin' Toddy for Adonai Mitchell
I'm ready to be hurt again.
Just saw this can't find any insight into why though anyone got any juicy Intel?
My mindset is to not get excited cause we can't have nice things
No juicy intel, but a couple of tweets earlier, Brown posted how he loves LSU and Coach O. So while he thinks our stuff is fire or hot, he isn't saying how much he loves us.
Thought the same from afar for a while now, I think he wants to go to LSU or somewhere "big time" but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised and be wrong.
Michael Green, ATH from Williamsburg, reported an offer. Ranked .88 by 247
Top-10 for SC WR JJ Jones
I will never understand what constitutes a "good" edit for recruits. Some are photoshop works of art and others are MS paint pieces of crap.
I like this guy a lot
Anybody know who might announce tomorrow?
Not sure if I'm reading too much into the wording, but he doesn't say "who's going to announce" tomorrow, he says "what's about to happen" tomorrow. Does that mean maybe several people are ready to commit and will all do it together? I'm going to go to bed imagining Landyn Watson, Naquan Brown, and all our 100 percenters on crystal ball all committing tomorrow.
BAG put up his customary gif on twitter too...something good is happening tomorrow I hope.