Ashton announced his commitment on Twitter.
I AM COMMITTED TO PLAY FOOTBALL AT ... VIRGINIA TECH! #GoHokies To God Be The Glory!!! — AWhite (@ayeechico) December 13, 2013
White is a 6-0 172 pound cornerback/athlete from Friendship Academy in Washington DC. There are highlights available on his Hudl page. 247Sports rates him as a four star prospect. Rivals.com has not rated him, but lists scholarship offers from Ohio State and Maryland.
White explained to HokieHaven.com why he chose to commit to Virginia Tech.
"They've just been recruiting me for a long time," White said. "I love the school, I love the football program, the academic aspect of it. My family loves the school and Virginia Tech is a winning program. They have a long tradition, 20 straight bowl games, but this one against UCLA will make 21. The coaching staff is great. I love the coaching staff and they love me. They basically let me know I'm their top priority for defensive back in 2015. I feel like it's home."
Welcome to HokieNation, Ashton!
Comments
Welcome aboard, Ashton! Fantastic!
God can have the glory, but to the Hokies may there be #allthepicksixes
Hokie Nation gains another citizen.
Welcome.
Great pickup!!!!!! 2015 has the start of being a very special class!
Note, Friendship Collegiate Academy is based out of DC, but doesn't play a local schedule. White is playing top competition around the country. This season they played Don Bosco Prep from New Jersey- Tyrell Smith's school, Manatee (a nationally ranked Florida HS), and Paramus Catholic- Billy Ray Mitchell's school.
Took a break from studying for my final tomorrow to check out some of his Hudl footage.
- Looks to be a solid tackler ala Kyle Fuller (in his Don Bosco highlight, his first tackle is eerily similar to one of the low-end body launches that upend ball carriers we've seen KF17 make on a regular basis).
- Is quite good at locating the ball carrier and getting to him, even if he gets caught out of position.
- Can't tell much about his cover skills from these highlights, but on one instance in the same Don Bosco video, sticks to his man and opens his hips up towards the ball, has a smooth transition to a backpedal, locates the ball, and then attacks it.
I think he's going to make a smooth transition to the Foster nickel spot after another year of development.
This commitment makes me happy.
DC has a lot of good players in that class. Coach Moorehead doing work
If Tech starts getting really good recruiting classes, my life is going to improve drastically.
We always do well in recruiting on the defensive side of the ball. I wanna see some studs on O to lol
So far it is a great start, the offense guys will come.
Great pick up, hopefully this verbal doesn't reopen his recruitment..
Anyone have any idea where to find film on him?
Ask and ye shall receive http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/1866080/
It isn't the easiest footage to watch, but he does look like a very good tackler. He also looks more solid than 176 pounds. He is playing against top end talent, as Friendship travels all over the country playing top ranked high school clubs in a similar fashion to an Oak Hill in hoops.
and we continue to be THE DBU. Welcome aboard!
I hope none of the other "top priority for defensive back" recruits reads that.
Well, we aren't looking to take many. In a perfect world, it's White and Marcus Lewis at CB and Garrett Taylor at Safety and take a flyer on a few "Athletes" who could be DB's, WR's, Whips or ST'ers.
I'm sure they have told Lewis that him and White would be the next pair after Kendall and Facyson. Taylor, who is enamored with Stanford and goes to St. Chris' in Richmond, is going to be a tough pull anyway.
We've got little to no shot with Taylor. St. Chris is a "hoity-toity" private school in Richmond where "normal students" are look down if they go to colleges that are less academically prestigious than UVA.
I don't know if Taylor is a "lifer" (a student who's been going their since kindergarden) or a recruited athlete at St. Chris. If he's a recruited athlete, we probably have a better shot.
Shane is the only reason we have a punchers chance with him and DeBerry
Didn't Austin Wates go to St. Chris?
Yes think he went there for a year or 2 before coming to Tech
Wates went to St. Chris on an athletic scholarship...mindset is different for "recruited athletes" and "normal students" at St Chris. A kid who spent 13 years at St. Chris is likely to think Virginia Tech (or Georgia Tech, Clemson, all the SEC schools besides Vanderbilt for that matter) is not going to be academically rigorous enough...of course in reality, that's not true but that's besides the point...
The normal students at St. Chris believe UVA/William & Mary or better are the only "acceptable schools" to go to...i went to high school in Richmond, a good amount of the Collegiate/St. Chris crowd are massive douchebags and prestige-obsessed.
It doesn't shock me at all that Taylor is enamored with Stanford. I bet he'll start looking at Duke more seriously since they've gotten better and it's closer to home.
Having gone to DSF, I agree, but I did have few friends and cousins that went to both schools. I grew up almost halfway in-between both, and definitely way more Cav logos. However, I'm real happy for Russell Wilson.
Bill & Mary??? Please.
Yeah, I don't expect we'll get Taylor either but with Fisher and Reavis already in the fold, a top of the line safety would be a luxury in this class.
I've met/know a few who were lifers, or pretty darn close, at St. Chris, and that is a pretty accurate description. If you either don't go to an Ivy League school or UNC/Duke/UVA/W&M/W&L, many will see you as inferior. I won't say that about all the kids there, because I know some good eggs who have a St. Chris degree (some of whom went to VT), but I think this assessment is accurate for a major portion of the students. The athletes generally only go there for two or three years.
I went to Benedictine, a military school, for all four years in HS- St. Chris was our big rival. Although I hated my time at BHS for the most part, reading this accurate bashing of St. Christopher's brings a smile and some good memories I have of HS along with beating their teams. Thank you.
Jalen Christian is a being recruited as an Athlete, wouldn't be surprised if he ends up at receiver though.
Program needs to be prepared to possibly lose both Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson as early entries to the draft after the 2015 season. ESPN insider article already lists Kendall as #22 on top 25 underclassmen and has Facyson as honorable mention.
Yea, I guess if I were them, I would leave too after we win the National Championship
im really hoping that Battle of Bristol will be incentive to stay their senior seasons. as well as 2016 being our best chance at a national championship run
#ChoppinWood
Yes!
This makes things a little more right in the world.
Why wouldn't he want to come to VT and play in the secondary.
I congratulate him on his logical choice.
Relevant - to popbrmo's comment
I have that exact same splitting axe (Fiskars pro) and it is brilliant. For $40, it's my favorite tool.
Same here. I'm a splitting machine with that thing.
Why is his twitter background of Clemson and South Carolina? Red flags possibly?
I predict he will be a great player only because he called us "Virginia Tech" instead of "University of Virginia Tech" or "Virginia Tech University"
Or "Vaaaaaaaah Tech. It's a little weird when people say it like that. Some of the acceptable nicknames (feel free to add more):
"Hokie Nation"
"Tech"
"VPI"
"The Fighting Gobblers"
"VT"
"The Pride of the Commonwealth"
Thunderpunch University?
We'd be fine with DBU too
Home of the H.O.A.T.
Another future Hokie in the NFL.
Boom....secondary is going to be the best in the country. Try throwing on this Defense.
Article on White's commitment.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/wp/2013/12/13/frien...
Didn't really have a thread to put this so I'll just put it here.
Hopefull sign of good things to come I hope