Recent Comments
Fisher is a higher upside version of Jarrett. Defintely more of a rover than a free safety, so I think Bonner, with the injury to Exum, is safe at his position. I don't think it will be long before Fisher gets an opportunity to contribute.
I need to watch film on Jefferson. That is high praise from Shurburt.
Absolutely critical to the future of the program to get three out of the following six: Hand, Brown, Taylor, Nndai, Holmes, and Moss.
Off the top of my head Jarrett, Drew Harris, and Taraschke are from PA, and they went after Dorian Johnson. I'd like to see them recruit PA more but you're battling PSU, Pitt, Ohio State, and Michigan for kids there. Same with recruiting in NJ, but throw in Rutgers.
I highlighted Moss here before and on Twitter. He is a nasty mean prospect, and I'd love to get him.
My friends coaching back in SWVA have told me that Thomas is a terrific prospect and probably isn't ranked as high because of the level of competition down there. My understanding is that he is a lock to go to West Virginia because of family ties, but I know that Alabama has offered him. I have no idea if VT has or not.
My aunt is the Public Relations Director at Don Bosco Prep in NJ, a High School powerhouse that has churned out a number of All Americans of late (Alquaddan Muhammad this year, Ryan Grant, Brian Toal, Matt Simms, Gary Nova, etc. in years past). Greg Toal, their coach was a fullback at Tech under Jimmy Sharpe (not, uh, the glory years...).
My aunt always asks me why we don't have a pipeline there considering the connection. I get that the Catholic schools (ND, BC) have a natural advantage, but I have maintained for a while that this is a connection that needs to be reinvigorated. I don't care who it is, there is no excuse for not keeping friendly with an alumnus, and even more so with a top flight national power that is 6.5-7 hours from Blacksburg.
VT's rover, or strong safety position, is kinda-sorta like an outside linebacker. The free safety position is the brains of the operation who makes the calls on alignments and coverages. With that, I think Holland is more of a Rover and looks physically ready to play. Looking forward to watching him play.
He was an assistant at Florida before coming to WVU, where he recruited Florida heavily for RichRod. Before that he recruited the Florida area for WVU. That's where he has a lot of his connections with high school coaches. Plus Marshall has to look out of state for talent, since WV produces very few Division 1 players a year and those that are any good will likely go to WVU. Virginia has a deeper talent pool.
...but Da'Shawn Hand is Rivals Junior of the Year:
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1467645
Right now his top 5 are Virginia Tech, Alabama, Michigan, South Carolina, and North Carolina. I have a hard time believing the Carolina schools have a better shot than us. I think his final three will be Virginia Tech, Alabama, and Michigan. Let's hope he can make a Spring Game visit.
Either way he is a beast already.
If you take that map as a literal interpretation of Frank's philosophy, Frank doesn't work it very well, because we don't recruit PA, OH or NJ. That's why I think the 'six hour radius' comment really means 'the ACC regional footprint.' VA, DC, MD, SC, NC, GA. Not much else.\
I think this works fine for skill players but not for linemen. We need elite OL and DL. To get them we have to move outside our regional comfort zone and invest in regions that produce stud linemen.
It is this step that will cause the most internal issues, because it will require a lot more recruit funds for a non-proportional increase in recruiting success. The marginal cost of going from good recruiting to great recruiting is relatively high.
The Edmunds-linebacker option is long gone. He just spent his redshirt year at RB, and will spend next year there too. Linebacker in Foster's scheme isn't a position that you can just step into and excel.
It's RB or bust for him now.
If we can afford to fly our jet to Athens Georgia for a coach with no interest, (http://onlineathens.com/sports/college-sports/2013-01-12/virginia-tech-r...) than why are we not recruiting Florida kids regularly. I'm a Marshall fan too and half the kids they fill their roster with are from Florida. Maybe character is an issue?
Does anyone know the day spring practices start? And when some of the open scrimmages are?
the day he committed, but I though Cequan Jefferson's tape was incredibly impressive. He has great speed, fluid hips, and plays the ball extremely well (which has been our current roster's biggest flaw, in my opinion). He kind of reminds me of Jayron, just because he is a smaller guy with great ball skills. I know we are really loaded at CB and DBs in general, but I really think he could be a good player for us.
Drew Harris is going to get a shot to earn some playing time, I think, and I would love it if he could beat out Edmunds so Trey could become a monster at linebacker.
A few of the O-line kids we got are really going to have to step up and mature into good players, because we are relatively bare in that department, unfortunately.
Carlis Parker is a physical specimen. He is long and lean but built pretty solid. I think he gets moved to WR which is a good fit, because he looked dangerous with the ball in his hands. He runs like a gazelle but had some nasty moves in his highlights (as a sophomore no less).
4th Generation. Awesome. I didn't realize each Fuller was a spawn off of the previous Fuller. Let's hope Fuller 4.0 is the best version yet.
I've seen Coleman Thomas play. We better show him some interest before he chooses wva
I think Bruce Smith has been in the most Superbowls, but the Bills could never overcome the NFC East for that ring.
I think he is better suited to be a defensive end. I want him to destroy other teams running backs
I'm just imagining Teller working with Grimes destroying dudes. Trey Edmunds running behind Wyatt Teller... Yes please.
Spring game can't come soon enough. I'm really excited to see what Trey Edmunds could potentially do for our offense. Also I'm excited to see if Loeffler's work with Logan will show.
according to the @VT_football tweet last night:
Carroll Dale
Jim Richards
Tom Beasley
Roger Brown?
Tyronne Drakeford
Antonio Freeman
Vaughn Hebron
Cornell Brown
Todd Washington
Pierson Prioleau
Tyrod Taylor
And as Rocco mentions below, Bruce Arians won one as a coach
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/colleges/virginiatech/ is where I looked up names I didn't know.
My dislike for Bonner definitely came about when he was getting burned at corner, and I'll admit that he made some solid strides at safety.
2008 Steelers.
we get three of them ... hand, holmes, and moss