Recent Comments
I appreciate the frustration yet the ability of this thread to cut through the sour puss to hit the facts. All in all we're at our worst recruiting year since '04. Boo hoo. 33rd doesnt reflect a perennial top 20 team but i'll take it for the simple fact that i think outside the obvious pitfalls we have some redunkulous diamonds in the rough. Frank's a double edged sword with recruitment. Character first, talent second, rivals ranking 25th. I feel we had some mismatches as noted with who we sent where. Everybody complained about VA being such a component of our classes so when we go a lot outside of it we've dropped the ball. To keep from further being redundant i'll hit on the sparklies in the rough, whiffs, and pumpkins on the fence.
Sparkle: Lockhart fo sho. Possess like Danny, fast like eddie. Christian Reeves, fastest TE in the country. Since he is a TE at Tech he will be moved somewhere. deep Threat? Micheal Holmes, not exceptionally flashy and it isnt saying all that much but had 7+ ypc. With Wilson dazzling on the edge we need more of a bruiser. Keyshon + Torrian, Shutdown corner. Estime, Like Lockhart he didnt have enough *'s or playing time for anyone to care too much. ruh Roh.
Whiffs: Tight end-a-thon. I knew Ed Wang when he came in dumb as rocks as a frosh since I RA'd Cochrane. Used to pee the bed after nights out but I guess he got his stuff together towards the end. I hope one can gain mucho weight and keep their feet. Stephone Anthony, I don't care he's a 5* lost but good lord, GW can't cover himself with a bedsheet. Kiaro Holts & Landon Turner, Please revoke 3 of the TE/DE schollies and split it between the two.
punkins: Farrow, Asante, Malleck. Time will tell.
Feel free to tell me i'm off base.
From the last ten years show VT's best year was a #14 ranking. We had one 18 and the rest were in the 20's and 30's. Tyrod's year was something like #27. (I wish I saved the article). This year was a little below our average but not bad. One year does not make a team. What makes college footbal so exiciting is that every year is a new start. Winning the recruiting battles is less important than winning games, but it helps to start out with great talent requiring less development.
I have an analogy about high school versus college. Potential does not always equate to performance. Some kids who do great in high school academically don't always perform well in college. Some with great testing ability, i.e. high scores on SATs, don't always do well with grades. These are personality issues. I believe our recruits really want to be here so they can perform. They are motivated to succeed. That is what our coaches want. Not someone who is looking for a shortcut to quick playing time. Those players are hard to find and evaluate.
Our recruiting class is what it is. Let's take it and run with it.
The coaches are off to a hot start. Now we just need to make sure they sign a year from now. Coach gray is doing some work.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Donaldven-Mannin...
got enough dots...
Because, if tight ends don't work out on offense, they can transition to...DEFENSIVE END?!? WE SIGNED FIVE OF THOSE GUYS IN THIS CLASS! DAMMIT!
Billy Hite had 7 targets and didn't land a single recruit this year.
We need to move either Stiney or Gray to the 757. Stinepring has proven to be our best recruiter, but I'd send Gray there. Is it feasible for him to keep combing Florida and take over the 757? Is that too much responsibility? He's obviously the best choice to stay in the Sunshine State because he's from Florida, had an outstanding career at Tech and was productive in the League. I just know that Newsome has done very little in the 757 and we could send him up to Northwest Virginia to flip-flop with Gray. Furthermore Gray is only 36 years old compared to London's 50, so he's got the young "hip" factor going for him too.
territory changes, but you would think putting stiney back in the 757 is a good idea.
gray does good work for us in the south, not sure how much more he can take ... lot of road time already. keeping stiney close to blacksburg was so he could spend more time on offense and less chasing kids.
no clue on big guys.
I went to HighSchool with Cornell Brown's sister. Very nice girl...
She parked beside my and subsequently rammed my 1966 mustang pulling in one morning...hahah
Keep it up Joe!
and is it effective immediately?
And seriously, wtf is up with lack of the big boys? WHY is this always an issue? Do we not grow them in Virginia? Joe maybe we need a forum topic on this one alone.
me questions about what i may or may not know or give answers to.*
* off the record of course
5* propers
Re-tooled O-Line?
this
Trying not to be too vague, but, the older coaches.
This is why we can't recruit. We don't know why we get turned down. I guess we are boring. We just aren't family enough or fun enough. The appeal of "you can be on a winning team" just doesn't sound fun. Being in Lane on game day just isn't appealing anymore. Are we relying too much on our history?
Is someone subverting our recruiters? Has someone lost their touch or is not pulling their weight?
Maybe we are out of touch with what kids want. I am perplexed and disappointed.
Why didn't he choose Tech?
So what does he plan to do to get better talent? It seems like he is hoping for some luck.
i feel like DMFW is actually crazy enough to send a postcard like this
Any idea as to whom?
Nothing more than rumors and wishful thinking but there is a lot of chatter that some coaches could be retiring very soon.
I can't understand a single thing from that vague, pre-made, "one block away" type of speak he has. It's gotten to the point where I just won't listen to CFB talk post-game or on Tech Talk Live because I know I won't learn anything new. Don't get me wrong, I love his old-school mentality and his professionalism, but you need to counter that with a young, edgy type who will get recruits excited about facilities, uniforms, the draft, and all the other stuff that may ring hollow from a VT staff that pushes consistency and tradition.
Please hire Shane Beamer already to do this. Tech has the facilities, has the NFL players, has the TV exposure. We just need the right kind of guy to sell it.
To my knowledge, this is the first time CFB has even hinted in this direction:
ON RECRUITING, WHETHER HE WOULD AGREE THAT TECH NEEDS TO GET MORE OF THE TRULY ELITE RECRUIT – 5-STAR AND TOP-100 CALIBER PLAYERS – TO REACH HIS STATED GOAL OF A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: “Yeah, to get to the next level, to take another step...But yeah, I think the better players you’ve got, the better you’ll be. And generally speaking, as far as rating things goes, if there’s a lot of people after that kid, generally he’s going to be a very good player. So, yeah, it’s a situation that we need to get as many of those as possible. As we continue to be successful, it’s just a gradual process that it happens.”
What I could not determine from the rest of the interview is if the 10-win soundbyte is being used in the "keep-knocking-on-the-door and it will eventually open" type analogy or it is being pitched as the recruiting solution, which I think we've established probably won't work given where the chips fell so to speak yesterday.
"outta whack!"
we can leave fliers on campus asking any former TE to walk on. Maybe we can get some kickers out of it. Cody Grimm? word.