2015 defensive end / tackle Dee Fullwood may be verbally committed to the Kentucky Wildcats, but that didn't stop him from taking an extra trip to Blacksburg last weekend.
The senior from Olney, Maryland's Good Counsel High School spurned the Hokies for Mark Stoops and company back in June, but he still wanted to stop by to see Lane Stadium one more time on Saturday.
"The last time I got to see a game was last year for Maryland," Fullwood said. "It's just such a good atmosphere. Even though they lost, I still had a good time. It was good to see the defense in action again."
He was especially watching Bud Foster's unit to envision how he might fit in someday.
"It's all about looking at the defense to see how they played, see how I could fit," Fullwood said. "And they definitely played well."
Fullwood maintains that his commitment to Kentucky is firm, but the allure of checking out the campus while he still can and catching up with some old friends was too much for him to pass up.
"I was just trying to get back down there, get another experience on a visit there while I could," Fullwood said. "I got to come down, stay with Melvin (Keihn), an old friend of mine."
Fullwood's ties to Tech are strong. Not only does he go back with Keihn, a Baltimore product, but he also shares an alma mater with Kendall Fuller.
"It was really good to catch up with them, both Melvin and Kendall, I got to catch up with them, and they seem like they're both doing well," he said.
He's also kept in close contact with the coaches, even though he's already picked another school.
"In a way, it's kind of easier," Fullwood said. "The school's close enough for driving distance. So I've definitely stayed in contact with them."
Wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead was Fullwood's primary recruiter when the Hokies were still neck and neck with the Wildcats, and that bond hasn't diminished over time.
"The Hokies were one of the first teams to start recruiting me when I started playing high school football," Fullwood said. "So I still talk to Coach Moorehead pretty frequently."
Fullwood says he doesn't have any other visits planned at this point, unofficial or otherwise, but he certainly made it clear that he has positive feelings for the Hokies, even if his commitment currently lies elsewhere.
"I have nothing planned right now, it's just, whatever happens, happens," Fullwood said.
Comments
Sounds pretty positive to me.
I like this notion of reversing our fortune and having those de-commitments work in our favor. We have been on the wrong side of those for too many years and hopefully Isiah started a trend.
Inviting a recruit who has already committed elsewhere to watch a game? Stay classy Virginia tech!
And why the hell shouldn't we?
If our commits are fair game for everyone else, then turnabout is only fair play. I'm glad to see our coaches finally getting with the times and not giving up on a player, even after they have committed elsewhere. Its about time we're returning the favor to everyone else.
let me say it again: stay classy Virginia tech.
Just because the fish is on the hook doesn't mean it'll make it into the boat
They are following the same NCAA guidelines that everyone else follows... not only is it perfectly fine under NCAA rules, it is perfectly ethical and classy as well, there's really nothing wrong with this
I invite you to expound on why you think this is the wrong thing to do. Pretty Please.
???? It makes no more sense this time than it did the first time
For the record, go ahead and share your opinion on all the schools Mook is still visiting while committed to us.
And he just verballed to us....
#KeepinItClassySince1872
The important question is...did VT stay classy?
Rumors have it that we recruited him pinky out, so yes, we kept it classy
He committed to UVa?
Did we break any NCAA rules? If the answer is no... then yes, we did keep it classy.
You're entitled to your opinion, and in this case I don't think the staff did anything wrong, but I expect more from the coaching staff than not violating NCAA rules.
What we don't know is whether he reached out (as he has several friend on or going) and kept in touch with VT.
I hear ya, I just really don't think we should assume malfeasance on the part of the coaching staff, which I think is why everyone is going off on this dude.
I understand what you're saying. I love the fact that Frank is a class act coach, but I just assume that Fullwood changed his mind, rather than us pushing him to change his mind. Maybe Fullwood fell in love with UK, but as time progressed he felt that VT would be a much better fit because of his relationship with a couple of our players and that it would be easier on his family to travel to Blacksburg to see him play. I wouldn't call it classless just because we still made his scholarship available to him after he changed his mind.
Not completely true, Fullwood has said that Moorehead and him had been talking weekly. Part of it was probably him changing his mind, but the staff definitely still recruited him even after he committed to Kentucky.
And I am perfectly ok with that.
It'd be nice if everyone respected a recruit's decision like Beamer insisted on doing for so long.
But it's not against the rules.
We have been bitten by that very action, multiple times in recent years, and the incidences of recruiting commited players has only been ramping up.
And if you are not using all the legal means to acquire players in positions of need, you are simply not playing to win.
Beamer tried to lead by example for many years. It is apparent the rules aren't going to change, so he changed his actions to do what is best for the team.
Agreed.
I believe you forgot to end it with "/sarcasm"
can't tell if sarcastic or not...
i don't believe it was an official visit so he doesn't have to be invited (i.e. VT didn't do anything ethically wrong). players can unofficially visit all they want; however, the interactions with coaches/staff etc are very limited during unofficials. someone correct me if i'm wrong.
I've said it before, but in my mind the problem is one of word choice. When a kid states his intention to go to a school we call it a "commitment," and when he signs a form committing himself to that school we call it a "letter of intent." If we called the former a "statement of intent" and the latter a "letter of commitment," we wouldn't have this misunderstanding.
I agree, these kids are still 100% free to change their minds until they sign that letter
I think that's exactly what we should be doing. We need to stay above board ethically, but nothing wrong with showing kids how green the grass is on the other side.
So he's been on campus twice, once for Maryland and another time for this past GT game?
And he's STILL interested in playing for that defense?
Hopefully he watched the Ohio State game and knows that Bud is still Bud.
Not sure if it's sarcastica or not...
Two very strong gameday atmospheres, despite last-minute losses, can be encouraging. Maybe the recruits don't say "oh, they lost so this team sucks" but instead say "man, that was close and I bet I could make a difference." Mike Arnold cited the gameday experience and the fans' intensity as major positives. I saw other tweets from other recruits to that same effect.
half & half, but leaning serious. Let me explain...
I was at that Maryland game last year, and I did not enjoy the experience at all. Lane was a neutered shell of its former self with the students seemingly completely disinterested in the game. I distinctly remember coming away from that game turning to my wife (her 2nd game in Lane... the previous the 2011 Clemson game... we're currently in negotiations about her abilities to go up again) and commenting about just how disappointed I was in the atmosphere after that one.
That being said, I was more commenting on the overall disappointing effort our defense put into both of those games. Kind of surprised a top defensive player came to campus for those 2 games and came away still seriously considering us as his place of enrollment. Speaks well for what we're doing behind the scenes. Hope it keeps up.
I can understand that. I just think it's a bad idea to try to reduce the entire recruiting process to one factor (on-field results in specific cases). Now, if a team is a trainwreck overall, then there's something to be said about that, though Mike London astounds me and whatever deal with the devil he cut may be paying off. Time will tell.
The results of the game matter in a way, but the overall gameday experience is a better criterion. The Maryland game may have not been great, but it was bad weather and last season saw its share of disappointment, so I can see that. But I do seem to recall the place was still pretty nuts at key moments. So much more matters, though, and as you said, the behind-the-scenes efforts must be impressive to keep us in contention. Academics matter, personal relationships matter, fan interaction matters, and the opportunity to play and help make the team better matter. We have an excellent baseline in all of these categories, and I think a lot of these smart kids are seeing that they can help to grow this program, which despite current inconsistencies, remains strong in terms of finances, facilities, and reputation.
"Overall Disappointing Effort" feels like a gross mis-characterization of the defense yesterday. The Defense held one of the most successful offenses as per Football Outsiders S&P+ to 20 points and ~75 yards under their average coming into the game on offense. They held them to 25% on third down, and were so successful in doing so that the opponent only attempted to go for it on 4th twice. Stopped one of those, too. It's Paul Johnson, he goes for it on fourth all the time, but we were so successful in stopping them the first three downs he couldn't.
I get it, they had one really critical bad play. It's literally the only legitimate knock on this defense. They're 110th in FO's IsoPP, a measure of opponent offensive explosiveness. When they give up a big play it's really bad. It just almost never happens.
But Overall? Overall the defense was very successful on Saturday. Only the outcome was disappointing.
Well what one thing would you change about this team?
I'd give it a Fullwood.
So you want to get rid of all our current players?
/sarcastica
One bad play?? I'm not knocking the D, but you may wanna wander over to the film review of the game
Not to mention that, aren't we leading the ACC in highest % of 20+ yard gains given up per offensive plays run? I wouldn't exactly say the big plays "almost never happen" when you're the leader in that defensive category.
Adjusted for opponent, we are the 11th most successful defense in the country.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaadef
The big discrepancy there is in IsoPPP, when big plays are given up, they are very big. But the fact that we are the 11th most successful defense in the nation means they don't happen that often.
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2014/1/27/5349762/five-factors-college-...
All three D-1 Games played this year have been played against teams ranked 33rd or better in Offensive S&P+, and if you look at the IsoPP numbers, it's the same story.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaaoff
We have been playing against successful offenses who generate big plays well. Despite all that we are still ranked 11th overall. This will regress to the mean as we start playing worse offenses who are not as capabable of rattling off big plays.
What's interesting is that Western Michigan...is not one of these teams. They're actually 12th in Success Rate and 19th in IsoPPP. They're ranked 47th overall, so I'm assuming they've played absolutely no one...but still, that could be cause for concern going into a game this weekend.
It honestly looks like this could be the last two games: The D needs to limit the big plays as much as possible from a team capable of generating them while the Offense needs to figure out how to move the ball against their abysmal defense. God, I hope it's a different ending this week...
I don't wanna get into a debate over IsoPPP, but I'm not sure anyone we have played have exactly had the most difficult defenses on their schedule either.. just look at the opponents our opponents have played - UNC, Kent St, Navy, NC Central, Wofford, GaSo, Tulane, USCe.. (now one could argue that ECUs opponent USCe has a 'SEC D' but they've given up at least 34 points to everyone they've played that isn't ECU) .. but the SOS is likely the reason for inflated offensive stats for our opponents, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that relative to those teams VT looked pretty good, but that's just not good enough
The Overall S&P+ rating adjusts for opponent. That's why we can be ranked 22nd in success rate and 109 in IsoPPP and still rate 11th overall. It's also why WMU can be 12th in Offensive Success Rate and 19th in IsoPPP but still be only 47th Overall, they truly haven't played anyone.
I believe he said he's coming down this weekend, the WMU game, not that he came this past weekend for GIT.
My question is, if every time this kid shows up we lose a game we should have won, do we really want him in town on a permanent basis?
And just to save you the trouble, yes, that's sarcasm. Well, actually it's facetious.
"It's all about looking at the defense to see how they played, see how I could fit"
Dee, Dee, Dee...
This is why you don't count your chickens until february, 17 year old kids change their minds alot...
Choppin Fullwood.
Fullwood is better than no wood.... thats what she said
Setting up your own "That's what she said"...hmm questionable.
Seems like he is making his decision soon. Sounds promising!
Edit: Sounds like he could be a Hokie very soon!
Why could he be a hokie very soon?
Multiple insiders on 247 (both Kentucky and VT) are saying that it is almost a done deal and he should be a Hokie within the next couple of days. I'm not a subscriber so I don't know why he is probably going to flip though.
It's called common sense
Sounds like he sat down for a #1 and a little #2 came out.
Yes, this is a cross pollination with that other thread. But it's OK, Honey Badger don't care.
I like the direction in which this is heading.
Looks like he retweeted something about Kyle Fuller's 3rd INT of the season from @nfl
Fullwood has officially decommitted from Kentucky.
Don't want to use one of these, but one would think this could be good news for the Hokies
Looks like my sex life. :-)
Ha ha!
So true.
You made me laugh this AM-well done.
at least you didn't make a spreadsheet for the excuses she gave you..
And the Story here
According to your calender you are still ahead of me. Mine usually tells me I'm just an old pervert. :-)
I couldn't help but notice the "jump again" option. Hysterical.
(non-verbal)
I think Moorehead is our best recruiter and a great position coach too. We should give that man a raise or something.
You know he's going to be in high demand soon. Especially if he delivers in season 2 of True Detective.
I don't care how he performs in season 2, just please find a way to include Alexandra Daddario again!
choppinwood indeed
It's been about an hour... how much longer do I have to watch until the shirt comes fully off?
So what say youse - end or tackle at VT? I say tackle.
I think having multiple elite DE's and DT's have been a distance maker between SEC teams in general and the rest of college football.
We've had some good D-lines, but to have a DEEP rotation at both DE and Tackle is the stuff dreams (and championships) are made of.
I would be happy with taking them all and then rotating by series. (I know, I know, but it's different than subbing RB's.)
Agreed.
Full wood has committed to VT!!!!!!!
Holy hot sugar footed ship buildings! This is awesome news!!!
So after this season we lose our Wang but now we get Fullwood.
I just went from 6 to midnight!!!
Wait a second..... JUGS goes from 6 to midnight?
We now have a DLine with both a Woody and a Fullwood on it.
And don't forget a Whitehead too. Maybe that one's a stretch, but we do have Moorehead on the sidelines!
Clearly we are onto something here.
Rumor has it Stiney downloaded Snapchat and it came to him to recruit more people with innuendo in their names.
Edit: We also have a Babcock calling the shots.
#AllThePenisJokes
...if only we got Hand, the joke's would've written themselves!
It could have been a Hand, some Sweat, Fullwood, and a Whitehead...
"Dadi's Sweat-y Hand smacked around the Ohio State offensive line as Braxton Miller felt the Fullwood effect from Whitehead"
One Wang in the Hand is worth a Fullwood in the Bush?
All my woods end up in the bush...
Awesome!!!!!!