http://www.insidenova.com/sports/e-j-levenberry-attending-nova-for-now/a...
I stumbled across this today. According to InsideNOVA, former Florida State linebacker (and CD Hylton linebacker) E.J. Levenberry is taking classes at Northern Virginia Community College. He won't decide where to transfer until spring practices shake out.
I don't know if the Hokies made any kind of impression on Levenberry in the recruiting process, and he struggled a bit when injuries forced him into duty against Oregon in the CFB Playoff. However, I had an opportunity to see him play on the same field as D'Shawn Hand and I felt he was far and away the best player on the field. If Foster had any questions about linebacker depth, should he pursue Levenberry?
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Sure. I say yes. But based on injury history I wouldn't put him as a starter.
Wouldn't he have to sit out an extra year if he transferred to VT (or any ACC school)?
If he is taking classes at the community college, he might have to only sit out one year. Im not sure how that works for his eligibility if he only plans on one semester at the CC and playing somewhere in the fall. He may be immediately eligible, but I feel like he would probably have to sit out a year.
This appears to be the applicable rule:
An individual who signs a valid National Letter of Intent with an ACC institution and does not satisfy the one-year attendance requirement or the Junior College Graduation provision of the National Letter of Intent may not represent another ACC institution in intercollegiate athletics competition until the individual has completed one (1) full academic years of residence at the latter ACC institution and shall be charged with the loss of one (1) season of eligibility in all sports.
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The transfer rules don't specifically address ACC school --> 1 Semester JC --> ACC School. But my read of this would be that he would still sit out a year AND lose a year of eligibility once enrolling at another ACC institution.
I strongly suspect transferring to VT (or any other ACC school) is a non-starter.
I think it would be ok... Drew Harris filed paperwork to get to FSU after the debacle with VT, but still didn't have the grades to get in. If what you're saying is right, even thinking about FSU would have been a non-starter after his ordeal with us.
Drew Harris neither played for nor was ever enrolled at Virginia Tech. Not at all comparable.
hasn't played for us YET....hey...you don't know....
to make it (where and when he could play) further complicated, it may also depend on whether/when he graduates.
the big question for him is how many more years does he want to play at the top level. if it is 2, he'll need to sit out a year
Whether/when graduates? How does that factor into anything?
I assume he means the option of transferring as a grad student I think. Different (a lot fewer) restrictions for grad students.
That's at least 2 years away. Moot point.
yup.
vt should focused on guys that want to be hokies like Raymon minor, Tremaine Edmunds, Melvin kein instead . imo.
Maybe, but if someone out there is better and interested, I'll have one of them please.
Let's not get too high on that horse. We had 2 huge contributors last season that "didn't want to be Hokies" out of high school in Brewer and McGlock. If you really want to get into the details, I. Ford initially chose Louisville, Fullwood chose Kentucky, Austin Clark chose the Cocks, and I'm sure there are others. Do they all fall in the category of "not wanting to be Hokies"? Judging a kid based off a decision he made when he was 18 is awfully harsh in my opinion. I hope no one judges me that way.
Well stated. +1
Maybe I'm just dumb, but, McGlock?
Jonathan McLaughlin was originally committed to ECU
Oh oh ooooooh. I didn't make the McGlock->McLaughlin connection
Agreed. Now that Clark has signed with the Hokies he is definitely not a 'cock.
We aren't going to force him to play for us. For Levenberry to play at VT, he would have to "choose" to play for us.
I would check to see if there was any interest. 4/5 star, well recruited, doesn't seem like he got into any trouble. Don't know if he has already redshirted yet. Maybe he came back because he was homesick. Why not check to see if there is any interest there.
Edit: Does not appear he redshirted.
It appears he left FSU because of playing time more than location, especially since UGA appears to be at the top of his list for now.
I'd be happy to land Levenberry, but I don't think there's any chance of it happening.
There were rumors from the get-go that he didn't like Charlie Kelly; no surprise he transferred when the playing time wasn't there.
As a prospect, he struggled a lot at FSU, the injuries, and there are the rumors that there was a reason he wasn't really heavily pursued by anyone in the region. We may take a flier but I sincerely doubt he ends up here, especially with our scheme.
Can you clarify?
#Sources
Pretty much. As I recall, the rumor was, and it was extremely pervasive at the time, that Levenberry and/or his dad were a total headache to deal with and he was kind of a prima donna. Never any legal or grade trouble that I remember. However, these rumors started very early on in his recruitment-think freshman/sophomore year of high school. Usually you will get some irritated commentary about kids when their recruitment heats up, but this was extremely early in the process. It reportedly caused a lot of teams in the region pause and most folks thought his recruitment was going to be a mess. Could do the same for some teams asking why he chose to transfer.
This all being said, obviously it is #sources and this was a few years ago at this point. It is very likely that he has matured as an individual since then, I was just saying why some teams might not take an extremely talented linebacker. I personally think that he left FSU because he didn't like Charles Kelly very much (another rumor, but one that FSU fans seem to think is true) and the playing time.
This rumor comes from, as far as I know, his interaction with Annandale HS and Coach Scott. From what I've heard he and his dad came in and offered to help out a struggling team. Scott took the offer as an attitude problem and that EJL and his dad were too high on their horse. There is a chance that this situation played out at other area high schools. However Scott already had a history of rejecting stars, as the tennis coach he told the current #1 college player that he couldn't play on the HS team because he wouldn't come to practice. The player was leaving school at noon to train at an internationally acclaimed tennis center and also wanted to represent his school, which is not normal for tennis players at that level. He was rejected because of his lack of dedication to the HS team.
Coach Scott was my defensive backs coach in high school, had no idea about this or the tennis star thing, but he was a great coach. Annandale's coach before Scott was a complete hard ass and is still the athletic director as far as I'm aware. We certainly ran the hardest practices in the county and prima donna behavior like that would have been a non-starter. A few college bound players ended up leaving the team/transferring while I was there because the practices were too difficult and Coach Adams actually rode the stars harder than anyone else.
First time I've had to recall my school's football program in a while, thanks for the refresher = )
Coach Adams is an advisor to.the athletic department as far as I know. The culture there definitely doesn't give any favoritism to stars but if you grow up there you're used to it. BTW Coach Adams chilled out since he retired from coaching, he's super nice to everybody
We would be dumb not to reach out to him. vT recruited this guy hard until it was clear he wanted to go out of state. He's got good size and will want to prove himself to new team wherever he ends up. I hope he looks back home.
Why didn't he played at FSU? It seems like injuries, his disdain for the LB's coach and playing time were all issues. If his injuries are systemtic of greater physical issues, he will continue to get hurt at VT. Will E.J. hold up well with one of the most intense LBs coaches in the country (Foster) coaching him? And with a few guys that the coaching staff is really high on (Lyndon, Keihn, Minor, Edmunds), will EJ even have a shot of being a starter in the 2016 season (assuming he has to sit out this year).
Also, is he even a good fit for Bud Foster's system? I know he was a top-rated recruit coming out of HS so he probably have the measurables to be an excellent collegiate level LB but not everyone is going to be great at it. Nick Dew was a highly touted LB once upon a time that didn't even start.
Wait, so are we sure that the 2 year rule for ACC players transferring in conference does not apply to him?
Of course not. But where does logic fit into a discussion based on speculation and wishful thinking?
I'm not a fan of transfers in general. Especially if playing time is the sole reason. That person will choose/expect/feel entitled to playing time at the new school of choice, and it does a disservice to the existing players who are competing. If you don't have a viable starting option at a given position then maybe but LB seems like a position where that doesn't apply.
Imo we don't need to bring in a bad vibe which is what I get from this story. That's just me. I like our current team chemistry and direction with our youth. If the coaches want him they will get after him but I believe that chip has sailed and he will probably end up at Delaware or Towson maybe Richmond if he didn't burn any of those bridges.
This could be a great example of where attitude will get you good or bad.