Biggest news of the day: LB prospect Tyler Banks will be committing on December 15th. Between us and Ole Miss. Yesterday's Brent Pry news was very positive. Rashaud has been in his ear, much like with Razor Ramon.
Rashaud Pernell is 1000% committed and signing on ESD.
Benji Gosnell will likely be deciding this month. Keep an eye out for an announcement. No offensive coaches have been announced, so he may be waiting on the hires.
Givens, Law, Madison have all affirmed their commitments.
Chance of Razor Ramon signing this month: more than 50% if the offensive coaches are announced.
Here's all the typical mod stuff:
Discuss and share any recruiting topics for December 2021 that don't warrant their own threads. Commits and Decommits warrant their own threads.
This recruiting thread is used to share information regarding VT-specific targets, PWO offers, scholarship offers, visits, camps, and general news, in addition to larger trends. In the interests of limiting load times, check the thread to see if a tweet was already embedded prior to adding it yourself.
[0]. Please do some digging to share original content (e.g. embed the original tweet, not a link to another post/website with said tweet), add context / relevant information and respect the Community Guidelines.
[1] New commitments, decommitments, portal entries, etc... deserve their own thread. Please read the brief best-practice tips at the top of the recruiting forum
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Comments
As of right now he's gotten a lot of CBs to UNCheat.
Makes the Pry hire so important to recruit the state of VA. UNC has cleaned up the VA Top 10.
No offensive coaches announced or rumored so far, so that might hurt our chances of retaining some of our current class.
So many stars, so few wins.
So true....but let's give this staff a chance to show us if they can close
I think he's referring to how many stars UNC has compared to wins (as in they aren't capitalizing on their talent). Not sure how giving our staff a chance to close relates to that?
If someone is pointing a loaded gun at you, you should be concerned, even if they've never pulled the trigger before.
That's how I feel about UNC. We have every reason to be concerned.
I think that ship is about to cast off and sail, and it would be very unfair to be critical of the new staff if Benji goes elsewhere. That's a tough spot and this is simply a product of a coaching change and the early signing period.
Not going to blame the staff or Benji if they don't see the fit right now. However it also looks like his UNC visit is off for now due to COVID things according to the 247 board.
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/board/59428/Contents/2022-vt...
Odd because apparently Mack is visiting him today.
It's always just one big game of telephone haha
We know how this one turns out.
Deleted due to lack of reading comprehension.
Hopefully with the new coaching staff, we can start to Pry all these VA recruits away from UNC and back to VT.
If we want to get back to the top, we gotta pay the Price for a staff that loves VT and can start recruiting the state of VA at a high level again.
Take your leg....
It seems like you are prying too hard.
Familiar name and target...
interesting...didn't he start for them?
He want's to start for Pry's LBU!
He was starting at the begining of the year, but he ran himself out of position a bunch. Not a very gap sound linebacker and that will be a big deal in Pry's defense. I could see him fitting in as an OLB in UVA's scheme if they keep it, but at VT he would be an end, edge guy in Pry's scheme.
How similar is Pry's defensive scheme to Foster's (or JHam's for that matter) scheme? The comment about the linebacker not being "gap sound" rang a bell.
I guess I'm just wondering if the schemes are close enough that JHam might be retained and mentored some more.
So Pry has said he is changing the base defense. To a base 4-3. But would have "multiple looks"
That sounds like Foster's defense unless you want to say Foster's base defense was actually nickel?
"No Jeron, it's Whip!"
Not sure what it would be called. His spill design was like nothing else. Plus his Bear design towards the last few years.
Talking about the players UNC is looking to flip, one prominent name is Gunner Givens. I watched him play last week. He absolutely looks the part. But, there were a lot of red flags from what I watched, particularly effort and pursuit (if rumors that UNC is recruiting him to play defense are true.) I liked other offensive linemen on the LB team (No. 75 DJ Tolliver, who UVA offered yesterday) better. If you tell me Givens gets pilfered by UNC, but Coach Pry flips some quality defensive linemen (Dani Dennis-Sutton?), I would take that.
Ramon Brown, quarterback, and the secondary commitments are the kids who need to be locked down.
Knock on wood, but the good news is I doubt UNC would go after Ramon Brown, since they already have two running backs in the class.
Gotta make sure no one convinces Brown to flip.
IIRC Brown visited Maryland after Fuente firing.
Man if we got Dani Dennis-Sutton every VT board would be dancing in the streets lol.
MD2VT, LET'S GO!
Dennis-Sutton has reconfirmed his PSU committment. But what happens if Poindexter leaves for loluva? PSU could be losing a lot of their defensive coaches soon.
Poindexter's name wasn't mention by D-S as a reason for committin to PSU, but....
Probably got lost in another thread, but Mack visited Gunner yesterday. Got him to schedule an OV too.
You're a mean one, Mr. Mack,
You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Mack,
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!
I believe that Gunner is visiting UNC on an official this weekend and taking another OV to VT the weekend after. So it's not over, especially since we would get the last one before ESD.
If that's the case, I'd feel a lot better about locking guys down for 2022. I'd imagine we'd do another big OV weekend since we're allowed to.
With a new head coach, the "I'm telling you, next year's class will be special!" posts should be returning soon.
It's OUR YEAR
With two weeks to work with, let's just say they need to hit the ground running, and the deck is stacked against them.
But they aren't without skills.
Free Beer! Tomorrow!!!
Is it worth setting up (I'm happy to do it) a Transfer portal thread? As in, guys we may target that are currently in the portal?
https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Football/TransferPortal/
Ramon Brown will be visiting next weekend. If we knock the OC hire out of the park, he might just sign on ESD
After a flurry of CBs to UNC for Benji the last few days, we just got a CB to the good guys from Evan Watkins today 👀
Some of the free chatter is saying that mama wants him home at VT. Would be a nice pick up if he does stay Home
Benji just added a nice little update to his Twitter profile.
That's odd...profile bio says he's committed to VT but we've heard zero news about it. Shoot, we'll take it regardless!!
Hoping the hiring of CBP gives us a chance to get back the upper hand in recruiting Tyler Banks- LB
Yes. It has.
Evan Watkins just put a (good) gif on twitter a few minutes ago . Hmmmmm
Gotta be Gosnell based on what his Twitter now says 🎉
changed it back but i did briefly see it. guessing some kind of "news drop" later this weekend
Brian Dohn put his crystal ball back to us today as well
Tough game for Highland Springs
What I remember most about our games against Highland Springs, was Macho Harris imposing his will on my Rebels. Was so glad he said yea to VT. Along with my buddy, Richard Graham
THUNDER DICK!!!
He did the same thing to my Tigers.
These guys are moving quick:
Saw a picture or two that they're already headed to the 757, I'm assuming to do some crootin. Nice to see they're hitting the trails hard and fast.
Several 757 coaches on the retweets and likes on this one.
He looks like a kid going to their first day of school with the way he's holding the backpack
Totally agree, and think the only reason he's doing it is to show it says VT. But yeah, someone tell him to hold it different lol
7:10 AM and then 8:08 AM. Get that aircraft moving already!... /s
takeoff and landing?
Heading out to say hi to some moms.
Easy there Mr. Scott.
Derek Jones is a great Twitter follow, and he posted his wife and daughter. I really, really, wanted to Quote Tweet, "Well, at least we know he won't be after the recruits' moms like GS", but he reads his quote tweets, and I am far more comfortable posting that here.
He's a different kind of cheetah
GS wasn't even after recruits' moms and that's the thing our fanbase latched onto as a joke that annoys me the most
That's a big dude right there.
247 lists him as 6'4" and given the few inches in height he has over JC that is probably short.
I will never understand keeping airpods in constantly.
But he's making Price look small as a high schooler so do whatever you want kid.
It's the neck. Makes JC look like the baby from Dinosaurs.
if you aren't wearing your Airpods, nobody will know you have Airpods
and yes, he seems much bigger than I recall from his recruiting profile. Glad to see some bigger players on our D line.
Lookit the guns on Jones!
Two decommits and our class rank does NOT change based on current composite scores.
I think Martin was underrated, though. Hate to lose an instate kid with solid upside.
I'll add, there'll be a few more decommits. We may be going after some serious talent that is uncommitted, and trying to flip some high rated commits from a rival school.
Don't know if this is the place to ask this but I met a high school senior Saturday who was working in community service at a town community center selling Christmas trees. The kid was tall, I thought he said 6'7 1/2 inches but he was just 6' 6". I assumed he was a basketball player but instead he played football as a WR/TE for Stratford High here in Stratford, CT. Anyway, he has a Hudl video and I am curious as to how I can pass that along to the right VT football person to see if they might be interested after viewing it. He was polite and helpful, seemed like the kind of person that would fit in at VT.
The link is
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/13062812/6134e083578dff0aac5d52f1
That's quite a pancake at the 6:00 mark
Not a bad place to find a diamond in the rough. The SWC is not exactly a talent hot bed. I get to say that since I was on a state champion football team from a team in the conference. 3 guys from that team played in college for small school. On the other hand a bunch went on to rugby teams all over the place.
Looks like he could use good coaching to clean up his routes and footwork, and S&C to improve his tackle-breaking and durability. Those high passes over the middle would get him killed against better competition. I know he can't control what the QB sends to him; he has to catch the garbage as well as the pretty passes.
100% agree on the route running, really stood out. He high points the ball well, but he kind of has too.
Looks like the new staff is looking forward already
https://247sports.com/Player/Kaleb-Spencer-46118443/
Hookies
One of my students' dad is the coach at Life Christian.
I think it will be a very good idea to get an in with that school.
This group of 4 has definitely hit the trail hard and fast. I'll feel better then we have an offensive staff in place too, but they're definitely making their rounds in the state.
Damn, just down the street, would have loved to have gotten a pic with the new staff!
Are you saying they hit the road Hard, Fast, and Together?
They're hitting the road Hard, they're going to be Smart about where they go, and it's going to be Tough to say no to that group of 4.
Three thoughts:
Pry may be the best dressed coach we've had.
He needs some maroon in his wardrobe immediately.
Malachi is yuuuuuge.
In home with Ramon Brown but also, @CoachPryVT is the new handle. He changed it from the LBU one.
Look at JCs face 👀 he trying to hide a grin 😁
Where's the damn commonewealth cup??? They should be chugging out of the va tech cup.
Really hope we can hold onto Ramon. I think Malachi, Kenji, and Ramon could be a killer trio if we manage to hold onto them.
Never really paid much attention before but JC is one large man.
Cannot unsee Uncle Fester
I love Uncle Fester
The retweets and such from Pry...I've seen more from him on Twitter than I had in 6 yes of Fu. But this one....
I used to never check Twitter due to sheer lack of content worth reading into with the last staff but the amount of stuff since pry was hired is a breath of fresh air. If he can match the open attitude with on field success it's a home run folks
Coach Jones was a great pick up . Dude has it and is going to kill it on the recruiting trail .
I get the impression he will be very interested in who our next S&C coach is, they'll probably be spending a lot of time together
Would love to talk DeColdest to coming to Blacksburg. Also wouldn't mind that QB.
Johnson brothers prob going together to next school
Are you telling me that they didn't appreciate Brian Kelly's fake southern accent... or maybe because he killed a kid? Not sure which is worse...kidding...totally the accent/s
Their QB was solid actually least the few games I watched not a freak athlete but decent.
If your name is "Max Johnson ", do you respond "you got that right" when the teacher does roll call?
Man's got a top tier name to go side-by-side with Lance Hardwood. Bless that man's parents.
Right, but in that same tweet is Decoldest Toevadoit Crawford. Seriously. (the coldest to ever do it in case you're wondering)
All of them.
So at this point, it seems like Pry is making it a priority to keep most of this class together and establish his new relationship role in the VA high schools. I think he will try and address any depth issues after spring ball in the transfer portal while he is working on his 2023 class starting about the first of the year. My guess at least.
Right now, it appears he's shoring up the 22 class. Here's what to expect for 23:
You will see a lot more 4/5* talent being heavily recruited. The high 3* as well. You won't be hearing a lot of
and you certainly won't be hearing,
Pry sees us as the big dogs.
The other point to make here: we will challenge UNC's standing in VA.
How's he going to challenge UNC with that Dre Bly fence up in the 757?? /s
Man, I love seeing the coaches with all the recruits! And it's not like just 2 coaches with each recruit, it's mainly been all 4 of them.
Windshield time is a great opportunity to build chemistry within the staff.
And we have 4 coaches meeting HS coaches each visit and building relationships. They can see what personality clicks the best and all that.
Are they meeting with coaches too, or trying to get as many in-homes with the current class to solidify them (unless the coach comes to the home). Because it looks like a fair number are in the players' houses. I imagine for the ones where it looks like they're in a school that they're definitely meeting with the coach as well.
Seeing all the coaches doing in home visits to the recruits remind me of my days of coaching college football on NCAA '14 and using all of my recruiting points by "sending the house"
These cats putting in the work:
This about to be a dogfight.
Imma make it clear. Shane ain't coaching for us. He now coaches against us:
i believe one of the guys that recently decommitted from us (Martin?), has verbally committed to USCe
also, USCe is a tough job. i am sure shane feels strange trying to flip VT recruits, but you can't blame him.
You play to win the game.
I had to officially change my Shane profile pic out.
No more love for Beamerball 2.0
Nah it's on to the pry sweep now.
Shane really needs to back off.
Pry does have PA connections and DJ Cheetah, could very well respond back by flipping Keenan Nelson!
Ramon Brown: "So Coach Beamer, how awesome is Blacksburg?"
Also, the coach on the left looks like a nerd.
Shane posted a Marino Rivera gif. He walks out to Enter Sandman. I hope this is just a closer reference and not a VT jab that he closed on Brown....
I would think the closer thing, that'd be a pretty pointed shot at VT which seems unlikely
I hope so his momentum right now is a bit terrifying
I have no doubt that they may flip brown and that it may have already happened, I'm just skeptical that this is meant as a direct indication of that
Lot of kids coming in town this weekend to take advantage of that additional OV they got for us having a coaching change!
I guess I don't follow close enough on this stuff. Can anyone tell us who all is in the photo?
Pernell (11), Moyston(6), Madison(left) and Law(right) if I'm not mistaken. The 4 VA DL currently committed.
I believe it is Pernell, Madison, and the transfer DT from Richmond but I do not know who the other guy is it could be Law, Moyston, or the guy from UVA the Hokies are trying to flip.
Seems like good news, doesn't it?
That a hint?
Yeah, I like that.
I mentioned we'd be going after some flips. This one is 280 lbs BIG:
Brody Meadows Visiting
247 Profile
Yes please. If we can get some big time talent on the O Line and just play bully ball I will take back all critical comments about the offensive staff
His recent likes on Twitter are veeeeery interesting 👀
Care to elaborate, for those who don't tweet the twitters?:
His likes have been very pro-VT. Most about this offer but there are others that you wouldn't expect to see from a UVA commit
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Daylen-Everette-131128/RecruitInterests/
Decommited from Clemson. Both Penn State and VT were interested.
and basically everyone else since hes a top 5 CB. Humorously enough, we are listed twice on his offer list on 247 lol
CB so good, you gotta offer him 2 schollies
And a nice NIL deal with Hardee's
I'll take one of those. Hardee's, if you're listening, just give me lots of breakfast. You can smear my photo wherever you want in exchange.
Sooo I'm going to hope I'm wrong but Great Value Magic 8 ball says we are losing some *'s soon. They both have 4 syllables or less 🥲
.....there's like a total of 3 people committed with more than 4 syllables so you're going to have to be more specific...
Was it that hard to figure out Gunner Givens or Ramon Brown? The cream of this classes crop?
When the new staff's presumed emphasis on dominating the line and running the ball, interesting that we feel at risk of losing an OL and a RB.
But then, I have no expectation that I can follow the internal logic of recruiting high schoolers.
We've had emphasis on DB's for awhile now nd barely close on the ones we want the most. I don't mean 7 star players but ones who we could definitely benefit from. Same w/ RB's. How the hell do we have damn near enough scholarship RB's to hand out to the entire conference but can't developed one ir get a decent ready to play back on the field. Outside of Malachi or Blackshear or Herbert.
Indictment of the previous staff. New group in town so we will see how they work out in this offense and coaching staff. New chapter in the book fellas!
Amen to that. The funny thing about the Fu Crew was that initially his emphasis was supposed to be be on going deep on scholarship receivers the way they did the RB's. It's funny how that flipped whether from attrition or just recruiting.
I just really hope that Orji and Brown stay.
Orji has an OV at Michigan this weekend, correct? This scares me...
I really hope we keep Ferrell. I think that kid is going to be a stud....
I'm with you on this big time. 7A ball in GA is the real deal and he is a playmaker.
Must be making room for the *'s that my magic 8 ball says Pry and Co will be adding
I sure hope that you are both wrong and right in the sense of he adds more while also keeping our current star power
Anyone want to drop a rumor for another job Gattis is gonna get to get Orji to stay with VT??? 😂
They want him to play LB😂
With the Marve connection, I wouldn't be shocked if his brothers transfer to VT if Orji stays commited.
ALL the brothers.
247 putting in a CB flip for Keyshawn Burgos out of Matoaca. Currently committed to lolUVA.
247 Profile
Brody Meadows is committing during the Army All-American game in Frisco. All signs point to another possible in-state flip from lolUVA.
Both are considered top 25 in VA.
UPDATE:
Unfortunately it also looks like Malcolm Jones is flipping to Mich St based on the CBs right now.
Officially decommitted from us
bummer, i think he's a big time player
It sucks but he won't be the only decommit, either. Part and parcel of a coaching change.
We knew we would lose some from this class. I really wanted Malcolm Jones, but you win some you lose some.
EDIT: Reminder that commitments and decommits are worthy of their own thread if you would like to post this as its own thread to discuss.
Good call. Decommit thread posted.
That's a nice run-on sentence
VT English professors: "We dodged a bullet, there."
Brody also got CBs to flip
sounds like we also have a good shot at Meadows' teammate at Graham HS, currently uncommitted
Xavyion Bradshaw 3-star ATH (WR/DB)
very dynamic with the ball in his hands, doesn't face a ton of great defenses but shows excellent quickness and speed. Son of 2-time NFL Champ Ahmad Bradshaw
https://247sports.com/Player/Xayvion-Bradshaw-46101551/
G-MEN STAND UPPPPPPP.
We've had some talent come through Graham over the years. Would love to see some of our kids end up at VT. Zay's highlight reel is something else. And I was talking to my dad the other day about Meadows. His exact quote was "he's so mean when he plays football". Would love to have those guys on board.
A lot of serviceable quarterbacks hitting the portal today. I commend BB3 for his effort, while also letting Fuente and crew destroy his body, but I wouldn't mind grabbing one of these guys.
Seriously. I'd take any run at Slovis, Calzada, or Max Johnson. Cameron Ward would be very interesting as well...
Cameron Ward, Dillon Gabriel, Rattler, Max Johnson, Kedon Slovis, and Myles Brennan would all be very welcome in Blacksburg. All should be huge upgrades. Bo Nix... I would definitely take Bo Nix as well, but we better get ready to strap ourselves in tight for the rollercoaster.
Forgot about Brennan. I prefer Johnson for the LSU guys, but would def take Brennan. Gabriel would be fine, but I think he's going back to the west coast.
I'm not sure any of them are likely, but we should be pitching hard to any of them we feel like we have a shot with at all. I'd say anyone on this list is all but guaranteed to start next year for us.
Spencer Rattler to South Carolina. Baby Beams is putting in work.
Shane having fun with it
I'm over here waiting to see Mack Brown injure himself attempting to replicate this. Wearing whatever shoe he thinks is hip.
(Because he still uses the word "hip.")
Not necessarily an upgrade at QB
Not sure SC had a QB in every game this year. Weren't they down to their third string getting hurt and having to put the second back in when we could not throw, or am I confusing that with someone else?
Orji plz don't go to Michigan 🥺
What is the skinny on this? He is the nucleus of the rebuild of offense. He could be a dawg! We need that!
However, I also think Tajh B's got all the tools and leadership skills to be a difference maker for us. He's not as refined though and so good QB coaching is going to be essential.
We need some wide receivers
Xayvion from Graham is a slot receiver so there's one
Need a QB to get the balls to the receivers first
Let me tell you about this thing called the Jet Sweep...
For a mere $479k, you can have between 10 and 20 Jet Sweeps per game! No quarterback? No problem! We can hand the ball off directly to your receiver!
Is this a chicken before the egg scenario? Maybe a QB doesn't want to come to Tech without decent receivers, but no receivers want to come without a good QB?
Wait, when did Ramon brown reopen his commitment? Didn't realize we we're about to be flipped on.
I think he was basically at least somewhat open after the coaching change, but no idea if there's any new news beyond that one tweet from RTD. He posted the WVU, SCAR, and UMD coaches that visited him as well. His last Tweet was for VT, but who knows what he intends on doing.
Betting man would say USCe at this point, but I would love to be wrong.
Well you were wrong....He's going to Maryland
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXe2X8dA6v3/?utm_medium=copy_link
Really huge gut punch, but can't say I blame him. He stuck with VT all through the uncertainty of Fu and even after. This signals 1) not sold on Bowen/unknown staff at this point, 2)no time to develop relationship with his offensive coach since he's still in Jacksonville, or some combination of the two. Really bad move by Pry IMO.
I honestly can't believe I'm reading this as your take.
You cant argue that having 4 question marks and an empty chair coaching offense is helping us with offensive recruits looking to make a decision on their future. Unless I missed something, the only named offensive coach wont even be here until January.
So should Pry have kept Corny and Lechtenberg on staff since that's who he cited in his commitment originally?
Nah but I guarantee it was the first pitch against VT ail those coaching staff visits brought up. "They don't even have an offensive coaching staff in place and 10 rbs on scholarship ; it's a huge question mark right now over there"
Was Ramon brown going to enroll early in January? Sure ESD is awkward in timing to not have it done but this season is still on going. I'm not sure Brown elevates us much more going into next year which will likely be ugly regardless of how many kids we bring in this cycle. CJF left the cupboards bare as can be and unfortunately it's going to take some time to get back on our feet.
It's highly questionable to not be able to have your offensive staff official and in place until January. We only know that Bowen is going to be OC unofficially and we have hired the guy from Louisville in some capacity. No way you can ask recruits to blindly sign on the dotted line not knowing who their coaches are or having any time to develop relationships with them.
I can understand waiting until Jan if you have a coach who is in the playoffs or something like that lined up. But we are talking the TE coach of the 2-11 Jacksonville Jaguars. We know he's a solid recruiter but not much more other than he was a co-OC at PSU for a year. It just seems very odd and I'm not surprised we lose a gem of our class due to uncertainty.
I'm not saying at all it's the end of the world, but we are putting a TON of stock in Bowen at great expense by having to wait until Jan to build an offensive staff. Just not sure if I see it. This is going to really limit our ability to recruit and work the portal on offense.
Name another coaching change where they already have their full staff in place.
It's highly questionable to not be able to have your offensive staff official and in place until January
so are you suggesting we never hire coaches from the NFL? because we will always have to wait for them until january.
i get it is frustrating to not have an OC officially announced, and (as far as i know) no solid rumors about a RB coach, or WR coach...but it's more important for Pry to get his preferred people in those spots, instead of rushing to hire his 2nd, 3rd, or 4th choices, just so he can say he has a staff in place by ESD.
we can judge Pry and staff for their recruiting a year from today...so far, it looks like they have done a pretty good job keeping this class together, because you know lots of schools have been trying to poach our verbal commits. and all of us knew we would lose a few when Fuente was fired.
Agree. I want the best Staff available, not the most expedient one.
It's not ideal and probably contributed to us losing Brown (maybe Orji) but just hiring guys on a whim to try and make ESD is a much worse decision long term.
Let's be real, this is a big reason why ESD was created...to make it even easier for the "Big Dogs" to poach the best players from teams in transition. It keeps them on top an perpetuates the cycle of the same few teams being in contention for the CFP year after year.
Again, not saying it's the end of the world and it's one recruit. I love what Pry is bringing and think he's doing a great job thus far. I'm a little skeptical of what's going on with O - we know a little about Bowen but not a ton. It seems like we are really putting a lot of stock in him by waiting this long to assemble the staff, which is fine assuming it all works out. On the surface, it just seems like a bit of a stretch. He's not an OC currently - the TE coach on the 2-11 Jags. But if he is the right guy and best fit, it will all work out in the end. I just hope we don't get behind in recruiting and the portal for 2022 because of having to wait. We desperately need a few QB transfers.
Ah, Maryland. Where football careers go to die. They had that one guy who got drafted that one year tho right?
Trey Edmunds?
Nope. Trey was a UDFA.
Well he's not gonna be wearing Maroon and Orange is he? That's all that matters to me
Yeah, I'm not exactly happy with where this went, but our on-field performance has been brutal, and our offensive coaches have not officially been announced. Darth Shane and others have pounced on it like white on rice. Lechty is the bridge, but I can't say if he's staying on staff or not. Shall find out at 10:30 tomorrow.
And I will be very clear, I'm happy for Shane, and he's our son, just like Frank's, we love him, and hope for the best.
But he's coaching and recruiting against VT. I'm sure he'll still get invited for Sunday dinner, but fuck that guy.
Sometimes committed guys do the "choosing on signing day again," thing. It's weird, but not the first time I've seen something like this.
Gunner Givens may or may not be doing the same thing tomorrow.
I'd rather VT get a motivated 18 year old Jamie Harless. He was a bad bad bad man.
Looks like you'll get Givens and you'll like it
Hell yeah! Welcome home Gunner.
I mean him choosing SC wouldn't surprise me but he did take his last OV at VT and I don't think he's taken other visits in a long while so it would be an interesting flip.
I'll pretend like he's def going to USCe just so I'm not disappointed tomorrow. Big time strat
He didn't. He even came to Blacksburg last weekend.
He even said he's not (game) cocky. No way he goes to USCe.
Nope he ain't Cocky, just a Turdle!
How the hell do we not have an offensive staff yet. It may cost us our two best recruits
Yep. The idea of not having your offensive staff in place until January I think is going to be a pretty bad one. I like Bowen but not wait for you to finish your job with the Jags level like him.
Seems to me that if you have an OC selected, part of his current job is to keep the offensive superstar recruits in the boat.
Otherwise, his job is harder next year.
Agreed, they better be the second coming of Bill Belliceck if they don't lock down Givens, Brown, and Orji.
Lol.
Some of these takes are crazy....judging a coaching staff that hasn't even been employed 2 weeks on keeping a class they didn't even put together makes no sense. It sucks losing Brown and who knows who else, but we knew this was going to happen. These players spent YEARS in some cases developing relationships with Fuente's guys. They're gone so these kids are looking at places they still have relationships. It sucks but it's not a reflection of the new staff...look no further than Oklahoma who's had a ton of decommits since Riley left for USC.
Is Orji announcing tomorrow? Or will he wait. Hate that Michigan got the last visit.
It's from a Michigan insider, but he just got a crystal ball to Michigan. Not sure if it's wishful thinking or if his visit went REALLY well, or something else happens on the visit. Ugh.
It seems like there's enough smoke (I'm not behind any paywalls though) to assume that Orji is gone. Could be wrong, but it just seems like things are headed that direction now.
Just looked at his recruiting profile - the only recruiter listed for him is Corny. I wonder if he'd do something or say something that would have rubbed Orji the wrong way about us?
I doubt it. Honestly most of the flips/decommits I'd just chalk up to the regime change. Not knowing who your coach is going to be or not having the proof of concept you might want to make sure it'll be a good fit when you have dreams of going pro are enough to make someone change their mind.
Hell maybe he just really like Gattis or Harbaugh or wants to be at a school with a 100k person stadium. UM being in the playoff isn't going to hurt their case either. Unless he explicitly says a reason, we won't really know.
me, in lab coat, taking stethoscope out of my ears:
(Dr. Hibbert voice) My diagnosis? Big-dogged.
In all seriousness, this makes all kinds of sense if you're Orji UNLESS he's really committed to playing QB. Hot program, CFP-bound, Broyles winner at OC, elite academics, better conference, blah blah. He would be a QB for us, and he would be a much more significant player for us - I'm more upset at losing Orji than I was when we lost DD. But the sad reality is that VT and Michigan are on different planets right now.
I'm used to getting big-dogged at this point. The problem is: this one felt so avoidable. I think if we'd had more offensive staff in place, he stays with us. So my message to Pry, to Whit etc: Bowen had better be worth the wait. This whole offensive staff that we are still waiting to hire? I hope we see the value of waiting.
I understand programs lose recruits during a regime change. I'm just having trouble understanding what the holdup is offensively, and what VT could have done to hang on to Brown and Orji. I'm glad we held on with Givens, Cam, Benji, etc and flipped a couple of UVa commits (because fuck UVa); I'm hopeful we will see at least one more significant flip between now and February. I just find our timing re filling out the offensive staff to be... suboptimal.
Brace for impact
I would be shocked, if Orji leaves it wouldn't surprise me if anyone leaves, him and Givens seemed the most solid of anyone
Brian Dohn just switched his crystal ball to Michigan as well.
It appears he removed his pinned tweet which was his commitment to us which was also still there earlier tonight. He gone
Sucks but being from Texas and a Fuente pickup I always expected him to be gone. I like Ferrell better as a pure QB anyway, hopefully we can keep him in the boat.
Our class is still pretty solid, really hope we can keep Chaplin, Johnson and Wright on board as well, I think they're all going to be great players here.
I also think if he's not coming here that means good news for us, because it means we're probably landing a transfer QB with a lot of eligibility. Ward does have 3/4 years of eligibility remaining (even though he's likely SEC bound), and there are a handful of other good QBs in the portal with multiple years of eligibility left.
Edit: praying hands emoji has never been needed more we NEED a QB in the worst way possible.
Glass half full eternal optimism...Welcome!
So uhh, what Cruits are we signing this month again? 😳
Not as worried about Ramon Brown even though the optics aren't great that's one position we can afford a miss THIS year. We need Orji and we need WR and DL depth those should be the priorities, plus I wouldn't even rule out a transfer at running back maybe coming in, but don't forget we already have Malachi Thomas, Blackshear, Holston (If he stays) and a slew of other young players.
This is comically embarrassing losing people at positions of need. And then we will replace them with 2 people had they not been committed to UVA no one would even be happy we got. Signing day is starting to feel a lot more depressing. Having fingers crossed hoping we can make something from nothing, but the way VT has been lately I have my doubts.
No matter what comes tomorrow, we are Hokies! We bleed Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange! We laugh at zima drinking hoos and scoff at battery throwing mountaineers! In Pry we now lay our trust. Go Hokies!
This post sponsored by Bud Light!
If I was an 18 yr old recruit a couple of issues for me would be ability of family/friends to see me play and national exposure. ACCN has not helped VT.
Orji gonna slap us with the "respect my decision", isn't he?
and I will 100% respect his decision
Yep, looks like Orji has flipped to Michigan
I'll just say this, I'm really glad we didn't keep our old coaches around because of a recruiting class
would've loved to have him, but you can't really blame him. he's never met our OC, and i don't think he knows who the QB coach will be. and michigan is playing great right now.
very happy to have Farrell in the boat...QB's that make something out of nothing have been our bread and butter over the years. i look forward to hopefully seeing that again soon, instead of the expected outcome nonsense we have experienced the last few years.
Geniunely speaking, I'm more concerned about getting the OL and DL taken care of right now than the QB. We are clearly setting up to dominate the line, and we will need those positions locked up in order to run the kind of offense and defense we would like. We dominate the line, a lot of other things will take care of itself.
Build the foundation before you start building anything flashy
Reported by on3 now.
Orji has been at 51-52% completion rate qb as a starter. He's just not accurate. Farrell is a 64% qb in Ga 7A Big Boy FB.
There is a massive trash heap of elite athletes at QB who can't hit their target. I think we got the better QB.
Looks liek we flipped Brody
247 is reporting that Burgos and Meadows have officially flipped and should be signing today. If anything at least we're still pissing in UVA's Cheerios lol.
I don't know where to put this.
PrimeTime and that AFLAC necklace must have dazzled him.
Just came here to post this. What in the NIL is going on here.
Having Deon Sanders as your head coach...
Neon Deion stealing the number 1 recruit from FSU would be some Prime Time viewing.
I mean sure and he's brought plenty of attention to the school but they still haven't had anyone drafted in 13 years. Now he's going to hone his skills as the number 1 recruit on the path to the NFL against FCS talent? That seems like not a great route to the NFL.
Edit:
I'm seeing that he has a $1M NIL deal with Barstool to play at Jackson St. So I take back everything I've said, great business decision. Take that money and then transfer next year.
I of all people am not disagreeing with you
Here's a pretty interesting article of what's going on over at Jackson State.
I made this fairly snarky comment a couple of weeks back explaining my opinion on the Deion Sanders situation going on as of late. Of note from the article, this quote was pretty memorable:
It looks like there's some real trailblazing going on on the NLI front, fronted by a bit of a Phoenix Rising effort to promote one of the most critically underfunded HBCU's.
Edit: Fixed article link
Watch him get his NIL money at Jackson State for a year then follow Deon wherever he goes next. Could be FSU...
This honestly makes the most sense. Still just a wild idea he could go compete anywhere in the country and decides to play down?
FSU fans are already having a meltdown. This will only add to it. It's beautiful.
Get the popcorn.
Just remember that when it comes to recruits flipping, things can always be worse. You can lose the #1 recruit in the country to a team that plays a division down from you.
Deion doin' a Shane Beamer x10...
Jackson State just picked up a CB. I can only imagine what's going through the minds of the four people in the F$U fanbase right now.
Hell yes. Make this happen.
Feels like a tough get with Kiffin allegedly pushing hard, but if it happens he'll be the best QB we've had since Jerod. Hopefully if he does come he sticks around for more than a year. Would be an insane improvement on our recent options, and would give time for guys like Bullock and Farrell to develop.
Kiffin also wants Arch Manning. I don't see both going to Ole Miss and hopefully the staff can sell being our ONLY priority not just an option
I mean Arch is also a 2023 prospect, although with the amount of attention he gets I would've thought he was a 2022. If Ward comes in and balls out, he might be gone after a year anyway which would just be a transition from one to the other.
Yeah that was a brain fart definitely thought he was 2022.
It really is an understandable mistake. I feel like I've known a couple times he is a 2023 prospect, but good lord it seems like he's gonna start this fall with how much he's talked about
This would be far bigger than losing Orji if we pull this off
Not a bad recruiting class considering all the changes. Hope we can find some wide receivers and a QB that can help either in the portal or later signing date.
There's at least 1 PWO QB coming, just not sure from where.
WR walk-ons have done well at VT, Kaleb Smith the latest who took a PWO and turned it into a scholly
This is more than Washington and SC
Loving the Outrun backdrop on that graphic.
I am guessing he wants to meet our coaches before he decides.
How's that work with the 'extra' visit granted to us because of the coaching change. Anyone know if we've burned that visit already or are we holding that official visit until we get the coaches officially identified.
Looks like he is from the Bluefield VA area? They can drive in to have an unofficial lunch whenever and be home by dinner, so should not be a problem for them to get together whenever they are announced and get to the 'burg. But no clue how that works - good question.
Been a while since I've been around. Last few Fuente years really burned me out. But I gotta say, Im pretty amazed we were able to pull together a top 30 class. With a new HC, new defense, and no official offense. I actually have hope for this direction. Gonna probably be a long haul but I think we can start bagging top 15s classes in a couple years.
welcome back fam. top-15 is a big ask, but might as well shoot for the moon in hopes of landing a player who can elevate the program
I like the direction of trying to keep the state. The talent is definitely here. 5 star and a bag of 4 stars. That's a top 15. We'll see but keeping most of the class means these guys are elite recruiters. I mean UF ended at 50 ranking. I know they had a small class, but still, its UF. Definitely remains to be seen but I think we got a legit recruiting team. Now, we'll see what they can get out of the recruits.
OK... Let's break this down.
UF had a total score on 247 of 175.85, significantly lower than VT's total score of 202.18.
However if you look at the 247 average, which is what everyone should be looking at, VT's 86.24 is way below UF's 89.84, meaning that UF, though bringing in fewer players in this class, is bringing in much higher ranked players.
Don't be fooled by those rankings. VT is still far below where they need to be in order to compete. This is not a knock on the new staff in any way, I think they killed it to get what they got, and I'm happy about the class. However, we need to do much, much better over the coming years.
I think the real key to how successful this class is will rely heavily on how many hits we have on the lines of scrimmage.
What's the hit-rate going to look like on the OL? Brody Meadows, Johnny Dickson, Braelin Moore, Johnny Garrett, Hunter McClain, and Xavier Chaplin (if we can hold onto him).
What's the hit-rate going to look like on the DL? Gunner Givens (could be OL as well), Rashaud Pernell, Kyree Moyston, Keyshawn Burgos, Lemar Law, and Malachi Madison.
If we get a bunch of starters out of this group, and particularly if a couple on each side are high-impact guys, then we may look back on this class as a crucial part of rebuilding our program and toughness/physicality we expect from VT football. It could also turn into another spotty transition class that we are seeing often in the ESD era.
This is my take...
I think we got a bit of an "old school VT" type of class without the "home run recruit", especially if many of them contribute at a significant level in the nest 2-3 years.
Again, I'm not knocking the staff or the class itself, I'm simply making the argument that we should temper our excitement around the reality of what we are signing.
Braelin Moore Is starting out at DT though.
Flip him to the next group then (I've heard talk of him playing DL as well). Either way, we bet big on the trenches in this class and as a result, it will be what defines whether this class was a success or failure.
How much is our average hurt by having a kicker, who are ALWAYS rated low and one guy with no stars? Having one or two lower guys can really hurt an average, and are also somewhat discounted in total points. But total points is influenced by total number of players. Basically, I don't think you can look at just one and have an accurate idea of what you're getting compared to another school.
Edit: Florida's class may be ranked low, but it's only 11 kids, so the rank and total points are going to be lower, but the average ranking of each one is definitely higher than ours. So I'd say they fail more from the perspective of keeping kids, but not on who they got. Feels like another win for Pry being able to keep so many of our commits though.
I agree, but does hammer home rankings aren't that hard to achieve or miss. But also hammers home that could be worse. Still, UF still managed to keep a 5*. I don't think we ever reach that ability but I'd like to strive for that. We did flip 2 UVA recruits.
I think its telling that they were able to keep kids while definitely selling a very different message. I'm actually optimistic on this staff.
Quite understandable. After he second loss to GT in 2017, I started becoming cynical.
my last few Hokie club donations I wanted to be able to give to a "Fuente Buyout Fund". It was inevitable and just was like waiting for the clock to run out in a blowout loss.
We had far too many of those blowout losses, during the Fuente years.
We have three obvious targets we are pursuing through the February NSD: Xavier Chaplin (commit), Daequan Wright (commit), Xayvion Bradshaw (uncommitted, Brody Meadows teammate).
Feel free to add more if I am forgetting someone. I'm interested to see if we are going after anyone else in the HS ranks for the February window. It seems to me that it might be better to use any remaining scholarship allocation we will have (still need more attrition to even sign the kids out of HS we have LOI's signed yesterday as it stands) left on the portal getting some more ready-to-play options at some key positions.
It would be worth a new thread to discuss our post signing day targets.
This right here is a good start.
The February signing period will target transfers, and trying to bag some of the HS recruits left out there. The UIW QB would be a steal considering the schools going after him.
The bigger fish to pry is the roster management. #HokiePryde needs to figure out who needs to be asked to transfer, and who needs to stay on board from the current crop. If I was Bowen, I'd start with the RBs.
Well that was fast. Amhad Bradshaw's son seems like a good get.
TIL Ahmad Bradshaw scored a touchdown against VT back in 2005 while at Marshall. We were ranked #3.
After all the legal BS, he was able to raise Zay in his hometown. That's a pretty sweet story to tell. Hats off to him, and to Zay for making his decision.
That... seems like good news to me.
NVM the recruit did sign his NLT.
This thread is getting pretty big so it might have been mentioned already, but I noticed on Instagram that Gunner Givens in a reply mentioned that he will be playing DE at Tech.