Proverbs 3:6🖤🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/lAlrkR68GR— Kaleb Smith (@kaleb11smith) December 5, 2022
This one hurts.
Forums:
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Proverbs 3:6🖤🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/lAlrkR68GR— Kaleb Smith (@kaleb11smith) December 5, 2022
This one hurts.
Comments
This one kinda confuses me.
I wonder what his thought process was?
I figured when I saw Bitter's tweet that Kaleb took part in Senior Day this was going to happen. He's a big, fast dude that is going to tear it up in an actual offense. I'm assuming his thought process was that our offense isn't going to look better next year and he's only got one more year to elevate his draft stock. Wish him nothing but the best.
I'm figuring he's thinking that with a better QB and OC he can be a 1,000+ yard receiver and maybe have a shot at the NFL. Can't really think of any other reason.
I mean, that seems like a pretty good reason.
Now that every game is televised every weekend, there's no hiding from NFL scouts. They'll see everything. As long as you can get significant minutes (which Kaleb can here) you will a get a good look from the NFL.
NIL? Doesn't like his new position coach? Bored of living in a rural town? There's a bunch of reasons.
His OC is atrocious, why would he stick around?
Solid logic, but there are no hidden guys from the NFL now. They know who he is and his game, etc. They start scouting college players as soon as they get to college. A 5 year guy like Smith is no mystery to NFL scouts. That's not why you transfer at this stage of his career.
He's spent his entire career on a team that's gone >.500 once, two offenses that neither one have shown to be very fruitful for receivers, and spent all this year in double or bracket coverage because he was the only credible receiving threat. When he was targeted he proved he was an ACC caliber receiver, so my guess is he wants to actually play, perform, and hopefully win.
Noooo
Wonder if it's NIL related. If so, hope it serves as a wake up call to the admin and boosters
I doubt it is NIL. No one outside of VT knows of him. He is likely leaving so he can change that.
Noooo Kaleb plz....man our WR room is looking REALLY thin. Like look at it from the wrong angle and it disappears lol.
seems like the coaches want him here. this one seems to be directly correlated to the offense we put on the field this year. not good.
A great story and was one of few players to really shine on offense for us this year. Best of luck wherever you end up, Kaleb!
Best wishes to Kaleb Smith, he showed he can play a role on a P5 team after joining as a walk-on. hope he lands on his feet!
He's a number one receiver at Tech, he's not a number one or maybe even number 2 receiver at most other P5 schools. Bold strategy cotton. Also it is wild to me that being a captain of a D1 school means so little to players today that they can just jump ship. Unfathomable 10 years ago.
That's not true. He's gotta work on his catching a bit, but he had plenty of plays this year where he made catches that saved bad throws from Wells. He's proven that he's a good receiver and on the right team with a good offense and QB that'll show through and elevate his draft stock. I just hope he doesn't land at an ACC school where we've gotta play against him.
As for the captain thing...it depends. If you're a captain because you're a natural leader (see Sam Rogers) or you're at a smaller school, it makes sense because there's no chance of you making it to the NFL and getting paid. If you've got a legit chance to get paid but are being held back because the team is hot garbage (don't kid yourself, we are) then it makes complete sense to transfer these days.
I'm not saying he's not a good receiver. I'm saying he's not a number one at most other Power 5 schools and I don't really think that's a hot take. He has a very good catch radius and we'll probably disagree on what's a bad throw vs. what's Grant putting the ball only where Kaleb can get it.
As for the captain part, I agree that unfortunately it's the nature of the beast these days. As a former player, it's just extremely disappointing to see from a guy in a leadership position.
He's a solid receiver, but doesn't have great speed or hands. He needs to be somewhere he is not a #1 guy (and maybe not even a #2 guy) to make the most of his ability.
Agree. As of now, he is deep-threat complement. Maybe he can become an all-around #1 receiver, but needs to work on other aspects of his game.
Definitely hurts the Hokies bad though, but do have Lofton for a deep threat. Wright has some skills as well. Need to get an all around #1 receiver and possession receiver (or develop Wright into a possession receiver).
I would disagree with this personally. I think he could get significant playing time at a lot of other P5 schools.
I guess I need to rephrase this. I didn't mean he's not a starter at most schools. I meant he's just not the number one receiving option at other P5 schools.
On the contrary at VT its him and then ?????? so defenses were pretty much only worried about him in the passing game. Even if he drops to a #2 WR he's still getting all the PT he needs and less attention from every defense.
Defenses were not worried about our passing game. Let's not act like he was getting double covered or bracketed by opposing teams all year.
How many times did we put ourselves into obvious passing situations with 2 runs up the gut for 1 yard to end up 3rd-9?
Yea and then they could bring the house because they could single cover all our receivers
I'm sure Tayvion thought similarly and he ended up the #3 receiver for a pretty bad passing offense with worse stats than he had here. Same with Damon Hazelton before that. Taking over the top spot for another team is tough, even for very good players.
I think it's slightly debatable whether he was WR2 or WR3 at Kentucky, 3rd in yards, 2nd in receptions, T3 in TD catches, 2nd in overall touches among receivers. However, his final numbers ended up similar to what they were here. That said, it's still probably better than he would have had in our offense this season.
Worth noting that Will Levis missed/didn't play well for the back half of the season due to injury
Sure, that just underscores the riskiness of transferring. Even going to a 10-win team with an NFL prospect at QB and an NFL coach coordinating the offense can have significant downside
He got hurt early in the season, then the QB got hurt and everything kind of went off the rails. Looked like a great career move for those couple games though
Dang. I like Smith but we really do need receiver who fit the system
Okay this one is bad.
Not sure what to make of this one. Either he doesn't think we are going to make much improvement at all next year (personnel upgrades, scheme, W/L record) or he saw we were going after a lot of WR in the portal and saw the writing on the wall that he may go from a number 1 to a 3-4 spot in the rotation. That's my optimistic thought but hard to imagine we can find AND land 2-3 guys that much more productive that him in the portal.
Dont forget receiver recruits
I still struggle to think we could realistically find and land 2-3 WRs either in the portal, this year's class, or currently on roster that could see more time next year that would displace Kaleb.
Jennings PLS
Mines gotta work that connection. This seems like the most likely receiver VT gets, based on relationships.
I disagree tbh
Don't get me wrong, I hope you're right. Just trying to temper my optimism some. For a staff that didn't do great in the portal last year to suddenly hit the lottery on numerous players seems like a stretch to me. Also we at least had the element of surprise/excitement on what our offense would be last year. Much tougher sell this year I think.
I got ya and I feel ya😂
Curious as to what a receiver for our system would look like? I had a hard time figuring out what exactly we were doing this year. Whats ideal? I always thought receivers came in basically 3 types. Big and fast, small and quick, or Big and not so fast. Also the one overachieving hustler. Danny Cole!!!
What exactly are we looking for? Serious question.
FTFY
This is the question of the off-season IMO.
Tall and fast outside receivers are what we mostly looking for with at least 1 true slot receiver
Looking for high Wass Scores (Weight adjusted speed score) is a main thing right now. Cause you can teach hands and route running but you can't teach speed
Quickness in and out of routes is much more important than speed at the receiver position unless you have Tyreek Hill speed. You need one dude that can take the top off the defense. The other guys need to be able to get open. Hopefully some of our young guys can do it or we find it in the portal.
Would you rather have Danny Coale, Boykin, and Ford or Demetri Knowles?
Actually you can't really teach hands either. You can get a bit better just thru repetition for muscle memory, but you rarely see players make great leaps with their hands.
You can absolutely teach coverage recognition and route running. And blocking.
Folks forget that Boykin, Coale, and Roberts all had varying levels of dropsies their freshman seasons. By the time they left, that was absolutely not the case anymore.
Some of the coachabilitiness I think has to do with guys sometimes not looking at the ball the whole way through catching it, wanting to start making the play after. Focusing on catching the ball first in case they get hit/tackled right away is something that's pretty easy to focus on, but I think Freshmen seem to make that mistake a decent amount. Not sure if it's because they were able to get more separation from defenders in high school, so they didn't worry as much or what, or more excitement about it being college, nerves about wanting to do well or what.
https://youtu.be/RetBcCh-4Yw?t=6606
Link to a crucial drop in 2008 that has never left my mind (not because I hold it against Dyrell Roberts, but because I hated Miami with the heat of a thousand suns in this era.) An example to support your point.
edit: For the record, we didn't lose this game because of this drop. It would have helped us in regards to time left, but we got the ball back with a chance to win regardless and failed to do so. This is simply a play I never forgot from a frustrating game.
My guess is this. Kaleb Smith is a good WR, and he worked his butt off for VT, but he shouldn't be a WR1 on a P5 team (not bashing him, just saying that a P5 team should have receivers that are better than him on the roster)
So bad offenses will continue to be bad because the only good players will transfer out
Improved recruiting brings more Ws, but you need Ws to improve recruiting. Classic catch 22.
No you dont. Look at miami and texas a&m
Generally, better-recruiting leads to more Ws though.
While certainly deep-pocketed programs have failed to live up to the hype when it comes to class rankings, VT isn't going to have success without better recruiting.
The days of Beamer finding diamonds in the rough and coaching them up to create consistent 10-win seasons are over.
Big myth. To attract recruits you need to convince them:
Recruits don't care if you had 1 win or 10 wins last season. If you can check enough of those above boxes, they will come.
Well, I agree with you for the most part, if you can get enough W's, you can also sell them on wanting to play for a Natty at your school, and that one is W dependent. That's also when you're recruiting the best players, so a weak coastal and Clemson being strong makes our case for one of the easiest paths to the playoffs, so I'm hoping we can use the "playing for a championship" sometime in the next 3-5 years.
A guy can dream, can't he?
I'm telling you, this is not the selling point you think it is.
I'm not built like a football player, but I'm VERY competitive. If I was good enough to get recruited, it would be a consideration for me, especially since there's no guarantee at the pro level of winning a championship either.
I mean, the highest priority would be to get NFL money, so whatever prepared me best for that. So between wanting to play at the highest level of competition, playing for a championship means I'd best be able to showcase my abilities against some of the best college players, which is better than playing whoever in my conference.
But yeah, as competitive as I am, I'd really want to play for a championship. So it seems surprising to me that it wouldn't be a good selling point.
I didn't go to the best engineering school, there were 14 schools better ranked for my major when I went to VT. Sure MIT sounds great but what's the M/F ratio? Same with GT. There is lot more to picking a college than just being at the best ranked place. I do just as well as my father in law did and he did go to MIT. Lots of places will prepare you for the next steps in life.
Yeah, there may be some impressive name recognition on an ivy degree but people that are hiring are aware of the programs (which have different ranks) and you're only going to get world beating dividends by being too 10%?
It should absolutely be part of the equation but it's really not as important as I think most people make it out to be
So between this:
and this:
You're kinda refuting you're own argument, no? You admit that as a competitor you want to play the best teams, but in the previous comment you mention trying to attract competitors by selling them on an easy path to the post season?
Again, from the various podcast and articles I've heard/read over the years, high school recruits seem to prefer the following most:
At the end of the day, Pry & Co. need to sell players on getting to the NFL (based on each coaches' respective history), getting early playing time, an amazing campus culture/experience in Blacksburg, and good enough NIL.
That said, transfers are different... a transfer coming from a my-way-or-the-highway culture might be prioritizing fit. Some are making a business decision and focusing only on draft stock/NIL. Some are in the twilight of their football career, and just want to play meaningful minutes on a meaningful team.
True - I was refuting my own argument. Granted, I don't really believe we're the weakest division in the P5. (And I was thinking about it from the perspective of getting to the playoffs and being able to prove myself to the best teams, which you don't necessarily get to do in any conference other than the SEC) Maybe not at the top, but most of the PAC-12 sucks, and half of each of the Big Whatever's suck also. The Big 12, if it was so great, would have a lot more draft picks over the last 5 years. The Big 10 is overrated in my opinion (well, and I would argue performance in the playoffs as the objective measure, with my all time favorite of An Ohio State getting shut out in the playoffs in 2016 - the same year we put up 35 on the same Clemson team that shut them out).
Regardless of all that, I don't do much research or pay much attention to stuff beyond here, so if you've gotten from a lot of articles and podcasts that it isn't a factor, I'll take your word for it. Just seems strange to me and my competitive nature that it wouldn't be much of a factor.
As part of my justifying that we aren't the crappiest division and conference, I started to do some research on most draft picks, with the logic that if the NFL thought our conference was so weak, the performance of the players would be more suspect and they'd be less likely to draft them. The Big 12 actually looks like it has the least number of draft picks. The Big 10 seems like they might be bolstered because of just how many picks Michigan and OSU get. Anyway, thought you might be interested in looking at those numbers also.
Then why is Sam Hartman going from Wake to ND?
ND isn't that much easier of a route to the playoffs than Wake tbh. ND has to play against better opponents so their path is tougher and unless they go 12-0 or 11-1 they pretty much don't stand a chance. And most teams that achieve those records do it against relatively softer schedules than ND has.
3 conference champions of P5 leagues and the sec/B1G runner up will almost always get in above a 10 win ND team.
Wake could have a magical year and win the ACC with a 12-1 or 13-0 record more easily than ND could win 10 games. Tbf, both could be left out depending on how other teams look but I imagine the committee would take a 12-1 ACC champion Wake team ahead of a 10-2 ND team that lost to USC and Pitt.
There's never been a two loss team in the CFP, and the only way that will happen in the current format is if there are only 3 teams with 1 loss or fewer. So, conference member or not, a team still needs to win at least 11 games to sniff the final four.
That being said, I don't think the 2023 schedules for ND and Wake are that far apart in terms of difficulty.
Literally half of Notre Dame's schedule is the ACC as they have six games. Four of those opponents are also on Wake's schedule. Plus, ND plays Wake.
Notre Dame does have OSU and USC on their schedule which makes it look more difficult, but when we go deeper than that, it's fairly comparable to what Wake has to play.
As I stated above, the thought process for a transfer is different than that of a high school recruit.
That said, I would speculate that Hartman thinks ND will provide him:
You're forgetting that money helps recruiting, but we don't have that either.
Improved recruiting CAN bring more wins, but Ws only have a modest impact on recruiting.
I understand why but it sure hurts the team. Major college football has truly become a professional game. I for one don't like it. Yes I'm old.
I would probably not use this one as an example of that.
The young player transferring up after a single good year at a smaller school is going to happen, and it's unfortunate for those schools. Kaleb Smith spent 5 years at Tech. This may or may not be motivated by NIL. Frankly, I can't imagine any top school allocating significant resources to him. He had a good season, but he's not a game-breaking WR.
He was recognized on Senior Day and is a grad transfer. Want to win.
Thanks for all your sacrifices and contributions, and best of luck going forward.
I hate the Portal
This one hurts but I can't blame him. He's got one more year to maximize his talents to have a shot in league. Additionally, he may just want to win...and most likely that's not happening here next year. Best of luck, just hope he doesn't go anywhere that we play next year.
Outside of maybe 2-3 players on the team, I'm not convinced there is really a bad loss we could have to the portal. I appreciate all the work Kaleb put in but as others have mentioned, being the top receiver in last years offense isn't exactly a badge of honor. I do hope it works out for him, I just don't see him as anything more than a WR2 or WR3 on even an average offense
Agreed, all the entries so far this morning I've been like "okay", Smith's was the only one that moved the needle for me at all.
Not real pleased with this. He worked his tail off to get open, and should have gotten the ball more than he did. Good blocker too.
Tough to put any kind of optimistic spin on this one, he was a team leader and even the best-case incoming transfer class scenario would have had him remain a key contributor. Best of luck, he certainly put in the work here for a long time, but it's tough as a receiver to catch on elsewhere, we've seen that not work out plenty of times over the years here (Tayvion, Hazelton, Kumah). Would have to think his best chance at showing out was pushing this team forward and continuing to build chemistry with Wells but can't fault him for wanting a fresh opportunity. We'll probably never know how much of this is a reflection on his opinion of the offensive coaching staff + QB room, but it sure isn't a good sign
For reference, Tayvion Robinson's stats at Kentucky were relatively flat compared to his last year at VT, but less games and he wasn't the number one option.
https://ukathletics.com/sports/football/roster/player/tayvion-robinson/
Now would be a great time for us to pull a Damon Hazelton-ish player out of the portal.
Also Decoldest Crawford, mainly because his name is awesome.
Is that a real name or a Key & Peele name? I know I can google it, but I wanted to be able to use the comment regardless of the answer.
Oh it's real lol
https://247sports.com/Player/Decoldest-Crawford-46083385/
While he was at Nebraska, he actually signed an NIL deal with a local heating & A/C company.
Nebraska WR Decoldest Crawford's NIL deal leads to viral ad for HVAC company
This is how it SHOULD work.
This one definitely hurts a bit, as I highly suspect that we were planning on having Smith back as a significant contributor next year.
But look, he has played under 3 different WR coaches and 2 different OC since being here. In the Podcast that was posted a few months ago (cant find the link), he detailed pretty clearly how poor/limited his relationship was with Cornelson.
The guy clearly has P5 skills and likely wants to maximize his chance to play at the next level. I don't blame him a bit for looking for a Program that fits him best. He has one year left and our O.C. has lots to prove, if I were in the same position, I would be looking for a much more sure situation as well.
Best of luck to him.
Wow that sounds fairly damning of the previous staff, any idea which podcast it was?
https://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2022/july/21/kaleb-smith-podcast
Gonna miss him. Wish him nothing but success!
things are spicing up! I think this is the season where these coaches prove whether or not they belong here. How they rebuild this roster will determine how this team performs over the next few years. Ima be honest, I'm not very optimistic.
I hate this as Kaleb Smith is a Hokie through and through. I love this kid. I wish him all the best and hope he lands in an actual offense.
On the other side of that coin, only time will tell if this is an Erik Kumah/Chris Cunningham type of situation (not in the attitude sort of way as that was vastly different) where he, as the best option here, simply doesn't compete well where there's much stiffer competition.
Hate to see him go, but cannot blame him one bit. If he was my son, I'd suggest he look elsewhere to see if he can get a better team around him and flourish before trying to play at the next level.
Good luck and all the best.
well, this stings... Everyone has already highlighted the things from Smith's perspective, but what about Pry? a captain on the team, a guy you want and need to have, and you can't convince him to come back? Not a good look, on the surface at least. Maybe there's more to the transfer in what he wants to do with his graduate degree.
I'm sure Pry is a little disappointed, but faced with the fact that next year is another rebuild year and that Kaleb wouldn't have been around for more than one more year anyways, I doubt it changes much for him. If we improve next year, it will be due to fixing much larger issues than "is Kaleb Smith or Da'Wain Lofton our #1 WR?" Still a bummer to lose Kaleb, but I think we all get it, including Pry.
Well, and as Coach Jones said, they recruited for leadership - so the leadership part probably doesn't hurt as much. Having a known quantity from a receiver for us has to be the big loss. We need guys who will catch the ball. I'm bad at remembering how many plays happened a certain way, but I do remember comments on here through a number of games that the receivers need to catch the ball when it hits them in the hands. Does someone measure somewhere the difference between bad throws and passes that really should have been caught? I wonder how much different our season would have turned out with a number of those catchable balls actually being caught. Anyway, there's a reason we brought in as many receivers as we did.
I hope we can still pull a transfer portal QB
I hope we can pull in a few transfer receivers. Don't see Jaylen Jones, Christian Moss and Stephen Gosnell all being on the team again next year either.
Ugh, had to change my comment badge.
Hate to see him go, can't blame him.
He was the best we had, but we need a makeover in the position, anyway.
As far as QBs go, I hear Brennan Armstrong is in the portal, and that would be fun for at least one game. He'd be a decent option if we can put together an OL.
I actually don't think Armstrong would be very good with Bowen. He thrived with Anae because that system is based on a ton of movement, misdirection and getting the QB out of the pocket. Armstrong thrives when he can improvise. I don't think Bowen would know what to do with him. He'd likely thrive at NCSU at this point.
You're probably right. He was terrible this year.
Good for him.
Yeah but I hate it, especially living in Chicago
For sure. Hopefully he got some NIL money in addition to this opportunity.
I get the cache of ND, but seems like a bit of an odd choice if he is going for Offensive consistency.
No QB really played consistently for the Irish this season and it seems as if they are heavily looking for a Portal QB.
Maybe they already pretty much have their guy, but my expectation would have been for him to go to somewhere with a returning QB, proven O.C., ect.
NIL?
The QB that had them playing OSU close that got hurt in that game will be back. Dudes a stud and lightyears ahead of anything we were putting out this year
Wow, good for him. I didn't know ND was interested but hadn't been keeping up with him. Looks like they've got the opportunity for him to be their #1 WR if he can step up and seize the chance.
Of all the teams ...
I saw they also landed a Kaleb Smith, WR out of Texas, so that will be fun for the radio guys to differentiate all season. What do they do for the jerseys? First and middle initial? K. M. Smith and K. B. Smith for example.
I don't think Notre Dame puts names on their jerseys except for bowl games, so I guess they don't have to worry about it until then.
Ahh good call, forgot all about that
Still on the radio no one can see names anyway. Everything is gonna be caught by kaleb smith. It's just one guy in 2 places.
Need to run a trick play. Jet sweep to Kaleb Smith who stops and throws down field to Kaleb Smith for a TD! Just make sure to do it to someone we can't stand like Pitt. I see Pitt is on their 2023 schedule.
Then they can pull out the hook and ladder
I think since VT Kaleb is a senior and the other Kaleb is a freshman, our Kaleb should get "Kaleb Smith Sr." on his jersey lol
Since he's not just a senior... he's a super senior... they should call him Super Kaleb.
And give him a cape. It'll make him easier to tackle. But, the visuals will be worth it.
Looks like Hartman could be Kaleb's new QB
Good move for all parties. Given his previous comments about testing his hand in the NFL, I'm assuming Notre Dame is giving him an NIL setup that would at least rival a late round pick, so he's probably getting some money + a more talented program to take one last stab at improving his draft stock. Kaleb benefits from a proven P5 QB throwing to him on a team that has lacked talent on the outside.
Well, a good move for all parties except Wake Forest...
Yeah but like screw Notre Dame
Thank you. We wish our former players all the best but also fuck Notre Dame and UNC can eat a bag of dicks.
I thought Kaleb leaving was a questionable move for him, but one spot it could have worked for him was at Wake with Hartman so this is best case scenario for him. He's exceptional at tight coverage catches and Hartman is one of the best in the country at tight coverage accuracy. They should excel together.
Kick in the nuts for Wake. Love it
Eh, I liked Wake beating some of those Atlantic teams.
God creates football. God destroys Big East. God creates Notre Dame. Notre Dame destroys ACC. God creates transfer portal.
Transfer Portal consumes football. Kaleb Smiths inherits Notre Dame.
via GIPHY
TLDR:
Fortune favors the rich. Fucking Leprechauns.