On his visit, Covil mostly talked with Safeties Coach Pierson Prioleau, Associate Safeties Coach Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, Interim Defensive Coordinator and Stars/Nickels Coach Shawn Quinn and Head Coach Brent Pry.
Covil played 191 snaps this season for the Tigers, and is Virginia Tech's second commitment in this transfer portal window.
Covil's commitment is also significant for Virginia Tech's recruiting efforts within the state of Virginia. As a Chesapeake native, Covil's return to his home state reinforces the program's emphasis on keeping local talent in the Commonwealth—and bringing it back home through the portal.
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Comments
I choose to be happy about this news.
Let's go!
Who's the other?
Mistake by 247
Does he play OL?
That we know of
Yeah, they updated the language to say "first" in the link you gave.
Years of remaining eligibility?
One
Lol. good one
Only 1.
Has played a minimum of 8 games each season from 2022.
Based on the Pavia decision, shouldn't it be indefinite?
1 for now, but if he hires a good lawyer, I'm sure he can make it at least 7 more
Projects as a SS, would expect him and Q to start at the safety positions next year. Hell of a start to transfer season.
Position of need
Love it
That's great news, because he's sorely needed.
Awesome. Welcome aboard
Great News!
Can he play on the OLine too?
Are Hokies allowed to have news this good?
If we're going to be slow in the portal at least we're picking up quality players
Well, now it does! Welcome home, Sherrod!
Side Note: I'm really digging Pry's work on getting Virginia kids back home via the portal. I think that's a great use of it, and gives us a leg up on some pretty good players.
It might even help land more/better VA kids out of high school, too. We'll see.
you'd think, but we have yet to see that actually bear out on NSD. the whole "this actually is home and i never should have gone anywhere else" line sounds nice but until we see the APRs and the Gilliams of the world start turning into landing the Ari Watfords (and Chris Coles, and Shamari Earls, etc etc etc) to start their collegiate career here, i'm skeptical of it actually turning into anything other than "we worked the connections and got some good players from the portal"
I'm sure Whit and Pry are smarter than I am, but until we sign top 15 classes and win games on the field- this whole "6 hour radius" nonsense is just that. For 30 years our recruiting weakness is not some imaginary line on a map- no- it's getting the DeShawn Hands, Josh Sweat's, Trevon Henderson's to visit, be legit interested in the school etc and we NEVER FUCKING CLOSE on them. NEVER. So if I am Pry- I put my efforts there. What did Dabio Swinney tell/sell Stephon Anthony on? TO the point he didn't want to play for Bud Fucking Foster 3 hours from home? THAT is the fucking recruiting issue... not a 6 hour a opposed to 20 hour radius. It will never make sense to me.
yup. better to land high level talent than to not -- unless it's a major character issue, i will never argue that
another comment to add that i think the "6 hour radius" remark was mostly red meat for the fanbase after the TX2VT strategy that was a) largely fruitless and b) widely panned accordingly. Whether covid ruined that strategy by killing our big planned spring game recruiting event, or whatever, it was a little bit braindead to put a lot of eggs in that basket. even if it made sense to work existing connections the staff had for talent, it did not make any sense whatsoever to do that at the expense of the in-state talent and the long-standing connections the program had.
Covid or not- TX2VT or Antartica2VT would have been grand if.... we signed someone other than another high 2 star RB. We signed a real DT at some point. We signed a WR that could actually play in the ACC. We signed a 3 star texas OL that was actually big and mean and played OL in high school. You get my drift.
Exactly. We need to close. And of the last 12 seasons or so, how many seasons have we overperformed and beat expectations? Only once (2016) have we ended the season ranked better than we were from preseason (started unranked, finished 16). In 2017 we started 21 and ended 24, so about the same. But really only once in that time period have we overachieved from expectations. The rest has been disappointment or an expected bad year. That has absolutely got to change if we are going to be a serious program again. We can't keep tripping over our own feet continually.
I doubt we will ever sign a single top 15 class again (did we ever?), much less multiple. We would have to have the best non-P2 class, beating out FSU, Clemson, Mia, ND, etc.
If we do the same thing we have been doing, yep we will never sign a top 15 class. If we somehow figure out a way to leverage Pry's closing skills, win some games on the field and really leverage the "all in" on football, then we certainly can. If Maryland can pull in highly rated recruits, if Deoin can pull them in, so can we.
To be top 15 we would have to out recruit at least 2 of the following schools:
UGA, Bama, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Auburn
OSU, Michigan, PSU, Oregon, USC
ND, Clemson, FSU, Miami
And then not get passed by anyone else.
Pry could be the slickest salesman ever, we could win 10 games and we still wouldn't be top 15. Realistically, our program identity needs to be top 30 classes and out working and out coaching our opponents, and be in the conversation for ACC title games in November.
If your bar for success is Top 15 classes (and the success that is supposed to come with them - consistent Playoff appearances) then you are in for continued disappointment.
So what you are saying is that no matter what, the P2 will all- with the exception of Vandy, etc- have higher rated classes no matter what? Is that what you are saying? If so, then yeah.
At least the top 3rd to top half will.
I agree that with current situation VT's target is certainly more like top 30 or top 25 than top 15. The only way this changes is with $$$$. If somehow we get a huge influx of money and can outbid some of these top 15 teams then maybe the dynamic changes.
So I need to win the lottery on Friday and then set up a 100 million endowment for the NIL fund? They can use the interest to pay for the best recruits every year. Isn't that what the Texas billionaires did for SMU?
I was going to suggest using our NIL funds to buy Powerball tickets...money is more or less getting flushed down the toilet either way.
This is the only way....
Or take it all to Vegas and put it all on red...
Or make a huge 25 leg parlay on Fanduel
Either way, I'm down with that
Glad to have a VA player come "home" and he fills a need so welcome aboard Sherrod.
I will say that I really miss the days when you had these guys for 3-4 years (sometimes more) and got to know them. Not anyone's fault except the portal but that toothpaste is not going back into the tube.
Probably just showing my age
Praise be to Portal!