Holmes tweeted out his top 3 tonight: Florida State, Ohio State, and Clemson in no particular order. Early in the recruiting process, many thought he favored the Hokies, but now they're not among his finalists. Florida State appears to be his leader right now.
Recruiting isn't a science, so who knows why Tech fell out of his favor. Holmes is an elite level prospect, that can only attend one college (duh). I can understand possible reasons why a school like FSU would ultimately win out over Virginia Tech. The Seminoles placed a ton of kids in the NFL this last draft, are a program on the rebound, and are great destination for a kid wanting to go out of state. While there's logic why he might not end up at Tech, I'm shocked the Hokies weren't given a final consideration.
Comments
Dagnabbit!
I am not happy about this, but the depth at DE makes it a tougher sell. This could also mean that the buzz is Hand will be a Hokie.
Were they recruiting him as a de? I heard he wanted to play te and we don't really need anymore de's if hand and mihota come into the fold
Also continues the trend of VT being in it with top state talent and then not so much. 2014 is not turning out to be nearly as strong as we anticipated on the recruiting trail, in my opinion.
Ugh. I hate losing guys to the ACC. I hate losing guys out of state. I hate losing them more in state. Last few I can recall were Percy Harvin (Florida, that worked out for him), Curtis Grant (Ohio State, not so much), Justin Hunter (Tennessee, I think he's happy), EJ Manuel (Florida State, and good for him), Kevin Newsome (Penn State, about a quarter mile from my house, definitely didn't work), and everyone who went to Alabama (guess I can't argue).
It sounds like Grant will end up starting for tOSU this year. From what I've read he's had a bit of an attitude adjustment.
Oh, from what I thought I'd heard, he was a bust and was on the verge of deciding to quit football altogether. Glad to hear it, kinda. I like hearing VA products doing well, but I can't claim to want OSU to do well at all.
Yeah hate losing those guys too, but its hard to compete with schools who have won titles in the past decade
So, I look at this in a couple of ways.
1) This sucks, because I don't like losing in-state guys to out of state schools. Holmes is a talented player, and stockpiling guys at impact positions like defensive end is never a bad policy. If he wanted to play tight end, that would be fine, as the Hokies have long needed to get more explosive production from the tight end position.
2) At the same time, as much as I like Holmes, defensive end is absolutely chock full of depth right now. You have Nicolas, Marshall, Ekanem, and Teller (with Mihota in this class) and I think this choice by Holmes could be a positive indicator that Hand is a strong Hokie lean at this point (pure speculation on my part.) Hand is the must get at end, and then put our resources into defensive tackle, backer, offensive line, and wide receiver.
Hope you're right about Hand
Me too. I may see more Hand games in person than VT games this year.
Find a way to stack the stands with maroon and orange. And if you see opposing recruiters at games, surround them.
If Tech doesn't get Hand, I may be sick.
Looking for TKP opinions: How does Jalyn Holmes compare to Xavier Burke as a TE?
I have not seen enough Xavier Burke film to know, but Holmes high school team uses him in the slot and at wide receiver at 6'4 235. He doesn't have wide receiver speed, but he has a nice release from the line and could serve as a threat deep down the seam at tight end. He catches the ball very nicely (at highest point) and runs good routes for such a big body.
His high school team runs a six-man front, with four defensive linemen all tackle to tackle, with two outside linebackers and two middle linebackers even against spread looks. Everyone gets upfield, so they look dominant. He is very similar to Ekanem in body type and style of play.
Burke was recently the star of one of these combines and may become a top 20 TE recruit in the country by years end. Great find.
Fwiw, jay was no longer interested in playing TE .. Burke is a great find and will be the best TE recruit that we've pulled in a long time, unless we can izzo out of NJ, who was just offered by USC-w and FSU. We can still get hand, nnadi, and walker. Added to mihota, still a STUD DL class. We are still in it for kentavius street out of nc, jesse a in maryland .. Not to mention a few stud DL in 15 that we are in early on...tyler powell is a good prospect too
We'll be fine at DL .. For perception though, Hand is a can't miss
Hand is a must get, or suddenly the cynicism from the fanbase about claims to be a "true national power" runs amok again.