Recruiting

Toliver is ranked as a 5-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite and was teammates with Isaiah Ford at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida.

From Kevin Toliver's dad: "VT visit was a eye opener.They positioned themselves well as a contender for #2 school of choice to attend"— Derek Tyson (@DerekTysonESPN) September 23, 2014

I've been trying to check in with different recruits I've written about before, so I recently touched base with 2016 ATH Jalen Elliott of Chesterfield's Lloyd Bird HS.

He got a chance to take an unofficial visit to Tech for the season opener against William and Mary, and seemed to love it.

"It was a great atmosphere, especially because it was the first game," Elliott said. "William and Mary played hard, but Tech pulled it out, which made it even better."

Only Tech and Old Dominion have offered Elliott, but he says he's heard from a variety of others. His list is extensive.

"Tennessee I hear from the most, but also UNC, FSU, Wake Forest, Arkansas, Purdue, Duke, N.C. State, Michigan, Michigan State."

Two highly rated guys are expected to announce this weekend! Jalen Dalton will announce on Friday!! Odds look good, I believe we are neck and neck with him and it may go down to the wire! On Saturday Darrell Taylor will announce! I think he will be a hokie since his Florida trip was cancelled. Then on Saturday we have another big time official visit with Tim Settle- I don't expect him to make a commitment, but stranger things have happened. All in all this is a big weekend hokies!! I know people are mad about losses but we need to fill lane and be loud as ever! We are turning a corner in recruiting and to get officials from so many highly ranked guys says something. And now I will finish my beer!!!

FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT ON THE 27th #HOKIENATION#Hokies#VT— Tim Settle (@tim_settle) September 21, 2014

Evan Watkins of 247Sports reports tackle Mike Arnold (Winter Haven, Florida) committed during his official visit this weekend. The 247Sports Composite ranks Arnold as a 3-star prospect. He's Virginia Tech's first offensive line commitment of the 2015 cycle.

Hokieeee! Nation... JUST A SQUAD THING!!!!— _dope'since90's (@mikeselfmade26) September 21, 2014

Alex is working on talking with Arnold to get the details.

Jalen's twitter is protected (@JalenDalton5), so for those who couldn't see it he tweeted, "ECU has beat my top 2 teams #IsThatASign," Saturday afternoon.

Dalton was in Blacksburg on a visit this weekend.

Tech's in desperate need of depth at DE, Dalton can provide that.

Oscar Smith star defensive lineman Josh Sweat has been injured. Appears to be a knee injury.— Jami Frankenberry (@JamiVP) September 19, 2014

4* DE Darrell Taylor did NOT take his scheduled official visit to the University of Florida this weekend. UF and OSU are seen as the biggest competition for the Hopewell, VA stud, but all signs point to him coming to the good guys. He's set to make his announcement Friday, September 26th during halftime of his game.

This coming weekend will be the biggest recruiting weekend in terms of star power in recent memory. The list of probable attendees include:

5* DE Josh Sweat
5* CB Kevin Toliver (LSU soft commit)
5*/4* DE Jalen Dalton
4* RB Bryce Love
4* TE/DE Devante Brooks (2016)
3* OT Mike Arnold
3* CB Adonis Williamson
3* ILB Victor Alexander (UCLA soft commit).

Sweat and Toliver are obviously the big fish, but the all of them have impressive offer sheets and would be great gets regardless of their ranking.

Let's chop some wood!

A little ray of sunshine for Virginia Tech after today's loss. 2016 Quarterback Logan Byrd out of Kathleen, Georgia, committed to the Hokies, per his twitter account (via Andy Bitter).

2016 QB Logan Byrd MT @LoganByrd2016QB Excited to announce I have verbally committed to Virginia Tech #Gohokies pic.twitter.com/2f30AAOtoa— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) September 14, 2014

And all was right in the world again!

I am excited to announce that I have verbally commited to Virginia Tech Hokies! #Gohokies #Sandman16 pic.twitter.com/XQ5kvCom5i— Logan Byrd (@LoganByrd2016QB) September 14, 2014

2016 DB Simeon Gatling plans to make the trip to Blacksburg today with his and 2015 DB commit Mook Reynolds' family.

2016 QB Logan Byrd (Kathleen, GA)

The things my family and I will do for football... Otw up to VT for the game. #gohokies— Logan Byrd (@LoganByrd2016QB) September 13, 2014

2015 safety/OLB Sterling Hammond (Tappahannock, VA), has offers from both ECU and VT.

Got this from a 247 free article, but it's the first time I've seen this before with such a highly rated player (number 3 player in VA's 2016 class)

EDIT: Not originally from VA, a fork union kid. but holds a VT offer

http://247sports.com/Article/Four-star-recruit-opts-for-soccer-31095515

I was just wondering if anyone has heard any chatter from the recruits that were at the OSU game, like what their opinions or comments were. I know Josh Sweat was there and he still has VT on his list. I'm wondering what impact this game could have had for this years recruiting cycle.

Nm

Has anybody cruised any recruit twitter accounts in the aftermath?

What I said would happen pic.twitter.com/s7TCHLAPVU— Tim Settle (@tim_settle) September 7, 2014

Let's go HOKIES— Tim Settle (@tim_settle) September 7, 2014

Some of the nations top recruits to attend Virginia Tech VS Ohio State game. The list includes Five-star defensive end Josh Sweat of Chesapeake (Va.) Oscar Smith (2015), Five-star cornerback Kevin Toliver II of Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian (2015), Five-star running back Jacques Patrick of Orlando (Fla.) Timber Creek, Four-star quarterback Torrance Gibson of Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage (2015), Three-star wide receiver Lawrence Cager of Towson (Md.) Calvert Hall (2015).
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2014/09/time_to_call_in_lebron_oh...

2015 Hopewell 4-star DE Darrell Taylor was in Blacksburg and enjoyed his visit.

I really like what I seen at VTech today! — King (@_taylorrrrr5) August 31, 2014

2015 Hylton (Woodbridge, VA) 4-star OT Matthew Burrell made the trip even though he released a top-15 back in June that didn't include the Hokies.

I've decided to commit to Florida State University #GoNoles #FearTheSpear #FSU— Darvin L. Taylor II (@DT2_28) August 28, 2014

So Darvin Taylor II makes his college choice today at 1:30pm... Does VT have much of a shot? From what I read, he seems pretty strong towards FSU. Thoughts???