WR Eric Kumah Names Hokies as Early Leaders for his Commitment

Rising senior wide receiver Eric Kumah of Woodbridge, Va.'s Forest Park High School has only held a scholarship offer from the Hokies for a little over two months, but he already says Tech is the leader in the clubhouse for his commitment.

On January 3, Kumah tweeted that the Hokies are his top school at the moment.

VT is my #1 School #Hokies #HokieNation #VT #Hokiefamily @Hokie_Haven @MClarkScout— THE_Eric_Kumah (@Eric_Kumah11) January 3, 2015

He says that announcement was largely prompted by his early impressions of the team's coaching staff.

"I met all the staff, and it just seems so stable there," Kumah said. "A lot of those guys have been there for a long time. I don't go to a school where the coach leaves the next year and you have to worry about having a whole different system or if you'll get to play."

Considering Kumah's strong impressions of the staff's stability, it's no surprise that his lead recruiter has been longtime Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

Foster's already been in Blacksburg for 28 years, and with the news of a five-year extension to keep him at Tech for the foreseeable future, it's easy to see why the staff seems so set in stone.

But Frank Beamer is hardly some passing phase with Tech as well, and Kumah credits his first meeting with the head Hokie on his unofficial visit to Blacksburg on November 1 for further instilling his sense of confidence in the coaches.

"It was really cool, he called me into his office and offered me," Kumah said. "That's the first time I've ever had a head coach offer me. Others just call you on the phone or tell your coach."

Kumah's head coach says that visit with Beamer is all he talked about upon returning from Blacksburg.

"He was just so excited that Coach Beamer offered him in person," said Daniel Bruton, head man at Forest Park HS. "It was pretty special for him, and he said he really liked the campus atmosphere."

While Tech's longest tenured staff members had an early impact on Kumah, Bruton notes that it was one of the fresher faces among the Hokies' coaches that first noticed the receiver's talents.

"Torrian Gray came to one of our games when we were playing Stonewall Jackson, because he was trying to recruit Tim Settle," Bruton said. "Eric made a big play in that game and I think that kind of put him on the radar for them."

From there, Foster reached out (given his extensive ties in Northern Virginia) before giving Kumah a chance to talk to his potential future position coach when he came down to Blacksburg for the Boston College game.

"Coach Foster came up and visited my school a couple times, but once I visited I got to talk to Coach (Aaron) Moorehead," Kumah said.

It seems highly likely that Moorehead was most taken with Kumah's impressive frame. He's currently unranked by 247Sports and a 3-star recruit by Rivals' standards, but the 6'3", 205-pound 17-year-old certainly has the size to grow into a formidable target.

"Nowadays, so much comes from measurables, and he definitely has the frame," Bruton said. "But he also attacks the ball well and has decent speed."

Bruton thinks that Kumah's game can become even more imposing if he works on his technique.

"I've coached some pretty good receivers, and the great ones are great at route running," Bruton said. "They never had great physical tools, so they had to run great routes. He has the size, he just needs to work on his routes to get more separation."

Kumah agrees that improving his precision on routes could make his game "10 times better," but Bruton thinks he still has room to add to his already substantial size.

"I think he can add some more mass," Bruton said. "This offseason he could get to 210, 220 and probably not lose a step. He could even increase his speed with more lower body muscle."

But regardless of his final playing weight, Bruton stresses that it's Kumah's attitude that will help him succeed going forward.

"He has that one thing you can't coach, the want to be great," Bruton said. "What I tell coaches is he's got that kind of 'boy on the playground' mentality. He knows he's good, and he wants to humiliate you. He wants to prove it every single play."

Kumah thinks his coach hit the nail on the head with that assessment.

"On the field, I'm a totally different person," Kumah said. "I don't care if you like me after the game, it doesn't matter if we're friends. I want to show my talents."

For all this professed brutality on the field, Kumah still maintains some strong relationships off it that could end up helping the Hokies.

Years of playing against Settle, a 2015 Hokies commit, helped the two become fast friends.

"I know him and Settle are close friends, they took a bunch of visits together," Bruton said.

The pair checked out both Penn State and West Virginia together, but that's not the only player with Tech connections Kumah is close with.

Kumah spent his freshman year at nearby C.D. Hylton HS before transferring to Forest Park, giving him a chance to play with rising Tech sophomore Travon McMillian.

"(Eric) started as a freshman on their varsity team, so they got to know each other well," Bruton said.

Kumah confirms that he and McMillian still talk "all the time," and the pair got to meet up briefly on Kumah's early November visit.

"I definitely think that's a plus for Virginia Tech," Bruton said.

Even with Kumah's numerous ties to the school, and his early declaration that the Hokies lead his recruitment, he's still planning on checking out some other schools interested in him.

"I definitely want to get down to Tennessee, see how they are since they were my first offer," Kumah said. "Other schools like Georgia Tech, N.C. State have said they're interested in my film, so after the dead period here, I want to talk to them some more."

Kumah also holds offers from schools like Virginia, Boston College, Maryland and Pittsburgh, but he'll get another chance to see the Hokies sooner rather than later. He says he's planning on attending Tech's Junior Day event on February 7.

But with plenty of time left before he has to make any hard decisions, Kumah insists he's keeping his options open, even if the Hokies have surged to an early lead.

"I just want to give every school an opportunity," Kumah said.