Bud Foster, Torrian Gray Encourage 2016 CB Patrice Rene to Mull Move from Canada to Blacksburg

Rene is giving Tech a hard a look, even as other prominent schools come calling.

Rene visited Gray and the rest of the Hokies at a February Junior Day. [@PatriceRene6]

Bud Foster has been recruiting the Northern Virginia area long enough to know which high schools deserve his full attention.

The defensive coordinator's interest in DT Joe Goff of Alexandria's Episcopal HS is well documented, but that's hardly the only player he noticed on his recent trips up north.

While Goff has been a top target for Tech in the 2016 cycle, so too has his teammate, cornerback Patrice Rene.

Rene, a 4-star prospect according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, has garnered national interest and quickly caught Foster's eye. Now, he's giving the Hokies a hard look among the many other schools vying for his services.

"Of all the schools I'm considering, they definitely stand out," Rene said.

Episcopal head coach Panos Voulgaris notes that Foster first made the team's interest in Rene clear before he ever spoke with the rising senior himself. He made a special trip up to the school with DBs coach Torrian Gray to kick off their recruitment.

"Coach Foster has been doing this for 30 years, so naturally he's going to be the go-to person with all this, but he also wanted to get the position coach involved," Voulgaris said. "So they both stopped by to see me a few months ago to learn about Patrice. And they're both first class guys."

Once he was convinced of Rene's potential, Foster put in some face time with Rene.

"With Coach Foster coming up here, we talked first, and later on he introduced me to Coach Gray," Rene said. "He started the relationship, and did a good job with the whole process."

Now Rene says he and Gray "chat all the time," and he's quickly developed a healthy respect for his abilities as a coach.

"He's done a lot of great things in his career, and he said they'd love to have me there," Rene said. "I really do think he could develop me well and help me get to the NFL."

Rene's confidence in Gray and Foster was so great that he agreed to head to Blacksburg for the team's Junior Day on February 7 to see things in person.

"It was great, I was really impressed, especially because of my strong relationship with Coach Gray and Coach Foster, even Coach Beamer," Rene said. "We went and had a one-on-one in his office when I was there."

Then he got a chance to rub elbows with Kendall Fuller, before rooming with sophomore safety C.J. Reavis. Rene says he valued those experiences perhaps even more than his time with the staff.

"I really got to see things from a player's perspective," Rene said. "You normally only get to see things from the coaches' perspective, but I got to see how life really is. I asked them all what they thought of the staff, and they had nothing bad to say."

Goff joined Rene on the trip, and the two were able to compare notes after the visit wrapped up.

"He was able to tell me what he saw, and I was able to tell him what I saw," Rene said. "He said he could really see himself there, and I said I could too."

Voulgaris thinks going through the process together should help his players immensely.

"It certainly helps when they go on visits together," Voulgaris said. "It's simultaneously beneficial to both of them."

Goff's companionship was especially helpful for Rene, whose parents aren't exactly close by to go on visits with him.

Rene originally hails from Ottawa, Ontario and decided to enroll at Episcopal, a boarding school, to give football a shot in a country that cares just a bit more about the sport.

"Football isn't that big of a sport up there," Rene said. "But another coach eventually saw me up there, and sort of discovered me in middle school. I've always wanted to play big time ball, and see if I could play against American competition."

Rene quickly looked around at the HS football landscape and discovered that Episcopal provided him "an opportunity I couldn't miss" to help him achieve those dreams.

It might seem like a strange arrangement, but Voulgaris says it's all perfectly routine for the school and his staff.

"Kids come here from all over the world, it's nothing out of the ordinary for us," Voulgaris said. "We have kids from more than 30 states and more than 20 countries. It's all pretty natural for us, all of them are away from home."

Rene says he did a get a chance to see his family over his recent spring break, but otherwise, he spends his days focusing on football to make his sacrifice worth it.

It seems that focus is paying off.
"He's got great length and football IQ," Voulgaris said. "Plus he's really quick, he has great straight line speed."

All of these attributes nicely compliment Rene's impressive measurables. Rene says currently stands at 6'3" and 195 pounds, a frame that would help him match up with even the tallest receivers in the college ranks.

"My size is always going to stand out," Rene said. "The challenge is skill-wise, being that big and being able to stay in coverage."

Voulgaris certainly believes he has that skill in spades.

"He's a really talented cornerback, we'd always put him on the other team's best receiver," Voulgaris said.

With that coverage ability and that size, some have stuck Rene at safety over the years.

"Back in Canada, they put me at free safety some," Rene said. "Now I play a bit of both, but I definitely like corner more. It's more one-on-one matchups, which I really like."

Voulgaris says he's "certainly versatile enough to play free safety," but that he spends most of his time at corner. The Hokies seem to agree that's where he's best suited.

"Some colleges want me at both, but Coach Gray says he definitely wants me at corner," Rene said.

If he's bound for the outside, Rene says he's hoping to drop some weight and improve his quickness in the process.

"I'm trying to cut weight a little bit, to stay lean and not get too big," Rene said. "I just feel like, as a corner, you can never stop working on your quickness and reaction time."

Voulgaris adds that Rene's physicality makes him a force in press coverage, but he wants to see more quick recognition and reaction if he's going to be a full-time corner.

"He needs to focus on man coverage, playing off guys," Voulgaris said. "His press is really strong, he gets in on people well, but he needs to have better recognition of things sometimes."

Rene also has plenty of work left to do in sorting through his bevy of offers. He says that schools like Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and North Carolina have all stood out so far, while Notre Dame and Michigan have also been making a push to get involved lately.

But even with all that interest, he's still excited to make another trip to Tech and further develop his blossoming bond with Foster and Gray.

"I most definitely will visit again," Rene said. "I want to visit the rest of the schools I haven't seen yet first, but this summer I want to get back."

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February..'96...the steak: ribeye, the whiskey:Lagavulin 16, the lady next to me: a bit**.....

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"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

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"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster