Hokies Point to Encouraging Early Enrollees on an Otherwise Dreary National Signing Day

It was a rain-soaked and dreary National Signing Day in Blacksburg, providing just the right sort of backdrop for a day that delivered little in the way of unexpected good news for the Hokies.

Justin Fuente and company were working with the inherent disadvantage of limited time on the recruiting trail to sell their new vision of the program, but that doesn't mean that the staff wasn't hopeful for a few more fireworks when they fired up the fax machines Wednesday morning.

Fuente called it a "relatively easy and stress-free day" at his signing day press conference, but that characterization belies some of the disappointment fans will be feeling as they examine the team's list of 21 commitments. The new head Hokie noted that he was pleased that "everything that was supposed to happen, did happen" on the day, a description that hints at the undercurrent running just beneath Fuente's efforts to trumpet the members of the class as best he could.

"It's a start, it's the foundation of what we're building," Fuente said. "It's a great first step in the next generation of Virginia Tech football."

While the Hokies were successful in adding two late commitments on the day — ATH Tyree Rodgers of Cherry Hill, N.J.'s Camden Catholic HS and LB Eron Carter of Palatka (Fla.) HS both signed their letters of intent Wednesday after visiting Tech last weekend — they found little success with the rest of the prospects waiting to make their decisions.

DE JaQuan Bailey of Jacksonsville, Fla.'s Raines HS was among the more painful misses for Fuente's staff, as he chose to pair up with his brother and head to Iowa State, even though he's fresh off a visit to Blacksburg that he seemingly enjoyed quite a bit.

The Hokies also failed to flip any of the committed prospects they were targeting. OLB Dominique Ross of Jacksonville's Trinity Christian Academy and DE Tomon Fox of Suwanee, Ga.'s Collins Hill HS both chose to honor their UNC pledges after Tech visits last weekend, while LB Chase Pine of Williamsburg's Lafayette HS stuck with Pitt, CB Coney Durr of Geismar, La.'s Dutchtown HS honored his Minnesota pledge, and WR Rick Wells of Raines HS stayed with Florida.

Similarly, the other players to join Wells and visit Tech in the middle of last week went elsewhere — ATH Tyrrell Pigrome of Pinson, Ala.'s Clay-Chalkville HS signed with Maryland, while OG Dylan Powell of Hannibal (Mo.) HS headed out to Stanford.

Unsurprisingly, Fuente and his coordinators didn't address those misfires, focusing instead on the positive aspects of the class.

Fuente mentioned repeatedly how happy he was with the nine early enrollees the Hokies have been working with for the last month, and he said securing their commitments was a key first step as his staff tried to hit the ground running.

"We basically divided this up into two separate classes," Fuente said. "When we got here, it didn't take us long to figure out that we had some immediate needs, in terms of midterm kids, high school kids that had graduated early, we needed to reach out them because their decision was coming on an accelerated time table, so we addressed those needs."

A key part of the early enrollee group are the three receivers to jump on board in January, especially given the team's dearth of depth at the position.

Samuel Denmark, Eric Kumah and Divine Deablo (along with summer enrollee Phil Patterson) will all have the opportunity to compete for playing time quickly, with little depth behind Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips.

"At wide receiver, we're not incredibly deep right now," Fuente said. "We only have two guys with a lot of reps last year, and we'd like to play a bunch of guys. With the tempo we run, I don't know how much or how little of that we'll be able to do or how fast these guys will come along. But it's big for them to be here in the spring to get a handle on what's going on, where they're lining up, all those sorts of things."

But even with so many receivers in the class already, Fuente confessed that the team still has room for more pass catchers down the line.

"We have some room to reach our goal number, but I was a little hesitant to get too many of those guys in one class," Fuente said. "If you're not careful, three or four years from now, you're gonna find yourself in the exact same situation when it comes to class dispersion. We wanted to be sure to spread those guys out."

Offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen said that goal Fuente alluded to is probably "10 to 12" receivers in total, but he added that the team will be looking to some of the other young WRs on the team before they throw the freshmen into the fire.

"Those guys get taxed the most when we're up-tempo and do the most running," Cornelsen said. "You're looking for five, but we've got numbers set for each position, but it's not exact, very rarely is it right on the mark."

Finding a quarterback to throw to those aforementioned receivers will be a key process for the new staff in the spring, and with two coming on board in this class in Josh Jackson and junior college product Jerod Evans, the Hokies will not lack for options.

"It's not just when we get to scrimmages or in spring ball, they're being evaluated every single day," Cornelsen said. "It's an ongoing process, because there aren't enough reps to go around. You can't get every single one of those guys as many reps as you want, so it's going to be an evolving depth chart. Ideally, a guy clearly emerges early. You get him going and get him the most reps, but it will be a fun spring, and I anticipate a number of guys will be in the mix for a long time."

With up to five quarterbacks to consider, counting Dwayne Lawson, Brenden Motley and Chris Durkin (if he hasn't made the move to TE permanently), Cornelsen admits that the team will have plenty of evaluating to do. But he added that there's "never too many quarterbacks," particularly as he works with Fuente to install an offense that will look substantially different from Scot Loeffler's scheme.

"Most concepts that we've been running will be things that we've installed, and some of those are similar to what they've been doing here," Cornelsen said. "It's hard to really pinpoint the exact direction that you're gonna go until you know exactly what you have."

Bud Foster won't have to do quite the same scheme recalibrations, but with several starters departing, he may have to look to some of the players signed Wednesday to contribute more quickly than he might like.

In particular, he'll need to do some serious evaluations on the defensive line, with the loss of three long-time starters. While there's plenty of depth at DT, DE is notoriously thin after Ken Ekanem.

On the team's signing day webcast, DEs coach Charley Wiles hinted that early-enrolled DE Jimmie Taylor would get the chance to earn some playing time sooner rather than later, and Foster echoed those comments, particularly when considering that backup DE Seth Dooley will miss spring practice with a shoulder injury.

"There's gonna be four young guys playing for the first time and getting quality reps this spring and learning every day and growing every day," Foster said. "I'm excited about what Jimmie's gonna bring to the table. I'm excited about what the other guys are gonna bring to the table. They're athletic. They're working hard right now. We're gonna have to grow up in a hurry at that position. That's been a playmaking spot for us over the years."

The graduation of Luther Maddy and Corey Marshall means that there will be work to be done at DT as well, and though there are players with more experience on the depth chart, Foster pointed to DT signee Jarrod Hewitt as a player that combines Maddy and Marshall's best qualities with potential to push for playing time quickly as well.

"He's twitchy," Foster said. "He reminds me a lot of Luther in a lot of his quickness and explosiveness."

With a pair of starters to replace at linebacker, Foster also said that the three players the Hokies signed at that position (Carter, Emmanuel Belmar and Tavante Beckett) will be important to building out the depth chart too.

"I like their diversity as far as athletic ability," Foster said. "I like their intelligence as far as their football IQ."

While Foster can point to an even distribution among the defensive recruits — with four DB signees, three at LB and two on the defensive line — Fuente admitted that he'd like to see more of an even spread on the offensive side of the ball going forward. Without a single running back or tight end in the class, Fuente said the staff has already identified that as an area of improvement looking ahead to 2017.

"We're hoping to sign a little bit of everything," Fuente said. "Hopefully we'll be back with tight end and running back, on the offensive side of the ball. We don't have a particularly large class this year, we only have 10 seniors, so it won't be an incredibly large class, though I'm sure we'll have some attrition, every program does. Hopefully our numbers will be a little more balanced, we can balance it out a bit more."

As Fuente looks to put his own stamp on the program, it's unsurprising that he identified in-state recruiting as a prime area of improvement going forward. He believes the new staff has already made "headway" in forming relationships with Virginia's high school coaches, and as Fuente looks to avoid other, similarly disappointing signing days in the future, he'll likely put a premium on deepening his in-state ties.

"I think high school coaches across the state appreciate the way we handled our business through this signing period," Fuente said. "We'll continue to develop that. We'll do things to reach out to them throughout the spring to make sure we're accessible so we can develop those relationships. I do think they appreciate the way we handle recruiting, but you can always get better."