Unc@vt

[hoard]

And besides--Drew, you're one of the VERY few people that could even name Strock/Druckenmiller and link them to VT football. Most people have no idea who they are. Most VT fans any of us have ever met have no idea who in the world they are. You ask them about Michael Vick though--and it's on.

I would be willing to bet there were a lot of new Miami fans in the 1980s who had no clue who most of the Canes' best players were prior to 1983 too.

[hoard]

yeah, Ryan is an elite QB, before that it was Rivers.

for VT to become a national title contender, they have to spread out their recruiting and bring in some 4* and 5* kids. They compete well, but until they catch up to the top teams in talent level, they wont ever make any big splashes on the national scene.

Blacksburg's a difficult place to get highly-rated out-of-state kids to come to--small town, not near any large cities, and so-so weather. Sure, they've pulled some kids out of Florida in the past that turned out to be pretty good, like Brandon Flowers, but even he wasn't highly-rated.

IMO they could get some more 4 stars out of VA and occasionally out of NC, MD, etc more consistently if they get a little better offensive scheme in place. There have been a ton of highly-rated QBs in VA that didn't choose (or even consider) Tech probably because of their sub-par passing game. Just off the top of my head....Philip Sims, Kevin Newsome, Tajh Boyd, Bryn Renner, Mike Glennon, EJ Manuel...I'm sure I've missed a few.

[gcdevil22]

Blacksburg's a difficult place to get highly-rated out-of-state kids to come to--small town, not near any large cities, and so-so weather. Sure, they've pulled some kids out of Florida in the past that turned out to be pretty good, like Brandon Flowers, but even he wasn't highly-rated.

IMO they could get some more 4 stars out of VA and occasionally out of NC, MD, etc more consistently if they get a little better offensive scheme in place. There have been a ton of highly-rated QBs in VA that didn't choose (or even consider) Tech probably because of their sub-par passing game. Just off the top of my head....Philip Sims, Kevin Newsome, Tajh Boyd, Bryn Renner, Mike Glennon, EJ Manuel...I'm sure I've missed a few.

Blacksburg is a pretty tough place to recruit, but not necessarily for football...basketball recruiting in Blacksburg is probably the toughest job in the ACC, you think about the culture of basketball and it is strongly centered around inner city kids and a culture that just isn't found in Blacksburg

put that together with VT have no national presence in the basketball world, and an average gymnasium and you are 2 steps behind any major program who will recruit the kid...the reason Coach Greenberg has had marginal success at VT is because he finds prospects earlier and sells them on 2 things....him being there first, and the atmosphere the fans bring to the game night in and night out

now, VT has added a multi-million dollar practice facility and the results are already showing...when I was with the program, the most top 100 kids we ever brought in at any one time was 2 in the same weekend...a month after the new facility opened we were able to get official visits from 5 top 100 players and unofficial visits from 2 top 100 players...we already have 2 top 100 kids committed in Jarrel Eddie (2010) and Robert Brown (2011)....it's a step in the right direction, and directly related to persistence on the recruiting trail and the new facilities

sorry for the basketball rant, but it's what I know...

now, as for football...Beamer took control of the VT program and wanted to operate under the idea that he could become a national program by locking up the state of VA and only sparsely recruiting the areas surrounding VA (NC, SC, MD)

that theory has worked to make VT a nationally recognized name (along with a pretty quick guy named Vick), but failed in adapting his program in order to take it to the next level...I think at some point they are going to have to recruit other areas harder, even if it relinquishes a little of the stronghold it has on the state...they have started to recruit FL and GA more and it has paid off for players like Sergio Render and Jayron Hosley, and hopefully will do the same with Mark Leal and Detrick Bonner

Blacksburg isn't a problem for football b/c it's actually a very good town for football, the whole community worships the football team and there are a lot more country boys in football than other sports(or the player has lived in a small town before), so a remote area like Blacksburg isn't as much of a disadvantage

I'll break down why VT didn't get the QB prospects you mentioned

Philip Sims - never considered VT, combination of the offense and his head coach's feud with the staff over what he perceived as a misuse of Greg Boone

Kevin Newsome - VT just flat out got beat in that race, there were a lot of ppl in VTs favor in his camp, but PSU did a good job to steal him away

Tajh Boyd - VT got Tyrod Taylor by targeting him alone as their QB of choice...VT gambled and threw all their eggs in the Newsome basket and lost out on both

Bryn Renner - his father used to hold a kicking camp at VT, until Beamer cancelled and wouldn't allow him to use their facilities...the relationship was sour from the beginning

Mike Glennon - fan treatment of brother, Sean Glennon

EJ Manuel - didn't consider VT, purely offense there

[Biggin]

i like Sims a lot. 6'2, pro style QB but still runs a 4.8-4.9 40 yd dash, 200 lbs, has TREMENDOUS zing on the ball, his arm is like a rifle, can put some touch on the ball, and is very accurate for a HS kid.

I like Sims a lot, he looks like a **** LB tho, they will have him rework his body type when he gets to campus, and probably redshirt, then really give star jackson or aj mccarron for playing time.

[Biggin]

to me, VT will have to spread out their recruiting net to become a national title contender in football.

VA has great talent, and a top ten state, but they cannot win national titles with VA kids alone.

VT has virtually no presence in some very rich states like GA, SC, AL, LA, or MS.
VT has a couple FL kids, but not many.

drew, why doesnt VT go harder for PA kids? I know you really thought they had McCoy couple years ago, but other than that, they rarely go after or get any PA kids. Blacksburg is not that far away, but its harder now that Pitt is getting better.

[Rocky]

i like Sims a lot. 6'2, pro style QB but still runs a 4.8-4.9 40 yd dash, 200 lbs, has TREMENDOUS zing on the ball, his arm is like a rifle, can put some touch on the ball, and is very accurate for a HS kid.

I like Sims a lot, he looks like a **** LB tho, they will have him rework his body type when he gets to campus, and probably redshirt, then really give star jackson or aj mccarron for playing time.

I swear it seems like i went to some football camp that this kid was at, i dont remember which one it was though. it was either him or howie longs son but hell its been a while back so who knows

[gcdevil22]

to me, VT will have to spread out their recruiting net to become a national title contender in football.

VA has great talent, and a top ten state, but they cannot win national titles with VA kids alone.

VT has virtually no presence in some very rich states like GA, SC, AL, LA, or MS.
VT has a couple FL kids, but not many.

drew, why doesnt VT go harder for PA kids? I know you really thought they had McCoy couple years ago, but other than that, they rarely go after or get any PA kids. Blacksburg is not that far away, but its harder now that Pitt is getting better.

They do to a certain extent, though it could obviously be greater...some names off the top of my head that we were after in PA...

Chris Drager, current DE at Tech
Kevin Jones

Christian Wilson, chose UNC
AJ Alexander, cant remember if he chose Pitt, PSU or FSU
LeSean McCoy, like you said...he actually committed to the staff on his visit then committed somewhere else on his next visit, ultimately choosing Miami, then Pitt

that's just off the top of my head...I think Brian Toal was a PA kid and know his dad went to VT, I don't remember what happened there...

I'd like to see us back in NJ myself, we landed Jason Adjepong (Worilds) out of NJ and another stud DE who never qualified, then we seemed to stop recruiting the area...it's really weird

another area is Baltimore...VT has a HUGE percentage of alumni in Baltimore/DC/NoVa and running backs coach Billy Hite is a DeMatha alum and is friends with the coach, but we haven't recruited the school other than the FB on our team Kenny Jefferson

DeMatha produced Kenny Tate (Maryland) and Jelani Jenkins (Florida)...those are just two of their good players from the last 2 years

it's puzzling...but the staff is pretty stubborn and their relative success hasn't really caused them to rethink their strategy, maybe if they see what could have been this year, then maybe we'll see a change

[Ironlung]

I swear it seems like i went to some football camp that this kid was at, i dont remember which one it was though. it was either him or howie longs son but hell its been a while back so who knows

He's a black kid so you shouldn't have gotten him confused with Howie's kid.