are their any local kids beside Johnson from Richlands and Hess from Richlands doing any signing today?
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are their any local kids beside Johnson from Richlands and Hess from Richlands doing any signing today?
Hess didn't sign yesterday. Still pondering his options.
Hess signed with Richmond this morning. Johnson signed with Marshall as expected. Christian Lishen, a lineman from Marion, signing with Wise.
Kid from George Wythe signed with D2 school in West Virginia.
Jonathan Turpin to Glenville State and also GW's Mikel Hawks to Bluefield College.
Tazewell's kicker Andrew Murray walking on at Va Tech.
Thats awesome! I wish each one of these young men all the best and I hope they go on to become stars at the next level
What about Dotson and Graham? Any news on them?
Graham hasn't gotten any offers. The KTN had a bit about Dotson and Graham at the end of their article on local signees. Dotson has walk-on invites from Marshall and Virginia Tech among some other offers.
KTN article
Hayworth, Garvin highlight local crop of athletes to ink letters of intent on National Signing Day- Kingsport Times-News
The BHC mention Graham and also Lee's Robbins situations in the article on Graham's POY honor...
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Lee's Tyler Graham pays price for success | TriCities.com
Lebanon's Bryan Salyer going to Tusculum.
I feel bad for Graham. The kid is a hell of a football player, wish him and dotson the best!
You would think running for 490 yards in UVA Wise's back yard would at least gain some interest from them.
You would think anyone in swva whose ran in their backyard for the past few years in the region d championships would. Sorry but uva wise is screwing up by not recruiting locally like they should. Their program will soon be history like etsu's if their recruits from NoVa and out of state continue. Look at all the local talent that signed the other day, uva wise isnt putting up a fight with tusc, CN, and etc. uva wise's recruiting system is a joke. And this is coming from a person who went through it with them. Most unprofessional thing ever, thats why I didnt take my talents to wise co so to speak.
Just remember when it comes to recruiting a kid, athletics isn't the only thing you have to take into account.
So 1InStripes, does Graham lack the grades?
Thats what kills me. UVA Wise goes north to get kids when here in the region D lays talent that is just as good if not better. I know grades play a huge factor in recruiting but i know all the kids in region D aint retards and Im about sure that most of the northern recruits aint geniuses either. Id love to see these local colleges start doing some home town recruiting
I agree to that! Not football or D1 but Gate City's Garrett Watts had signed with King College today for Cross Country and Track.
A lot of it has to do with grades, core classes especially, but there's also the fact that so many of the kids don't stick with it. Clintwood has probably had close to 10 the last decade get offered there, they go and don't make it through fall camp, or quit somewhere in the first year. Osbourne, Robbins, both the Robinson's, and Russell Hull all had offers after they finished their careers in 09. The only one still there is Hull, the Robinson's at least gave it a shot but quit less than a year in, and the other two didn't make it through very many practices. It's not a knock on those guys but it makes you wonder how interested they are in wasting their time if the kids aren't going to stick with it. I myself had an offer in 95 and didn't take it.
I don't know, but when you know a kid is as talented as he is, and not getting offers, it makes you wonder.Quote:
Originally Posted by gchs_devils
Actually took my son for a visit this summer when "11" I believe they said of the most prospective SWVA kids were invited for a visit and Graham was invited and didn't come, I think he may have thought he was going to get offers from possibly bigger schools and kind of put UVA Wise on the back burner.. just my opinion though.
From personal experience, I dont recommend uva wise to anyone. Especially for football. Its a joke.
I think you hit on a big part of it. It was mentioned on the CMD forum that he was aiming for bigger schools. I'd say there are some like Wise, Emory, etc. who are interested if he wanted to go to any of them. It read more like than in the BHC too. Also said he was willing to walk-on if he had to. I think Lee's Robbins is looking toward the same too. His dad played at Michigan. He's not received any offers but he has received some interest from smaller colleges.Quote:
Originally Posted by Homecoming
Exactly. In my opinion, UVA-Wise has missed the boat on many occasions with recruiting. It seems UVA-Wise is not aggressive enough to get close talent. My knowledge of this is with several players who went through the experience with UVA-Wise, as you did, and we all agree 100%. Since the beginning of football at the college, Region D, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Northern Tennessee has produced a stable of very talented football players. Not many at all were given the opportunity to play at Wise. Look up http://www.vhsl.org/files/pub-vhsl-r...-june-2011.pdf and see for yourself. Some homegrown Virginia talent is listed in the record books. I think many of these young men were not even recognized by UVA-Wise and two current record list players are getting ready to be over looked too. Lee’s Graham is listed at 20th on the VHSL all-time list in career rushing with 6008 yards. We all know about his night on the UVA-Wise field with 490 yards, but does anyone from UVA-Wise know this? (Sarcasm) That night produced the 3rd best VHSL all-time single game rushing performance, which came exactly 17 years to the day from the 4th best. That was Thomas Jones and if anyone can tie or break a record held by Thomas Jones then enough said. Graham may walk-on at a bigger school, but why would you not keep going after him legally with all you have plus more. From what I am told, this is not going to happen. Again, not aggressive enough. It would be safe to bet that if Graham does not walk-on somewhere else, UVA-Wise would still not even consider him. It is as if UVA-Wise has a personal grudge against anyone who does not tell them yes right away. Again, not aggressive enough. Haysi’s Dakota Stanley is listed on the VHSL as 9th all-time with 165 career receptions and only 8 catches behind Percy Harvin. I know he is no Harvin, but Stanley is good enough to play at UVA-Wise. Stanley is also tied at 3rd for a VHSL all-time single game in receptions with 17. PREP FOOTBALL: J.I. Burton stops Haysi, 46-28 | TriCities.com This performance was again at the UVA-Wise field. Do you think UVA-Wise realizes this? If so, and from what I am told they do not even have him on their radar, they are missing the boat. Take it for my opinion only, as everybody has one.Quote:
Originally Posted by gchs_devils
Maybe one side tried to reach out, but the other side just refused to respond?
It's not that they don't want to get kids from around here. I do believe that the odds of a player staying in school and on the team greatly increases with them being from a distance away and getting them away from their old friends. Think about it if the only friends they have around are their new teammates and they all have to do the same thing everyday as far as goin to practice and working around the same schedule then they aren't talkin to runnin around with their high school buddies that don't have to go to practice and such. They see their old buddies out running around having fun while they are workin their but off in practice, weightroom and classroom it is very easy for them to go be with their buddies instead of stickin with football. Playin ball in college is year round not just a few months from Aug-Oct/Nov and the guys at that level have been used to everyone including coaches gushing over them their whole lives and now they are just another kid and it's a hard pill for them to swallow. Same reason freshman that live on campus aren't allowed to have cars at a lot of schools, if they do it's to easy for them to pack up and leave whereas if they don't have it mom and dad are likely to make them stay and tough it out instead of coming to get them and after the first year they are exponentially more likely to stay/come back.
Good points. I guess we will never truly know what goes on behind those closed doors or phone calls. A recruiter could have given their all for some of our local talent and it just did not pan out. Selfishly though, I would love to have seen a lot of our areas past high school players together and kicking butt in a Cavalier uniform. If all the cards fell in place, they would have been some tough teams over the past years.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBeast
Imagine if back in the 90s if UVA Wise had got half of the talent in the LPD! They could have been a power house with the kids who were just a little too undersized for D1 that came out of Appy,PV, JIB, JJkelly, Pound, and Coeburn. You could have had some powerful lines and some killer defenses IMO. But as was mentioned who knows what happens behind closed doors?