Virginia Tech 2012 Recruiting Target List

[sparko]

agree

that caleb would be huge -- and i think that he's the best shot out of the 3 personally

i'd love to get all 3 -- we NEED all 3 but if i had to pick em, i'd take em in this order:

caleb
kirven
ekanem

 

[ImAHokie]

I don't think ESPN has much of a mid-Atlantic recruiting presence, if any. Thus the most recent articles of each prospect are essentially what led them to make such wild guesses. They obviously don't have an ear to the ground in the state because the two they mention have been considered Hokie leans from practically day 1 so anything that doesn't include VT in a major way just shows they're reading press clippings and have no insider info(or common sense, I guess).

 

[Sleepy T]

I don't think ESPN has much of a mid-Atlantic recruiting presence, if any. Thus the most recent articles of each prospect are essentially what led them to make such wild guesses. They obviously don't have an ear to the ground in the state because the two they mention have been considered Hokie leans from practically day 1 so anything that doesn't include VT in a major way just shows they're reading press clippings and have no insider info(or common sense, I guess).

Agree, When it comes to recruiting each individual site (and individual person) has their connections, evaluators and opinions. As much as we give rivals hell I think they may be less bias than ESPN or def. 247. As far as scout goes..sometimes I am not sure who they have running their show..I think they piggy back off of other sites and dont know much more than the resident insiders on message boards know. Lemming has been in the game a long time too. Lugenbill is a wanna be Lemming...

 

[HoHumHokie]

So according to Ri___ Rankings:

Ohio State already has 4 WR's committed (2 are 4 star prospects), WVU already has 5 WR's committed (1 is a 4 star). No doubt there is probably less competition and more playing time available at VT for Caleb.

Tennessee already has two 4 star DT's committed and Alabama has 3 DT's committed. Hopefully, playing college ball close to home is enough to get Kirven to Blacksburg.

I don't see a whole lot on the defensive side in ND's recruiting class thus far...not sure what the outlook of playing time for Ekanum looks like between VT and ND. But VT has Bud Foster!

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Punter AJ Hughes is OV this weekend too. Should make all Hokies happy after last seasons woahs.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Looks like Jackson Matteo may be headed to UVA

 

[HoHumHokie]

Punter AJ Hughes is OV this weekend too. Should make all Hokies happy after last seasons woahs.

Ugh...Clemson has a commit from the #1 punter...he's 6'-6"!!!

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Looks like Jackson Matteo may be headed to UVA

The writing was kind of on the wall for that one. It is too bad, I really liked him and we need OL. I am not sure whey we have so much trouble recruiting that position.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Meh, no real loss in my opinion. We don't need more average OL recruits, we need better ones. Willenbrock has everything but the weight. Conte has all the potential in the world and don't forget about

Brent Benedict - Yahoo! Sports

 

[jeffro151]

Looks like Jackson Matteo may be headed to UVA

Am I the only one that thinks Matteo looks like he should be in about 8th grade? Kid looks really young.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

I felt that Matteo was underrated, based on his film, but that was just me. Like you, though, we need to recruit the bigger time guys. Hopefully Shuman and Gibson will pan out.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Am I the only one that thinks Matteo looks like he should be in about 8th grade? Kid looks really young.

Definitely a big baby face.

Still no Greyson Lambert

http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/W8kbrder/Clemson/Lambert.jpg

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

For you Jeffro

 

[HokieGhost]

Here's a quick state of the union and recap of Tech's OL recruiting since the arrival of Coach Newsome. Just a reminder, but Coach Newsome started work at Tech in Jan 2006, too late to influence the recruiting of OLs for the 2006 Class.

Tech recruited 5 OLs for the 2006 Class: Render, Warren (high school TE recruited as an OL), Brown, Hall, and Crum. Render and Warren ended up as starters, but Brown left the program because of injuries, Hall lost his scholarship and transferred, and Crum graduated but never contributed.

2007 was Newsome's first OL class in which he had input. The OLs recruited for 2007 were Dechristopher, Brooks, Alvarez and Latif. Dechristopher and Brooks ended up as starters, but Alvarez and Latif transferred. Nosal and Lanier were both recruited as TEs for this class but were converted later to OLs where both ended up as starters.

(NOTE 1: Alvarez and Latif are the ONLY OLs recruited under Newsome's watch to leave the program. There were a number of OLs recruited in previous years that Newsome had to weed out.

NOTE 2: Lanier and Nosal are the LAST of the TEs to be converted to the offensive line.)

The 2008 Class included Via, Painter, and Becton. Via and Becton have seen quite a bit of playing time to date and will be expected to play major roles in 2012. Painter chose to start as a DL and lost a year of development as an OL, but he will be expected to compete for a starting job this coming Spring.

Miller, Gough, and Wang were recruited for the 2009 Class. Miller is already a starter at OC, and Wang is expected to compete for a starting job. Gough is a bit of an unknown at this point in time....unless he steps up this Spring he will be in danger of being passed by several younger OLs.

The 2010 Class includes Benedict, Shuman, Farris, Arkema, Gibson, and Acree. Even though Benedict didn't arrive until 2011 as a transfer from UGA, I'm including him in this class because he was a 2010 recruit for UGA before transferring to Tech. Acree was recruited as a DT, but made the switch to OL in 2011. All 6 of these OLs are expected to compete for starting jobs and/or slots in the 2-deep for 2012.

Goins was our only OL recruit for 2011 and took the redshirt last year. He will also compete for a spot in the 2-deep for 2012.

(NOTE 3: That's a total of thirteen OLs currently on the roster. Acree is the only current OL on the roster that was not recruited specifically for that purpose. These are all Newsome's guys now...no holdovers remain from any classes previous to his arrival in Jan 2006.)

Willenbrock, Conte, and Taraschke are all 2012 OL recruits. All three players...speculation at this point...may greyshirt or prep with a scheduled arrival in January 2013.

People have been critical of the offensive line's performance over the past few years, but the offensive production this past year was actually pretty good. The OLs have gotten MUCH better at pass-blocking as noted by the improvement in sacks given up to opposing defenses. We definitely need to tweak what we do in the Red Zone, but that has more to do with play selection/creativity than OL performance.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Pretty good summary...I've always been critical of Newsome. Felt like the OL was much of the problem when guys like DW, RW and DE would get stuffed at the line.

 

[Sleepy T]

Nice job TAE, I have probably been as critical as anyone of Newsome and the OL on this board, but honestly, it could be far worse. IMO "The trenches" whether it be on OL or DL, is often where the biggest of games are won and lost, and where the premier programs (SEC, OSU, USC, etc.) usually get the cream of the crop in recruiting. Although VT has had some good OLines in the past, I dont think we have ever had a GREAT OL (as a whole). The only way you can even expect to compete in BCS bowls and the MNC is either to have exceptional OL/DL and some very good players around them..OR to have good OLs and GREAT skill players. We have never had a combination of both, (minus '99 and Vick) and that is why we have not been able to get over the hump. I complain, but we have probably have a top 3-4 OL in the ACC every year, only MAYBE a top 25-50 OL overall though. I'll give Newsome a C+ in recruiting OL, but only about a C/C- in coaching. The OLinemen that VT has recruited and developed do not fit the offensive scheme that we want to run.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

They can have Matteo. We will just take one of the best standup pass rushers in the country.

 

[sparko]

wrong sparks

you're wrong sparks -- top 3-4 in acc on OL ?? that's a stretch. i'd say that miami, fsu, uva, unc, and probably bc consistently have a better OL .. and 4 out of 10 wouldn't be much to brag about .. 25-50 OL in the country?? a much BIGGER stretch. i'd say that pretty much every team in the SEC, B1G, most in the Big12/Pac12 have better olines than us. We'll never be able to recruit lineman like the B1G and SEC do .. but we could do alot better ... considering what the rest of the coaching staff has done with "good" talent (at times, mediocre) .. i'm not impressed with the slowness of our OL development.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

our 2010 class of offensive linemen as noted above could be an excellent o line class. all of those guys have great size and gibson/benedict/shuman were all 4 star guys, along with acree as a dlineman though.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Our pass protection was very solid this year. Definitely played a big part in LT gaining confidence and throwing all over opponents most of the year. Our running offense sucked though, we were something like 116th in the nation in plays for 0 yards or for a loss and we couldn't punch it in in the goal line like we could in years past.