Virginia Tech 2013 Recruiting Target List

[HokieGhost]

Was just comparing an inferior team's (Uva) OL recruiting to ours .. just a comparison .. and so what? When we play ohio state and wisconsin in the next few seasons, it'll matter .. Nothing personal. Just saying that we'll always get pushed around by Big 10 and SEC teams with the type of OL that we have. If we want to run a pro-like offense, recruit kids who are 300 lbs, not kids that take three years in the weight room and practice field (Newsome's words) before they're ready for VT's offense.

I don't recall that we got pushed around by Michigan.

In fact, we put up 377 total yards on Michigan while they managed to gain 184 total yards. We rushed for 163 yards while they could only manage 56. We did it with an offensive line consisting of one 4-star, two 3-stars, and two 2-stars when they were recruited out of high school.

If it hadn't been for a PAC-12 replay official with previous difficulties analyzing replays, we would have won that game.

 

[sparko]

Agreed!

agree on your agree!! more focus in PA .. they have good OL talent there. most of their ol talent goes northeast of them, not to the big10 (we'd have a hard time out-recruiting the B1G teams for OL). hate to kick a man while he's down .. but penn state is down .. pitt's gonna play in the coastal .. it seems like we'd have a good shot at getting some of those guys

 

[TagAndBrag]

The Northeast has some MONSTERS, and Blacksburg has better weather than Pitt and 'Cuse. It's a silly reason, but we've lost recruits for less.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Just an update for the target board- Facyson was been offered as a DB

 

[EvanGWatkins]

Just an update for the target board- Facyson was been offered as a DB

Interesting....

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

I will update this and the 2014 class page tomorrow from work.

Today I am drinking (coffee) and watching the Caps, going to the gym, having private workouts with s1m90 and watching the Super Bowl.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

having private workouts with s1m90

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

:hdn::preggers:

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

All but the fourth....ha ha

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

All but the fourth....ha ha

Yea realistically its more like

:hdn:

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Annddddd back on topic 216 says Facyson is also at South Carolinas Junior Day. No offer though.

 

[hunzworth]

I could probably buy "settled" if a recruit was offered after the conclusion of his senior year, but all three of the OLs we signed committed to us before their senior seasons got stated. Willenbrock committed on 5/16/2011, Conte on 7/20/2011, and Taraschke on 7/22/2011 after performing very well during a one-day camp in July.

I think you also have to ask yourself how many of the other 12 OLs we offered actually gave us a realistic chance to sign.

I think we had a realistic shot with Miles-redmond, Homer, Hayes, and outside shots with Pyke, Madras, and maybe even the standik's. I also think that if we land any combo of those, Taraschke and Conte prob dont get offers. By saying that i dont mean and disrespect to the guys we got, but they obviously werent our first options.

That is kinda my point. Why dont we have a better chance to land these guys?

 

[Camfantasy]

ESPN has Hackenberg as a 5 star. 20 TDs and 16 INTs?

He has an offer from Alabama....you know how ESPN rolls! Look for an Under Armour All American game invite here ASAP as well.

 

[HokieGhost]

Here's a little more on OLs. I did a search on the FREE Rivals recruit database for committed 5-star OLs going back to 2002. I broke that down by state of origination and then assigned them to regions. My thinking is that should provide us with a pretty good indicator where the best high school OLs can be found.

Here are the results:

South - 11
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Florida - 6
Alabama - 3
Mississippi - 1
Louisiana - 1

Pacific - 9
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California - 7
Washington - 2

Mid-Atlantic - 9
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North Carolina - 5
Virginia - 1
New Jersey - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
Maryland - 1

Southwest - 9
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Texas - 7
Arizona - 2

Midwest - 8
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Ohio - 3
Illinois - 2
Minnesota - 1
Wisconsin - 1
Nebraska - 1

Mountain West - 4
------------------
Colorado - 2
Utah - 1
Idaho - 1

Northeast - 1
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Connecticut - 1

I was actually shocked that the Mid-Atlantic area has produced as many 5-star OLs as the Pacific and Southwest areas.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

only because you included north carolina in the mid atlantic. they could easily be in the south then it changes everything since they had 5.

 

[bigesse16]

I think we had a realistic shot with Miles-redmond, Homer, Hayes, and outside shots with Pyke, Madras, and maybe even the standik's. I also think that if we land any combo of those, Taraschke and Conte prob dont get offers. By saying that i dont mean and disrespect to the guys we got, but they obviously werent our first options.

That is kinda my point. Why dont we have a better chance to land these guys?

We need to cast a larger net for one thing. Our biggest problem is that OL in our region, especially VA has been down the last few years. And in order to bring more people to VT, we need to provide more recruiting days (more Junior days, a weekend event for the Spring Game, etc.). We need to give recruits a reason to visit VT and to have excitement behind the program during these visits.

I think Conte is a steal though. The kid was under the radar because he was home schooled and looks like he could be a big contributor. I think our summer camps are huge and even though fans might not like that we use them to offer guys who don't appear to be our first choices, it's a great way to evaluate kids in person. But I get your point that the big names seem to avoid VT and we need to create a reason for them to want to come here.

 

[HokieGhost]

only because you included north carolina in the mid atlantic. they could easily be in the south then it changes everything since they had 5.

Okay...break it down by state by Rivals 5-star players and the total population under 18 for each state according to the 2010 US Census (millions rounded off):

California - 7 (9 mill)
Texas - 7 (7 mill)
Florida - 6 (4 mill)
North Carolina - 5 (2 mill)

Ohio - 3 (3 mill)
Alabama - 3 (1 mill)

Illinois - 2 (3 mill)
Washington - 2 (2 mill)
Arizona - 2 (2 mill)
Colorado - 2 (1 mill)

Pennsylvania - 1 (3 mill)
Virginia - 1 (2 mill)
New Jersey - 1 (2 mill)
Louisiana - 1 (1 mill)
Maryland - 1 (1 mill)
Minnesota - 1 (1 mill)
Wisconsin - 1 (1 mill)
Mississippi - 1 (< 1 mill)
Nebraska - 1 (< 1 mill
Utah - 1 (< 1 mill)
Idaho - 1 (< 1 mill)
Connecticut - 1 (< 1 mill)

North Carolina stands out to me. That state has an average under 18 population but seems to be producing more 5-star OLs per capita.

 

[hunzworth]

We need to cast a larger net for one thing. Our biggest problem is that OL in our region, especially VA has been down the last few years. And in order to bring more people to VT, we need to provide more recruiting days (more Junior days, a weekend event for the Spring Game, etc.). We need to give recruits a reason to visit VT and to have excitement behind the program during these visits.

I think Conte is a steal though. The kid was under the radar because he was home schooled and looks like he could be a big contributor. I think our summer camps are huge and even though fans might not like that we use them to offer guys who don't appear to be our first choices, it's a great way to evaluate kids in person. But I get your point that the big names seem to avoid VT and we need to create a reason for them to want to come here.

We had (according to our board) 19 offers in 8 states (only 4 in VA and 2 of those were late) so i think we did a pretty decent job of going outside our "footprint". I dont think more offers are necessarily the key either, we just need to do a better job of landing the ones that we do offer. I completely agree about getting these guys on campus more, to add to that i would also like to see us get them here earlier. You hear tons of stories about guys that we have been on since they were freshman or sophmores but that never seems to be the case with any OL. I know OL is the toughest position to evaluate but just because you invite a guy for a UV or camp doesnt mean that you have to offer then.

FTR I also really like conte. Like i said i wasnt trying to disrespect him, just saying that if some of the guys higher up the target board had accepted their offer, we prob wouldnt have had a need for him. Im all for the summer camps (wish we had more). I think they serve a lot of good purposes, they get guys on campus, they give our coaches a chance at a first hand evaluation, it also gives guys a way to get their name out there. If im not mistaken frank lets some of the smaller schools come so im sure some guys get offers that way.

I think what hurts us more than anything in OL recruiting is that we have no history of great OL's. You have to believe that other schools are pointing this out and to be honest we have no way to counter. IMO you need to do 1 of 2 things at every position in college football, either recruit top tier athletes or be able to develop them. If you show you can develop them, that starts to attract better recruits and the next thing you know you've got some history. This year was a step in the right direction IMO and im starting to feel pretty optimistic about next years group, so maybe we are getting there. Fact is that right now we just arent a very attractive team to top tier OL.

 

[EvanGWatkins]

Ga will be a new regular spot