Hokies Losing Local Recruiting Battle
December 17th, 2008 at 1:24 am by Chris Reckling under Sports
I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard Frank Beamer say, “We have to get the best players in the 757 area if we hope to win.” He’s not alone. Just recently JMU head coach Mickey Mathews told Ahmed Fareed how important recruiting Hampton Roads has become. Mathews plucked an overlooked diamond in the rough in quarterback Rodney Landers from Tallwood High School and Landers almost led the Dukes to the national championship game. Such a bummer that Landers suffered an ankle injury early on against Montana in the national semifinal.
But getting back to Beamer and his Hokies. For years the Gobblers cornered the market here in the 757 area, but not this year. That honor goes to those savy Virginia Cavaliers. Just as the Hokies snagged the best players from the area, the Wahoos did just the opposite. Al Groh and his crew rarely captured the best players from this area, until this year. Six local studs have committed to play for Virginia and one big fish is still out there. You know, the Army All-American who recently led Phoebus to the state title. Landing Tajh Boyd would put the Cavaliers over the top and give them thier best haul in Hampton Roads in recenty history.
Tajh, if your listening, Virginia would be a great fit for you. And thats coming from a Hokie!
If Boyd ends up choosing Virginia, he would join Javonti Sparrow from Western Branch, Laroy Reynolds from Maury, Jontel Evans from Bethel, LaVonti Battle from Phoebus, Perry Jones and Tim Smith from Oscar Smith as part of Virginia’s class of 2009. Thats a pretty impressive group.
The Hokies will not come away empty handed this year. They have received committments from Telvion Clark from Granby, James Gayle of Bethel and Tyrel Wilson from Hampton. All three are defensive brutes who will fit nicely in Bud Fosters quicksilver defense.
Now both the Hokies and Cavaliers will put their spin on why they recruited who and why they did not get such and such. That’s just the way it is. But one things for sure, if it comes down to numbers, more players chose to play in C-Ville than the Burg. That should be concerning for you Hokie fans out there. But then again, until Virginia wins on the field of play and beats the Hokies, I guess it doesnt really matter!
Tags: al groh, chris reckling, hokies, jmu, mickey mathrews, Tajh Boyd, virginia tech
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Chris, I think you have definitely overstated this a bit. Vt has DOMINATED UVA in the Hampton Roads area for 6 or 7 years. They had to be selective this year because they’re only bringing in 20 recruits this year versus the 30 they hauled in last year. This year should not be concerning to Tech fans because of the situation. (The only one we missed on is Newsome).
I do know Tech coaches are excited about their smaller class this year and they got most of who they wanted. In case you haven’t noticed they are more selective in their recuiting and it showed this year on the field with the less penalized team in the ACC (more dicipline and a higher graduation rate- #1 in the country for Top 20 teams). Last year’s dominance in the 757 was eye opening for UVA. We hauled in Painter, Roberts, Davis, Dunn, Boyce, Gibson, to name a few. We have landed some better players outside the area this year in Logan Thomas/Lunchburg, David Wilson/Danville, Exum/Richmond, and Rhodes from S.C. Look at Ryan Williams who we signed last year from NOVA.
For you to say we’re losing the recuiting battle locally is not true and a big stretch. If you’re trying to get some feedback for your blog, I guess you succeeded. It’s the first time I’ve checked it out and I have to admit, I didn’t expect to see such an uninformed article from you.