Hey WAVY.com readers!  My name is Mandi Wasmer, and I’m the new Virginia Tech correspondent for WAVY.com.  I’m here to keep you up to date on any and all exciting events here on campus in Blacksburg, as well as writing about college life in general.

As a Newport News native, it’s definitely a different life for me here in Blacksburg, but it’s a life I’m both learning from and enjoying!  I’m a freshman communication and interdisciplinary studies major hoping to work in editing and producing when I graduate, so this will be an incredible learning experience for me as I keep you all in the know about what’s going on in Southwest Virginia.

The campus is buzzing this week, since classes just resumed after spring break.  Now we’re all in for the long two month haul before summer break is finally upon us.  Some big things are happening in Blacksburg in the near future, including the April 16th Day of Remembrance and the Big Event (a day of Hokie community service), which I’ll post many updates about on here as we get closer.

Have a good week everyone, and I’ll be in touch!

–Mandi

That huge sigh of relief you may have heard or felt today was from dozens of parents, students, teachers and coaches across Hampton Roads following National Signing Day. Imagine having the next 4 or 5 years of your college education payed for free of charge! In these tough economic times, its hard to put a price tag on that.

Football players across the area signed National Letters of Intent today and quickly sent them thru the fax machine to their college choice. It’s a ritual played out each year across the country. It’s the final process of years of hard work on both the field of play, the weight room and in the classroom.

As a highly recruited athlete myself, I remember signing day like it was yesterday. It was one of the biggest days of my young life and the sense of relief was enormous. The long and frustrating recruiting process was finally over and the next chapter of my life was clearly ahead of me. Not only was I proud of my accomplishments, I felt a great sense of pride for being able to help out my parents. Yes I know how these players are feeling today and when I see the smiles on the parents faces, I can recall the joy felt by my mother and father who were at my side the day I signed with Virginia Tech.

National signing day marks both the end and beginning of a long journey. These players have put in countless hours to get to this point in their career. Now with their high school career almost behind them, it’s time to focus on the future and where their next challenge lies. While all of these kids were stars in high school, they will quickly find out that it will be tougher to distinguish themselves at the next level. These players will quickly find out that everybody on the field of play is an All-Something player. And if they thought they got hit in high school, wait until a seasoned college senior gets a running start and welcomes them to the college game!

But that’s a lesson to be learned tomorrow. These college bound student athletes can enjoy what they have earned today and for each player who signed to play college football, enjoy the day and feeling because you earned it.

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!