Doug Doughty

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Events at Virginia Tech this week have trivialized anything else facing us here in the sports department, but I had reasons of my own to contemplate the effect that Monday’s shooting would have on recruiting.

Notice, I say recruiting and not football recruiting.

The older of my two sons virtually had made up his mind to go to Tech before the shootings. On Monday night, when his mother asked if he still wanted to go to Tech, his answer was, “I’ll have to think about it.”

By Wednesday, he was firmly in the Tech fold. That will give us two Hokies to go with their older sister, a 2005 Virginia graduate. We already had the “House Divided” bumper sticker on the back of the Jeep.

But, while classes at Tech have been suspended and students have the option of having their current grades count for the semester, the admissions process cannot be put on the hold.

While many student-athletes already have committed or signed by this point, this is an important time for those prospects – particularly football prospects – in the entering class of 2008.

Tech assistant athletic director for football operations John Ballein said Friday that the number of prospects and parents expected for the spring game this weekend was close to 200.

As opposed to UVa, where football prospects visit spring practice on a weekly basis, the Hokies acknowledge that Blacksburg is a longer commute for most recruits. The springtime focus has been getting players to campus for the spring game.

“Our spring game is what many people now call a ‘junior weekend,’ ” Ballein said Friday. “That’s what we’ve always done because of the number of people we get at the game. The weather’s better. It’s just a good atmosphere.

“We want it to be a good time. We want to make sure that our students are here and our players are here because that’s the important thing about Virginia Tech.”

Recruits already had set aside this Saturday to tour Tech, so, even when the spring game was canceled, it might have been the best opportunity for some of the would-be players to fit an unofficial visit into their schedule.

“That wasn’t even a thought,” Ballein said. “Our only focus right now is on our players and the families [of the shooting victims].”

Where Tech hopes to make up for lost recruiting time is with one-day, Monday camps in June and July. An overwhelming majority of Tech’s commitments last year followed a one-day camp in July, which is why the Hokies added a June one-day camp this year.

Gone are the team camps that have been a staple at Tech and at other programs.

“We’ve had a team camp every year since I’ve been here,” said Ballein, who is closing in on 20 years with the Tech program. “Last year, our numbers were down because we required a minimum number of players to be here with the team.

“We had such a good experience with our one-day camp last year that we decided we would give prospects two opportunities to come to Virginia Tech.”

Head coach Frank Beamer said on an ACC coaches’ teleconference Thursday that the mother of one of Tech’s players works with a woman who had a tie to one of the shooting victims, but that was the only concern personally expressed to him by the family of a player or a recruit.

It’s impossible to know how many 2008 recruits or their families watched coverage of the shootings – or to what degree – but Ballein said the football office had heard from people all over the country commending the Tech students interviewed in the media.

“I wish I had saved the message I got from Nike,” Ballein said. “My mother in Pittsburgh is far removed from Virginia Tech, but she called and told me, ‘I couldn’t be more proud to have you working there.’ “

COMMITMENTS ARE COMING at a much slower pace this year for both of the state’s I-A football programs. Virginia has two commitments, the latest from Cincinnati offensive lineman Aaron Van Kuiken on Feb. 26.

The third of three commitments to Virginia Tech was from Richlands wide receiver Austin Fuller on March 7 – six days after the Hokies had received a commitment from Amherst wide receiver Derrick McCoy. Myrtle Beach, S.C., linebacker Bruce Taylor had committed to Tech during the fall.

Virginia actually had a third commitment, from Menasha, Wis., tight end and outside linebacker Tyler Westphal, but Westphal subsequently took an unofficial visit to Minnesota before committing to Wisconsin.

From all indications, the Cavaliers no longer are pursuing Westphal and are looking at a Washington, D.C., metro player with similar attributes, 6-6, 230-pound Georgetown Prep tight end and defensive end Colter Phillips.

There was an interesting tidbit in a story written for the sabre.com by Chris Horne, who also covers recruiting for techsideline.com. It was a piece on Conner Kempe, a 6-4, 215 pound quarterback from the Benjamin School in Tequesta, Fla.

Kempe has written scholarship offers from the likes of Auburn and Purdue but said he has only an oral offer so far from Virginia. Kempe said his impression is that Virginia is waiting to see what happens with in-state quarterback prospect Mike Glennon before going out on a limb for another quarterback.

It seems as if Kempe sees Glennon as the No. 1 quarterback on Virginia’s list. If that is the case, then the Cavaliers obviously think they have a legitimate shot at Glennon, whose older brother, Sean, is the starting quarterback at Virginia Tech.

The last time I can remember brothers on different sides of the Tech-Virginia rivalry is was deep snappers Tyrus Gardner at Virginia and Jacob Gardner at Tech, but the younger Gardner never played in a game for the Hokies.

If the Glennons wind up on different sides of the Tech-UVa rivalry, unless I stand corrected, it would be a first for players of that stature.