Doug Doughty

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The state’s highest-rated uncommitted football prospect made his college choice this week and couldn’t have created less buzz.

Running back Kevin Whaley, rated the No. 7 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, committed to Minnesota and apparently will sign with the Gophers next week.

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t remember hearing Minnesota’s name mentioned or at least being mentioned prominently.

There were early questions about Whaley’s academics but not about his ability. He was a two-time, first-team All-Group AAA selection and rushed for more than 4,000 yards in his final two seasons at Salem High School in Virginia Beach, with more than 60 touchdowns.

Whaley had early offers from Virginia Tech and Virginia and probably would have gotten a bigger rush from the Hokies if Tech didn’t feel it could get Manassas Stonewall Jackson running back Ryan Williams, who was a better student.

UVa got an early commitment from Connecticut running back Torrey Mack, who is their lone recruit to date who has a four-star rating. The Cavaliers have plenty of running backs and figured they could stop at one in a recruiting class that was not going to approach the 25-scholarship NCAA limit.

Maryland also was mentioned with Whaley, but apparently most of the attention he was getting was from outside the mid-Atlantic area (Minnesota, Michigan State and Connecticut).

I can’t remember the last Virginian to go Minnesota, aside from my boyhood friend from Maryland’s Montgomery County, Chris Coyer. Coyer was a Fairfax High School quarterback around 1970 whose son, Chris Jr., could be a Division I-A quarterback signee next year out of Oakton High School.

Zirkle Blakey from Virginia Preps says he can’t remember another Virginian going to Minnesota.

Bryan Black, who coordinates prep coverage for the Virginian Pilot in Norfolk, points out that Whaley is not a big back at 5 foot 9 and 170 but “size is not an issue,” Black said.

“He can play!” Black said. “We’re told his academics are fine, and we’ve seen no concrete evidence of any significant character issues – at least no moreso than many, many other kids who are highly recruited and won’t pay a dime to go to college.

“Once the season got underway and he proved again that he is, indeed, one heckuva football player, interest in him seemed to pick up.”

Black said there was talk of an early offer from Tech being back on the table. Chris Beatty, a former Tidewater high-school coach, was hired as an assistant at West Virginia and made inquiries on behalf of the Mountaineers.

“There were other schools involved,” Black said. “But, Whaley is not a real communicative kid. It was difficult to keep a finger of it. In fact, as of Friday afternoon, we still have not talked to him about his commitment.”

VIRGINIA’S LATEST commitment is from Steve Greer, a 6-foot-2, 218-pound linebacker from Solon (Ohio) High School.

If I ever had the time for the research, I’d like to know the track record of these recruits to whom Virginia and Virginia Tech have extended late offers over the years.

One of the best was another Ohioan, Ben Taylor, who committed to the Hokies on Feb. 3, 1997, two days before national signing day. The only other school that Taylor visited was Kent State.

Taylor had 129 receptions in his final two seasons at Bellaire High School, across the Ohio River from Wheeling, W.Va., but he also had 192 tackles as a senior, when he was one of six finalists for Mr. Football in Ohio.

Taylor was one of Tech’s original “grayshirts,” postponing his enrollment until January 1998. The following is taken from a December 1999 article entitled “Finders, Keepers … How Virginia Tech Built a National Power.”

Taylor's uncle, Jeff Schleicher, lives in Bedford County and is an industrial arts teacher at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg. Schleicher got a tape with Taylor's highlights and persuaded one of the coaches at Glass, which had sent Andre Kendrick and Carl Bradley to Blacksburg, to drop it by the Tech football office.

"I actually think the tape got lost," Taylor said this week. "I made up some other tapes and sent them to Tech and Virginia and some other places and that's when the interest from Tech really perked up."

Taylor was one of six finalists for Mr. Football in Ohio, but if he had left it up to the coaches, he might have fallen through the cracks forever.

"That's the way it looked," Taylor said. "I'd have been at Kent State or walking on somewhere. I have no clue how it happens. I finally heard from Ohio State after the signing date and I told them, 'Sorry, I'm taken. I'm going to Virginia Tech.'"

Taylor said he feels Tech attracts a hungrier breed of player based on the recruiting oversights.

"Definitely," he said. "There's a lot of guys like Engelberger and [linebacker] Tee Butler who have earned their way on here. I was kind of looking forward to playing Ohio State sometime but, see, they're not as good as us."

Taylor, a fourth-round NFL draft pick in 2002, spent five seasons in the NFL and had 110 tackles for Cleveland in 2005. Taylor started 33 games in his Tech career, led the Hokies in tackles in 2000 and 2001 and was a first-team All-Big East linebacker as a senior.

GLOUCESTER HIGH SCHOOL coach Tommy Reamon said that his son, Tommy Jr., will announce his choice Tuesday. The younger Reamon, who played quarterback for his father, has a final four of Missouri, South Florida, Buffalo and Division I-AA Old Dominion.

“We had an interesting last 48 hours with Virginia,” said the older Reamon, who did not elaborate, although the Cavaliers eventually took an out-of-state quarterback, Riko Smalls, from Plano, Texas.

NOBODY SHOULD PLACE unwavering trust in rankings when a player who did not make The Roanoke Times’ Top 100, 6-6, 210-pound Atlantic Shores wide receiver E.J. Drewery, receives a Division I-A offer.

Drewery, who had 57 receptions and 1,700 all-purpose yards this past season, has committed to Southern Methodist.

Drewery transferred from Atlantic Shores to Oscar Smith in Chesapeake following his sophomore year. However, he played sparingly at Oscar Smith and returned to Atlantic Shores and the private-school level as a senior.