Friday, June 06, 2008
Will Hokies' camp yield new commitments?
Cavs' recruiting still going strong
Doug Doughty
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With Virginia continuing to enjoy the state recruiting spotlight, Virginia Tech is preparing for the arrival of as many as 100 high-school juniors for a one-day camp today.
In the past, commitments have flowed out of Tech one-day summer camps but Hokies' fans should not jump to conclusions this time.
Venerable recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh says, in past years, Tech would invite top prospects to one-day camps with plans to offer them if they met the eye test.
Now, those offers are going out before prospects ever make it to campus, the sign of a nationwide trend toward and earlier and earlier offers and even more justification for an earlier signing period.
In the past, Tech might have brought a relatively unheralded prospect like Dinwiddie linebacker Bradley Johnson to camp, made an offer while Johnson was on campus and had him committed in short order.
Tech might get Johnson and it could be sooner rather than later. Johnson says that Tech is a school that has always interested him, but he is up to seven offers, so it's not like he doesn't have other options.
Dinwiddie coach Billy Mills said he wouldn't be surprised if Johnson committed to the Hokies because "they're [the Hokies] definitely at the top of his list. But, just the type of kid he is, I think he'll wait at least till he goes to see Maryland [June 22-23] because he told them he would be visiting."
OUT-OF-STATE READER David Ecker has submitted an e-mail about UVa's 2009 recruiting class, which already includes nine Virginians, because it has always been my (Doughty's) contention that in-state recruiting "matters."
Ecker says he doesn't mind where Virginia chooses to do its recruiting, just so the Cavaliers are getting good players. He doesn't want UVa to be making offers to in-state players just for the sake of signing in-state players.
I understand his reasoning, particularly with commitments last week from Perry Jones and LoVante Battle, but, if you read the comments last week from Jones' and Battle's coaches, it's clear that Virginia is making an effort to cultivate the Tidewater area.
If you're projecting a recruiting class of 15-18, you can't take as many chances as you could with a class of 22-25. Virginia looks like it will be in the latter category this year, so there is room for a little "cultivation."
Defensive end Jake Snyder from Deep Run in Richmond was a major "get" for the Cavaliers. Some were surprised when Ohio State and Penn State made early offers, but Snyder projects as a three-year starter and that comes from a rival coach. Nobody is going to pass up a potential three-year starter.
Virginia Tech thought it had a realistic shot at Snyder, but think about it. Snyder's brother is at UVa, his family has season's tickets, he's been a Cavaliers' fan for as long as he's followed football, and the Cavaliers were the first school to offer him. Plus, he lives 60 miles from Charlottesville.
You're supposed to get a player like that. The Cavaliers lost another player with UVa connections, defensive end Zach Thompson from Stone Bridge High School, who committed to Wake. But, then they got Charlotte, N.C., tight end Tucker Windle, whose father played for UVa.
That's not to say that the Cavaliers need to have an "in" before they can get a top-flight recruit, but you need to capitalize on the advantages you have. You also can't rely on connections because there are seldom going to be more than 2-3 each year.
CHRIS HORNE, WHO covers recruiting for thesabre.com and techsideline.com, has put together an updated rating of the state's top 30 prospects, including seven of the players who have committed to UVa.
The two UVa-bound players who didn't make Horne's Pre-Summer Top 30 were the above-named Battle and 6-6, 265-pound Centreville High School offensive lineman Luke Bowanko. At the time of his commitment, Bowanko had offers from Florida State and Boston College, and since then he has gotten offers from Syracuse and Vanderbilt. Expect him to move up on subsequent lists.
It's interesting to think that Bowanko and Bassett High School offensive lineman Andrew Miller both have been offered by Florida State. Seminoles' O-line coach Rick Trickett was in the school at Bassett and felt, after watching 10 minutes of film, that Miller was worth an offer.
"He said you can shake a tree in Florida and out would come all the running backs and DBs you'd ever want," Bassett coach Jay Gilbert said, "but he said it's not as easy to find hard-working offensive lineman."
Gilbert originally thought Miller would have committed by now, but Miller, a Group AA championship wrestling, has participated in a series of weekend wrestling tournaments that end either this weekend or next. Gilbert expects Miller to sit down at that point and zero in on his decision.
Of the four schools that have made either written or oral offers to Miller, two, Florida State and Wake Forest, don't have wrestling programs. Virginia has a wrestling program that almost claimed the ACC championship, but the Cavaliers have told Miller that they don't think it's feasible to play football and wrestle in college.
That's fine with Miller, who has been offered a wrestling scholarship by the Hokies. Once he participates in wrestling as a freshman, according to the Tech plan, he will join the football team in the spring of 2010 and count as a scholarship football player at that point.
"I think you'd see the wrestling chapter of his career end at that point," Gilbert said.
