Friday, January 30, 2009
Expect to see Miller on list of Tech signees
Thigpen situation interests Cavs
Doug Doughty
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Recent columns
Some Virginia Tech fans would be surprised to learn the identity of one of the players who will sign a football letter-of-intent with the Hokies next Wednesday.
I’m not talking about Lanford Collins, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end from Brooke Point High School in Stafford. Collins, rated the No. 11 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, had hoped to keep his commitment silent until next week but ultimately notified his hometown paper.
The other player has been listed as a Tech commitment for months, but he wasn’t expected to sign with the Hokies, at least not for football.
It’s Andrew Miller, an offensive lineman from Bassett High School who originally was expected to sign a letter for wrestling and not join the football team until the spring of 2010.
Miller made his commitment at a time when Tech was short on football scholarships and, since he was unlikely to find playing time on the offensive line as a true freshman, wrestling was seen as a way to not have him count against the football scholarship limit for football until 2010.
Attritition has opened up a few more football scholarships so Tech head coach Frank Beamer and assistant Bryan Stinespring stopped by Bassett on Thursday to let Miller know that they wanted him to sign a football letter next Wednesday.
Miller said Thursday night that he had heard there was a possibility he would sign a football letter in February. My question: why he didn’t sign a wrestling letter-of-intent in November, when there is an eight-day signing period for basketball and many of the non-revenue sports?
I’m now told that if Miller – or anybody – had signed a letter-of-intent for wrestling in November, he would have been ineligible to play one of the revenue sports for two years. That restriction would not have been in effect if Miller had signed during the April period.
By signing for football now, Miller will be able to be with the football team from the start of preseason drills in August, which wasn’t part of the original plan, as I take it. He said the football coaches have advised him to practice as if he’s going to play.
Being realistic, Miller figures that he will be redshirted, in which case he would wrestle for the Hokies in 2009-2010. At some point, yet to be determined, he would leave the football team and start practicing for wrestling.
Miller was a Group AA champion in 2008 and Tech wrestling coach Kevin Dresser is counting on him, according to Miller’s dad, John. When I said Thursday that the situation is a little confusing, John Miller said he’s been confused by it, too.
THERE HAVE BEEN some interesting twists in the recruiting of Virginia quarterbacks Tajh Boyd and Chris Coyer, both now committed to Division I-A programs, Boyd to Clemson and Coyer to Temple.
A source close to the situation told me that Boyd’s decision to decommit to Tennessee was followed by a phone call to West Virginia, the school to which Boyd had made an earlier commitment in the spring.
Boyd reopened his recruiting in the fall, settling on Tennessee before the coaching change that saw Lane Kiffin replace Phil Fullmer. Kiffin told Boyd that Tennessee would honor his scholarship but that the Vols would be looking for more of a West Coast-style quarterback.
According to my source, Boyd got back in touch with West Virginia by that time, but the Mountaineers were no longer interested. They already had taken a commitment from Eugene Smith, a 6-4, 185-pound quarterback who had played for a WVU alumnus at Miramar (Fla.) High School and picked the Mountaineers over Alabama, Michigan and South Florida.
BEFORE BOYD HAD committed and before his son had committed, Chris Coyer Sr. told me that Oregon and Ohio State had both said they would turn to his son if they did not receive a commitment to Boyd.
Sure enough, within days of Boyd’s commitment to Clemson this week, Ohio State called the Coyer residence in Oakton and invited Chris Jr. to take a visit to Columbus, Ohio, and meet coach Jim Tressel this weekend.
The younger Coyer knew of the Ohio State possibility when he committed to Temple several weeks ago but felt that he had more of a chance to have an impact with the Owls and would be more of an emergency pick-up for the Buckeyes.
JAMIE OAKES HAD some nuggets in his CavsCorner.com “War Room” this weekend, most notably that all-purpose threat Damien Thigpen (5-8, 170) from Stonewall Jackson in Manassas was looking at other schools after a March commitment to Tennessee.
Thigpen, rated the No. 28 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, apparently had a conversation with Kiffin that was similar to the Boyd-Kiffin exchange. Technically, Thigpen remains committed to Tennessee, but Virginia has jumped into the picture,
Thigpen has blazing speed but an injury hobbled him early in the season.
The most interesting item in Oakes’ column concerned Tyree Watkins, the Camden, N.J., wide receiver who committed to Duke last week after earlier committing to the Cavaliers. Oakes said three different people had told him that Watkins had worn out his welcome in a Jan. 16 visit to UVa. (Watkins visited Duke the next week).
Oakes also wrote that the Cavaliers are close to offering 6-6, 195-pound Varina High School wide receiver Bobby Smith, whose late availability and height conjure up thoughts of another Richmond-area receiver, Billy McMullen, who played for the Cavaliers.
IN A CONVERSATION last week, Fork Union coach John Shuman said he has been a party to conversations about Alex Owah, the Harrisonburg High School running back who committed to Virginia in December 2007 but recently revealed that he has been rejected for admission by UVa.
Shuman said Owah’s understanding is that the only way UVa would re-consider him would be if he attended prep school. One of Owah’s older brothers played for Fork Union.
