Friday, May 08, 2009
VT-bound Florida quarterback also had WVU on his final list
QB also a top priority for Cavs
Doug Doughty
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On the day that Delray Beach, Fla., quarterback Mark Leal committed to Virginia Tech, visitors to his school Thursday included University of Virginia assistant Chad Wilt.
Atlantic High School coach Andre Thaddies didn’t know at the time that Leal would be making his decision later in the day and wasn’t surprised that UVa might be interested.
The Atlantic High quarterbacks coach is Omar Jacobs, who was the Mid-American Conference player of the year as a senior at Bowling Green in 2004. Jacobs’ coach at Bowling Green was Gregg Brandon, the new offensive coordinator at Virginia.
“He had heard from Virginia before,” Thaddies said. “It was a guy with an Italian name who isn’t there any more [Bob Diaco]. It made sense that they were interested in Mark. They’re going to the spread.”
Leal, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, had five rushing touchdowns as a junior but the quarterback doesn’t do much running in Atlantic’s version of the spread.
“Our quarterback coach doesn’t believe in it,” Thaddies said.
Leal passed for 2,355 yards and threw 21 touchdown passes. He was intercepted seven times.
Originally from Arizona, Leal began his Atlantic High career on the freshman team. He became a starter in the eighth game of the 2007 season, when Thaddies decided “that I just couldn’t wait any longer,” he said.
At the time of his commitment Thursday, Leal had seven Division I-A offers, according to rivals.com. In addition to Tech, they were from Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, West Virginia and Florida International.
“He just decided, ‘If I had to sign tomorrow, I would sign with Virginia Tech,’ “ Thaddies said. “He was ready to get it over with.”
West Virginia also was one of the finalists for Ricardo Young, a 6-1, 170-pound quarterback from H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C., who had committed to the Hokies earlier Thursday.
“I was talking to Brandon Flowers about the pros and cons of [Leal] going there,” Thaddies said, “and he said that Tech’s always going to bring in two or three quarterbacks.”
FLOWERS IS AN Atlantic High graduate, as is Jayron Hosley, a defensive back from Delray Beach who signed with the Hokies in February. Flowers and Hosley are cousins.
“I think that had a little bit to do with the decision,” Thaddies said. “Not only that we’ve had somebody up there for a while, but that there will be somebody he knows when he gets there.”
Thaddies wasn’t offended that the Sunshine State’s big three of Florida, Florida State and Miami hadn’t offered.
“Miami has recruited him,” Thaddies said. “They just weren’t ready to pull the trigger yet.”
“At Florida, they already had their guy.”
The Gators have a commitment from 6-3, 200-pounder Trey Burton from Venice, Fla., who, like Leal and Young, is rated a three-star recruit by rivals.com. Burton also was recruited by West Virginia.
My impression from the Hokies is that both Leal and Young were recruited as quarterbacks first, with Young probably needing a little more work from a weight-training standpoint.
The attraction for Leal, according to his coach, was a tradition of athletic Tech quarterbacks that was most evident in Michael Vick and is now identifiable in Tyrod Taylor.
“He wanted to go somewhere where he fit the mold,” Thaddies said. “He didn’t want to go somewhere where they would try to fit a square into a triangle.”
THE COMMITMENT BY LEAL was Tech’s seventh for the class of 2010. Virginia has one commitment, a Feb. 23 pledge from Mount Ulla, N.C., running back Kevin Parks.
The Cavaliers had seven commitments by this time a year ago and went on to add four more by the end of May. It’s worth noting that two of the commitments were from players who ultimately de-committed, Harrisonburg High School running back Alex Owan and Olney (Md.) Good Counsel running back Caleb Porzel.
(The News-Record in Harrisonburg reported this week that Owah will prep at Hargrave Military Academy).
Of course, that was a Virginia class that swelled to 25 once it was completed. Early projections are for a 2010 UVa class in the 14-18 range. I’m hearing that Virginia Tech will sign between 18-22.
(I’ll bet you right now that both UVa and Tech are on the high side of those ranges and easily could surpass the upper limit).
Like the Hokies, Virginia is in the market for quarterbacks. Phillip Sims from Group AAA Division 6 state champion Oscar Smith in Chesapeake had to be first on UVa’s list and had to be first on Tech’s list, too.
Heck, Sims was the No. 1-ranked quarterback on the rivals.com top 100 list that was updated this week, although he was only 58th overall.
(Sporting News Today had Sims rated 24th overall, but he was behind two other quarterbacks, No. 17 Jake Heaps from Sammamish, Wash., and No. 20 Blake Bell from Wichita, Kan. Bell has committed to Oklahoma).
Two of the quarterbacks at the top of Virginia’s wish list, both of whom the Cavaliers have offered, are 6-3, 220-pound Andrew Hendrix from Moeller High School in Cincinnati and 6-2, 200 Sam Gibson from Plattville, Ala.
You’d have to say there’s some irony there: Alabama getting a commitment from a Virginian and Virginia recruiting an Alabaman. Who was the last UVa player from Alabama, walk-on fullback Steve Morse in 1984?
WITH TWO FIFTH-YEAR seniors vying for the starting job next year, with a fourth-year junior in the mix, Virginia needs to sign a quarterback in this class.
If I’m remembering correctly, head coach Al Groh told me recently that there were some uncommitted junior quarterbacks in the state who have caught his eye.
Jake McGee, a 6-5, 210-pound left-hander from Collegiate in Richmond, passed for 30 touchdowns as a junior. So far, Virginia has not made a big push for McGee but the Cavaliers don’t have to be reminded about the last Collegiate QB they turned down.
That was Russell Wilson, this year’s first-team All-ACC quarterback as a redshirt freshman for N.C. State.
