Comments on: Which players came from outside of Virginia Tech’s preferred six-hour recruiting radius?

By: Hokie Al

Hokie Al — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:50:36 +0000

@scott w. that would explain the Delray Beach players. I think tht Tech has establish a relationship and a track record there and that’s helping attract some quality recruits. I would say the same thing may be starting in Stone Mountain, GA. Tech’s pulled in some basketball and football players from there.

By: Stats

Stats — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:32:04 +0000

I think the Delray beach connection is Brandon Flowers. He clued the coaches about Jayron Hosley, I believe

By: Floyd Hokie

Floyd Hokie — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:24:38 +0000

Of the 2006 class three players I don’t think ever hit the field(Ajiboye,Edwards, Gee) and I’m not sure they ever arrived at Tech period. The influx of talent from Delray Beach area seems to be centered around Torrian Gray being able to gain the confidence of the players and coaches in that area. This leads to inroads with future recruits and makes spending time there worth the risk. Luther Maddy and Wedley Estime were not highly recruited players but Kyle Tucker reported their coach pitched them to VT when scolarships became available due to early exits for NFL and other reasons at the end of last season. VT apparently trusted that enough to make an offer(good choice). Beamer has said in the past he would rather focus closer to home because the farther you get away the more frequently players decommitt or fail to commit. Matt is right the SEC, Stanford, USC, and Penn State raid VA a lot.

By: scott whitaker

scott whitaker — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:39:40 +0000

I recall, and I may be wrong, TSL doing an analysis on this a while back. They compared players from out of the area to those within the area and their “impact” on the team. They devised a standard for “impact players” and found a higher percentage of them came from within the recruiting area, however that was defined. The point the writer made was that recruiters, if they narrow their recruiting area, strengthen their relationships which fosters improved recruiting.

By: Andy Bitter

Andy Bitter — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:04:20 +0000

Yeah, I put Adjepong/Worilds in the part at the end. I just kept it as Adjepong for the year he signed since that was his name back then.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:43:34 +0000

And since you’re new, you may or may not know that Jason Adjepong changed his last name to Worilds after he arrived at Tech. He’s now in the NFL.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:25:36 +0000

I think that VT has lost more of the top tier VA recruits in the past couple years due to an increased recruiting presence in the state by other schools (specifically SEC schools and even UVA) especially in the talent-rich Hampton Roads area than they were, say in 2005, and VT is having to extend their recruiting base to maintain the quality of recruits. If you look around the ACC and SEC, there are VA-born players everywhere…Tajh Boyd, E.J. Manuel, Philip Simms, Justin Hunter, etc…Other schools are starting to notice the talent in VA, likely because of the success that VT has had through having a mostly VA-born roster and VT can’t solely depend on recruiting VA as much as they have in years past.

By: ken

ken — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:06:34 +0000

Interesting how the increase in “out of area” recruiting the past two years coincides with the arrival of Mike London at UVA, who added a stronger competitive presence for Tidewater recruits.

Second, it would be useful to see if there were any VT “connection” to any of the players you listed. Six players out of Delray Beach could indicate that fair city would now be an honorary member of the Commonwealth.