Running back Drew Harris will prep at Fork Union
Virginia Tech won the battle for highly-coveted Pennsylvania running back Drew Harris last fall, but it will have to wait until next year to get him on campus.
Harris will attend Fork Union Military Academy for a year to improve his academics before attempting to enroll again in college, a long-rumored decision that was finalized in the last week.
“He’s got a really good test score, but he didn’t have a great semester in the classroom, so he came up a little short,” said Hokies running backs coach Shane Beamer, who was Harris’ primary recruiter.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pounder from Downingtown East High in Exton, Pa., was considered one of the jewels of Tech’s 2012 signing class. He ran for 4,977 yards and 36 touchdowns in a high school career that was cut short by a knee injury his senior season.
A four-star recruit, Harris was ranked the No. 9 running back nationally by 247 Sports. Virginia Tech beat out a host of big-name schools, including Miami, Michigan, Penn State, West Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina to get his commitment last September and sign him in February.
Harris expressed optimism about coming to Tech this summer while visiting one of the Hokies’ spring practices, saying he hoped to enroll in July and play right without redshirting.
“I like to model my game after Adrian Peterson,” he said. “I wouldn’t consider myself a straight power back. I feel like if you’re a power back, you’re pretty limited. And I don’t think I’m limited.”
Harris and Williamsburg wide receiver Thomas Smith are the only two players in the class expected to prep for a year. Both will be at Fork Union.
Although Harris signed with Virginia Tech in February, his recruitment is technically re-opened.
“We’re optimistic that he’ll be coming back to Virginia Tech when all is said and done,” Beamer said.
The Hokies still have several other running backs in their 2012 signing class. J.C. Coleman, from Chesapeake, enrolled in January and went through spring practice.
Chris Mangus, a speedster from Raleigh, N.C., is the other player who will play running back for sure. Trey Edmunds, a talented two-way player from Danville, still could wind up on either side of the ball.
“Trey might have gotten a look even if Drew was there, so it’s something that we’ll see when practice happens in August,” Beamer said.
The Hokies have a large but inexperienced pool of running backs vying to replace David Wilson, who was a first-round pick by the New York Giants after breaking Tech’s single-season record with 1,709 rushing yards as a junior.
In addition to redshirt freshman Michael Holmes, who established himself in the spring as frontrunner for the job, and converted fullback Martin Scales, the Hokies get junior Tony Gregory back following offseason knee surgery.
“He’s pumped,” Beamer said. “He’s been working hard in the weight room. He’s been working hard in the training room. … He’s a guy who nobody really talks about, but he’s a guy who I think has a lot of ability and speed and is athletic, and I’m excited to see him 100 percent healthy and see what he can do in the fall.”
June 19, 2012 - 12:01 AM
I wonder if this is a common practice among colleges to send their commitments to prep to improve their grades. I know Tech have always done that every year.
It also sounds like Tech is rolling the dice and hoping that Harris sticks to Tech after prepping at Fork Union.
I believe that is one bold prediction down the tubes.
Who pays for his year at Fork Union?
I sure hope he stays with us.
I think my bold prediction would have stood had he qualified. I’m curious to see if Edmunds gets that much more a look now.
I believe the player and his family pay for the year at prep school, since they’re not on scholarship.
Andy, do you know how much “good” weight Tony Gregory has added? Shane said he’s been working hard in the weight room. It would be nice to see him beefed up a little. He’s always looked slight to me, but if he’s added muscle to that speed he could be much improved.
No clue on Gregory. I guess we’ll see when he hits the practice field. Whatever it is, it’s got to be better than when he was sidelined with the ACL.
Speaking of Gregory, are the coaches still mulling moving him to the defensive backs? And isn’t it a violation for Beamer to be talking about Gregory working out in the weight room?
Coaches can’t work with players on the field right now.
They can talk with them about their weight room work. And they can comment on it. Nothing wrong there.
As for the idea of him playing DB, I think they just wanted to familiarize him with the broad points of it in case of an emergency.
Thanks for the clarification, Andy. I swear the NCAA have way too many rules that don’t make sense.
I know Tech has good contacts with Fork Union and obviously they guided him there rather than the JUCO in his home county. I don’t know if we ever “lost” a recruit after sending him there. One hopes the staff will say something if Spurrier’s people start talking to him…
Can coaches watch film with players now?
As far as, the running back Harris going to Fork Union, it is an arranged process. Vt had a good idea that Harris wasn’t going to get eligible when they first started recruiting him, which makes you wonder how he was going to get into school in the first place, however, I’m sure John Shuman will free up some scholarship money to make it affordable. Fork Union probably costs between $25-27K, Shuman will free up about $10k in scholarship dollars, which means Harris or someone will have to come up with the rest.
This also means, that Harris will not graduate from his high school and will fail so he doesn’t have enough credits to graduate so when he enrolls at Fork Union he can take the easy classes and get good grades so he can increase his GPA that correlates to his SAT score, which must not be very good, because the NCAA Clearinghouse uses a sliding scale. In other words, the higher your GPA is, the lower your SAT can be.
He should fit in well, some female tudor is going to have their hands full…
His recruitment is only reopened if he preps the full year, right? Is there no chance he preps a single semester and enrolls in January?
So Baron, Wright, etc. are not going to prep, or they may but only for a semester?
It sounds like a year at Fork Union would be very beneficial for young Mr. Harris. He seems to me like he needs a reminder that education is more important than mimicking his football heroes.
It will be interesting to see if he sticks with the Hokies, or chases a bigger name school.
HDN,
Coaches canNOT watch film with players…they canNOT meet with them in a classroom setting or talk about schemes and technique. The S&C coaches are the only ones that CAN have contact with players during this time…
Everyone is in summer school taking classes though.
Even prepping for a semester, it opens up your recruitment. He still has to re-sign with Virginia Tech (WR Robert Lockhart, for instance, chose to go to Miami in January after a semester at FUMA.) But Harris could prep for a semester and enroll in January if he gets his grades in order that quickly.
From what I’ve been told, Harris and Smith were the only two that will prep. That doesn’t mean guys a few won’t grayshirt, which would delay their enrollment until January. Baron falls under this category. Wright may or may not. We’ll see if he’s here right away.
Obviously, FUMA is pro vt, one of Shuman’s sons is a GA there…for the record AB, no one has signed anything, all juniors can do is verbally commit, and it is non-binding. Harris or any recruit for that matter, can change there mind everyday. All vt can do is use the leverage of telling him that they got him placed at FUMA and therefore you owe us your loyalty, but sometimes that doesn’t work.
AB, if they can get out of FUMA or Hargrave after the semester then they will do everything they can, but they don’t like to let them leave early, because then the school won’t get the balance of the money in the second semester…
Stack, got any sources or real numbers that would support any of your comments about FUMA freeing up scholarship dollars for Harris? Or is this just another example of you saying whatever sounds good to you in your [poor] effort to make some sort of point?
The sons of two of my best friends did some time at FUMA. They really liked the routine and the discipline aspects helped instill some sense of responsibility they lacked. As it turns out, both also tutored some prepping scholorship athletes.
I am not entirely sure that Stack’s assumption about female tutors is correct.
I don’t think that FUMA could possibly hurt young Mr. Harris and might well set the tone for a strong future. Certainly we don’t need a star RB with a huge sense of entitlement (not saying Mr. Harris is one) and FUMA will help any player look deeper than their own veneer.
In so many ways David Wilson was special. Wish there were more like him.
Also, check out Arian Foster sometime. This is another good character guy.
Compare them to the jokers with the Saints who still can’t believe that they did anything other than properly play the game.
hokie24,
FUMA has a set number of scholarships to give, maybe 11 or 13, so yes, they will free up scholarship dollars to give him or whomever they want to give scholarship dollars to…the point being, they don’t have enough scholarships to give every player one. They have 11-13 scholarships for 60 players, so do the math.
Zman, what assumptions about female tutors? You think that they are going to assign a male tutor to him or any other student-athlete? I would say that there aren’t many males at all in that department.
Stack, Harris did sign a NLI in February. He was a senior. But since he’s going to prep, it opens up his recruitment and he’ll need to sign another one next February. So he is a recruitable athlete once again.
“FUMA has a set number of scholarships to give, maybe 11 or 13, so yes, they will free up scholarship dollars to give him or whomever they want to give scholarship dollars to…the point being, they don’t have enough scholarships to give every player one. They have 11-13 scholarships for 60 players, so do the math.”
Umm…. ok? So to get a scholarship, you have to get money from the pool of scholarship money. I think we all understood that already.
You tried to make it sound like FUMA would be doing something shady to get Harris some financial aid. Why? Anything to back that up?
And why would you assume that tutors would be only or mostly female? Anything to back that up?
Andy,
My bad, I thought he was a 2013 recruit who they knew wasn’t going to get eligible…yes, his recruiting has opened up again and he will have to sign a NLI again.
Hokie24,
I’m sure Shuman was told and knew that Harris was going to be borderline and thus held back scholarship dollars “just in case” he didn’t make it. Well he didn’t make it, so a “plan B” was already in place.
Why would I assume that tutors are mostly female??? Really, do I need to answer that…don’t be so naive…
Go hokies!
“I’m sure Shuman was told and knew that Harris was going to be borderline and thus held back scholarship dollars “just in case” he didn’t make it. Well he didn’t make it, so a “plan B” was already in place.”
Ok… again, that would be something called “planning.” We all do that when we look ahead, there’s nothing shady about planning ahead. I know… weird, right?
“Why would I assume that tutors are mostly female??? Really, do I need to answer that…don’t be so naive…”
This is just trolling. Why accuse Fork Union of using women that way? Just because they have students that move on to VT? FUMA is an all-male military boarding school.
Most all PGs in football and basketball at FU get most of that year paid via some type of financial aid. Heck Chris Washburn went there. In reality the school will make that money back via donations from its famous alumni as a gesture of thank you. Look at the list.
Stack, since I personally know two former students (males) at FUMA who tutored athletes I have to think that you are assuming facts not in evidence. FUMA is a real school with real students. It is not some sort of residential facility for interpersonal adolescent recreational activities.
Not to say that attendees are squeaky clean but it is a military academy with all that entails.
Oh. And since you apparently don’t know, it is ALL MALE, with grades 6-12. Check the web site.
If you have some knowledge of illegal activity (prostitution – pimping – etc) I suggest that you owe it to our society to provide it to the state police. Otherwise, shut-up more and talk less. Especially when you don’t know what you are talking about.
If VT’s academic standards were higher than the NCAA’s minimum of 2.0 he wouldn’t have to prep at FU, he could go somewhere else. This explains why VT was able to sign this kid in the first place, schools with academic standards higher than the NCAA minimum did not even recruit him because they would never get him in. This also explains why UVA can’t beat VT (Did you people notice Stanford & UVA never recruited him despite him making Parade All-American?)
Robert: You seem to have a convenient memory about highly recruited football players (Parade All-Americans no less) attending FUMA in order to improve their academics for admission to VT or any other unversity for that matter. Didn’t UVA recruit and have Morgan Moses attend FAMU so he could qualify for admission? Morgan Moses is only one of several UVA has sent to FAMU, as has VT and a number of other fine schools.
It’s too bad this kid couldn’t get his academic act together and meet the necessary requirement to get into Tech. He could have made some sort of meaningful contribution to the upcoming season. I’m sure he’s kicking himself in the rear right now. I’m sure the coaches were counting on him too to bolster the backfield. Holmes will have a heavier load now.
This isn’t the first time Robert has made comments that he pulled out his rear instead of basing on facts. If VT’s academics were no higher than the NCAA minimum then there would not be recruits who went elsewhere (texas tech, marshall, wvu) because they did not meet VT’s academic standards. I’m not defending VT’s standards as being high or lofty, but certainly above the NCAA minimum. UVA’s may be a tad higher but not much. Heck, we’re recruiting the same players mostly.
How common is it that a guy who doesn’t qualify academically had the issue with GPA vs. SAT? I have nothing to back this up, but just knowing how high school things work with football stars, I would expect most of the “local boy done well” cases would kind of get handed the grades they needed, then exposed by a standardized test that didn’t know they were football stars.
Also, does Tech actually have academic standards above and beyond the NCAA minimum? I’m a Tech grad/fan, so I’m biased, but I know of a few examples where guys had discipline problems force them down from Tech and into Marshall/Louisville (and maybe ECU). Academically, I know Beamer’s book references a math requirement that made Herman Moore ineligible at Tech and eligible at UVA, but I wondered if that was “selective interpretation.”
Does anybody actually know? Not just looking for trash talking.
Jonathan, I do not know what the full academic standards are for VT or any other university. However, if a student can not be admitted to VT for academic reasons but can at another BCS school, then apparently the standards are not at the NCAA minimum. The GPA number at VT may not be higher than the NCAA minimum but the required courses from which that GPA is calculated are not the minimum standards. Interestly, UVA has NO minimum GPA requirement. So, if you’re talking strictly GPA then where does UVA stand? However, UVA is quite selective overall. VT’s academic standards are not that much lower than UVA overall or for student athletes. The Atlanta Journal Constitution released an article about the gap between overall student bodies and the student athletes. UVA’s football player SAT mean was 993 vs. 951 at VT. UVA’s football player GPA was 3.04 vs. 3.08 at VT. This data is about 10 years old – not sure how much it has changed since then (SAT scores are very different now – these were the old 1600pt scale scores). Since VT and UVA recruit mostly the same athletes, we should expect there would not be a lot of difference in overall academic scores. VT does have a “special admit process” which may allow some students in to VT that would not otherwise be admitted to UVA but it is unclear if UVA has such a process. I’m not sure how this process is used – probably more for home-schooled kids and kids from non-traditional schools or foreign countries more so than skirting academic standards. I’m sure Stack would disagree with this assessment though yet provide no facts or data to back up his asinine claim.