Recent Hokies offensive line commit Eric Gallo’s high school coach at Council Rock South likes to say that the school in Holland, Pa., though just 15 miles outside of Trenton, N.J., is still hard to find.

“We’re only 11 years in existence as far as our program is concerned. Sometimes people don’t have it on the radar,” Vince Bedesem said last night.  ”We’re actually a very tough place to get to GPS-wise. Everybody keeps screwing it up.”

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So Bedesem thinks the Hokies did their due diligence in scouting Gallo, who was unrated by the online scouting services until after his commitment yesterday. The rising senior only had offers from Buffalo, Temple, Massachusetts and Villanova before Tech came calling.

“I think with social media and the availability of these kids to be able to put video and highlight tapes out on the Internet, coaches go on the Internet,” Bedesem said. “I mean, they’re no dummies. Everybody’s got to keep up with the Joneses here. And they keep constantly surfing the net and I guess coach [Jeff] Grimes was the one that found him and started pursuing him and obviously did his due diligence and he hooked up.”

Council Rock South, despite being relatively new, has produced some college football-level talent before, including offensive tackle Justin Pugh, who went to Syracuse and recently was drafted in the first round at No. 19 by the New York Giants. He was a two-star recruit who Bedesem said had two offers when he left high school.

Gallo’s older brother P.J., a 6-foot-3, 245-pound tight end, redshirted at Maryland last year and could be in line for playing time this season.

Eric is a little bigger. At 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, he is the first offensive linemen in the Hokies’ 2014 class and the first player Grimes has secured since joining the staff. Bedesem described him as a “hard-nosed, down-in-the-dirt kind of kid,” which fits the description of the kind of player Grimes has said he wants on the team.

Gallo plays both offensive line and defensive line for Council Rock South, earning all-league honors on both. He was a right guard in the team’s triple-option attack, although Bedesem anticipates moving him to center for his senior season so the Golden Hawks are less predictable about which side they run to most often.

“Probably he looks the prototypical center,” Bedesem said. “Big upper body, powerful legs, very, very, very intelligent. He also translates that into football smarts also.”

That’s on and off the field. Bedesem said Gallo’s a 3.8 student who does a lot of volunteer work. He was also voted the first junior captain in Council Rock South’s history.

“We just feel that for both Eric and Virginia Tech, it’s going to be a great match,” Bedesem said.

Virginia Tech got its first offensive line commitment for next year’s class Wednesday when Pennsylvania guard/center Eric Gallo said he’d sign with the Hokies in 2014, according to 247 Sports.

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The 6-foot-2, 275-pound Gallo, who is finishing up his junior year at Council Rock South High, is a rated as a three-star recruit by 247 Sports and the No. 7 center nationally. He had offers from Buffalo, Massachusetts, Temple and Villanova.

Hokies offensive line coach Jeff Grimes was Gallo’s recruiter. It’s the first commitment he’s gotten since joining Tech’s staff in January.

Offensive line is a need position for the Hokies in this class. Tech signed four offensive linemen in February but only three in the two classes before that.

Gallo is the Hokies’ ninth commitment for 2014. Here is an updated list:

• TE Xavier Burke, 6-3, 247, Lawrenceville (Brunswick)
• DB Terrell Edmunds, 6-1, 180, Danville (Dan River)
• OL Eric Gallo, 6-2, 275, Holland, Pa. (Council Rock South)
• DB Javon Harrison, 6-2, 190, Lakeland, Fla. (Kathleen)
• DB Kalen McCain, 6-1, 175, Durham, N.C. (Hillside)
• ATH Travon McMillian, 6-0, 196, Woodbridge (C.D. Hylton)
• DB C.J. Reavis, 6-0, 199, Chester (Thomas Dale)
• DE Vincent Mihota, 6-4, 240, Fredericksburg (Massaponax)
• RB Marshawn Williams, 5-11, 200, Hampton (Hampton)

Here’s Gallo’s highlight reel:

I plan to get the 2013 opponent previews up and running this week, so that’ll break this monotony of bits-and-pieces blog posts that have I’ve been putting up lately. For that we can all be thankful.

In the meantime, here’s another one of those grab-bag blog posts to get your work week started …

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– There aren’t any 2013 signees who are enrolled in Virginia Tech’s first summer session, which starts today.

There was some confusion about the status of five-star cornerback Kendall Fuller, who tweeted that he is in Blacksburg already. I’ve been told he won’t start until the second summer session, which starts July 9.

Expect a good chunk of the Hokies’ signing class to enroll then if they’ve qualified. Last year, 20 signees enrolled in July. This year, there won’t be that many, since seven already enrolled in January (Brandon Facyson, Carlis Parker, Parker Osterloh, Jonathan McLaughlin, Jerome Wright, Seth Dooley and Woody Baron). But given the timing of many high school graduations, the second summer session is the only one that works logistically for a lot of incoming freshmen.

– The old video board at Lane Stadium? It’s practically gone. If you click to make this picture bigger, you can see that all that’s left are the bottom of the stanchions that held the old board up.

The new one is expected to be completed by Aug. 1, at which time you’ll probably have gotten 100 or so scoreboard progress updates from me.

– Virginia Tech looks like it’ll be getting a visit from one of the top 2014 QB recruits in the country this weekend. Norman, Okla., quarterback David Cornwell tweeted last night that the Hokies are on his upcoming itinerary.

There’s Virginia Tech on May 31, Alabama on June 2 and Tennessee in late June. The recruiting sites continue to say Alabama is the favorite, but the Hokies have to be encouraged that they’re getting a visit.

247 Sports ranks Cornwell as the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the 2014 class, while Rivals ranks him third.

– Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t lead you to VTPhreak4evr’s blog, where he’s doing 130 games worth of old Virginia Tech highlights in 130 days this summer. This group of games is from 1993-98 and 2010-12, complementing the last batch, which went from 1999-2009.

If you’re a Virginia Tech fan, it’s fun to watch. At the very least, it’s interesting to see the evolution of TV coverage for college football.

Woodbridge athlete Travon McMillian become the eighth commitment in Virginia Tech’s 2014 class when he publicly announced Thursday that he’ll sign with the Hokies next February. TechSideline.com was at McMillian’s press conference this afternoon.

The C.D. Hylton High quarterback, who had 14 Football Bowl Subdivision offers, chose Virginia Tech over finalists California and Georgia Tech.

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Rivals and 247 Sports list him as a three-star recruit. 247 Sports ranks him as the No. 17 player in the state. The Roanoke Times’ Doug Doughty ranked him as the No. 6 junior in the state.

The 6-foot, 196-pound McMillian plays quarterback for C.D. Hylton, throwing for 1,313 yards and running for 1,194 last season. Some schools were looking at McMillian as a defensive player, although his entire history is on offense. It’s unclear if he’ll end up at quarterback at Virginia Tech.

“He hasn’t played a down on [defense],” C.D. Hylton coach Tony Lilly said. “Not yet. He’s too daggone valuable at quarterback.”

Bud Foster is McMillian’s primary recruiter. Commitments are non-binding until National Signing Day next February.

McMillian is the Hokies’ eighth commitment for 2014 and their third since last Saturday. Here is an updated list:

• TE Xavier Burke, 6-3, 247, Lawrenceville (Brunswick)
• DB Terrell Edmunds, 6-1, 180, Danville (Dan River)
• DB Javon Harrison, 6-2, 190, Lakeland, Fla. (Kathleen)
• DB Kalen McCain, 6-1, 175, Durham, N.C. (Hillside)
• ATH Travon McMillian, 6-0, 196, Woodbridge (C.D. Hylton)
• DB C.J. Reavis, 6-0, 199, Chester (Thomas Dale)
• DE Vincent Mihota, 6-4, 240, Fredericksburg (Massaponax)
• RB Marshawn Williams, 5-11, 200, Hampton (Hampton)

It’s turning into a busy Thursday in terms of blog fodder. I’ll touch on a few items briefly …

HOLMES TWEETS: Running back Michael Holmes tweeted Wednesday afternoon for the first time since his arrest last weekend, denying many of the worst claims that have been made about him in the last few days. Here are his tweets:

To all the people who care and know me, thanks for being here for me in this situation....

— Michael Holmes (@MHolmesRB20) April 24, 2013

It hurts to know that people really think I'm out here fighting everyone and don'tknow what really happened. I'd never do some things said

— Michael Holmes (@MHolmesRB20) April 24, 2013

He doesn’t have a preliminary hearing until June 13, so this might be the last we hear about this for a while. He remains suspended from the team indefinitely until the charge is resolved or dropped, per university policy.

PLAYOFF FORMAT SET: The upcoming college football playoff, which is cleverly titled, ahem, the College Football Playoff, is starting to take shape.

The first championship game under the new format — a four-team playoff — will take place Jan. 12, 2015, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which beat out Tampa, Fla., for the honor.

The first year of the new bowl format will feature back-to-back tripleheaders on Dec. 31 (Cotton, Orange, Fiesta) and Jan. 1 (Chick-fil-A, Rose, Sugar). The Rose and Sugar Bowls are the national semifinals.

ESPN reportedly paid an average of $470 million annually for the 12-year College Football Playoff, the ESPN story said, citing sources. (Sidebar: if ESPN is reporting on ESPN, shouldn’t it be able to get someone on the record?)

Anyway, you can vote on the logo here. There was already some controversy about the voting yesterday. Don’t worry, those votes have been discounted.

Now the College Football Playoff just needs to come up with a selection committee and an agreed-upon selection criteria. Good luck coming up with non-controversial choices there.

A POSSIBLE COMMIT COMING: Colleague Doug Doughty wrote about C.D. Hylton Travon McMillian in today’s college notebook.

McMillian is a three-star recruit by Rivals and 247 Sports who will choose between Virginia Tech, California and Georgia Tech today. Doughty notes that the Hokies are the likely choice, since he’s been in Blacksburg each of the last two weekends.

He plays quarterback and has never played defense, according to his coach, Tony Lilly.

“From a development standpoint, I’d hire him tomorrow as a coach,” Lilly said. “He can run our offense and understands every aspect of defense and what we’re facing. I’d like to see him put up 2,000 rushing and 2,000 throwing this year.”

Doughty ranked McMillian as the No. 6 junior in Virginia in his recruiting rankings from December.

NFL DRAFT MISCELLANY: Lastly, the NFL Draft starts tonight with the first round. The second and third rounds take place Friday night and the fourth through seventh rounds finish things off Saturday.

Hokies fans might have to wait a while to hear one of their players’ names called. Most projections don’t have a Virginia Tech player going until the third day.

If that happens, it’d be the first time since 2009 that the Hokies didn’t have a player selected in the first three rounds and only the second time since 2004 that’s been the case. The only player taken in ’09 was cornerback Victor “Macho” Harris in the fifth round.

That’s unusual for Virginia Tech. NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt, the former VP of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960-’89, tweeted about the schools that have produced the most draft picks since 2001. The Hokies are eighth nationally. Here’s the list:

• 1. Southern California 71
• 2. Ohio State 70
• 3. Miami 69
• 4. Georgia 64
• 5. LSU 61
• 6. Florida 56
• 7. Oklahoma 56
• 8. Virginia Tech 50

Projecting where some of the Hokies will go in the later rounds is a tough thing to do. Once you get past the first few picks, it’s a guessing game. Nevertheless, here are some projections that are out there for Virginia Tech’s players:

7-round mock draft on NFL.com:

• Round 5, Pick 136: Vinston Painter, Philadelphia Eagles
• Round 6, Pick 178: Corey Fuller, New York Jets
• Round 7, Pick 235: Marcus Davis, New England Patriots

7-round mock draft on ESPN.com (Insider account needed, but here are the Hokies):

• Round 6, Pick 198: Painter, Atlanta Falcons
• Round 7, Pick 239: Davis, New England Patriots

Linebacker Bruce Taylor and offensive tackle Nick Becton are also draft possibilities. I’ll have a little bit more in tomorrow’s paper and up on the blog on Davis and Fuller, who I talked to yesterday.