I haven't been posting these because the podcasts have been going up days (even weeks) late, and they're often dated, but here' my spot last Wednesday:

Audio: Tim Sullivan on ESPN Blacksburg's The Drive

Hokies are in the door early for this 2022 prospect:

New Virginia Tech football offer: Tyler Griffin

Had been either afternoon or evening, now it's confirmed as the latter:

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Welcome to Tunnel Talk, with the latest on Hokies recruiting.

Tray Curry

With 2021 commit Tray Curry all settled at North Cobb High School in Georgia, any worry about his being dropped from the Hokies' class (which wasn't in the plans, but when a kid doesn't have a senior year of high school - to say nothing of senior season on the field - you have to keep it in the back of your mind) can be forgotten. The staff likes his talent, and with his academic and football plans squared away for this year - in this unconventional year for high schoolers around the country - he's solid in their eyes.

That raises another potential worry, though: at a higher-profile program just outside the Atlanta area, there's a greater likelihood that he is heavily scouted and late suitors try to steal him away. He's already spurned Tennessee (which was then his local program) once, pulling back from a silent commitment to flip to the Hokies. The VT staff will certainly make sure they do everything in their power to continue beating back SEC programs for a kid who's in the thick of SEC Country. For the time being, the confidence that they'll be able to do so is high.

I think - have long thought - that Curry is a four-star talent (at least), and holding onto him is important for this class.

Ben Stewart

Touched base with Class of 2021 long-snapper Ben Stewart about his recent trip to Blacksburg, where he checked out campus (but couldn't meet with coaches due to the emergency Dead Period). That's become something of a regular process now for a lot of kids with the means and motivation to take those types of visits, while others are understandably waiting until they can get an actual visit experience before gong out-of-pocket to travel to the programs they're interested in.

For a player whose offer is as a preferred walk-on, there's not even really the promise of a payoff (in terms of a scholarship to more-than offset the costs of taking such a visit), and that indicates serious interest on his part. I'd have a hard time seeing him end up elsewhere, unless big programs closer to home in Texas get seriously involved, or even go for scholarship opportunities to pull him away from the PWO spot at VT that is clearly separating itself atop his list.

With Stewart highly interested in the Hokies and his Dickinson (Texas) teammate Canon Boone committed as a scholarship member of the 2021 class, I touched base with another Class of 2021 player for the Gators, three-star linebacker Keith Cooper. At this point, it doesn't sound like the Hokies have seriously ramped up attention for him, despite the growing connections. There simply isn't a ton of need at the OLB position, especially given the uncertainty of scholarship numbers going forward, etc. etc. He is one player who could be primed to become very interested if VT changes course and goes after him full-bore down the road, though.

Chris Adams

While I do expect that the Hokies still want him (and that should mean good news when his decision date comes), I haven't been able to nail down just how much the staff is really pushing for Hagerstown (Md.) South 2021 offensive lineman Christopher Adams. With some of his finalists hailing from the mid-major or even FCS ranks, a Hokies team that truly wants him should be able to seal the deal relatively simply, but a kid with James Madison and FIU among his finalists is often the type of kid that a program with Virginia Tech's stature sort of goes after lukewarmly in the end. Again, my expectation is that VT considers him a take and will do enough to seal the deal, but not getting a solid answer on that question will leave the uncertainty open just a bit - enough that I'm holding off on a FutureCast pick.

From my perspective, he - like Curry mentioned above - is severely underrated both by coaches in the Mid-Atlantic region (in part because they're wary of offering a kid who had a knee injury late last year when they won't be able to see him play this Fall, and there are simply enough fish in the sea that pushing the chips in on a kid with a recent injury history isn't necessary), and even by Rivals. If the Hokies land him, this isn't quite a Darrisaw-like prospect in terms of obvious potential, but he's a kid who should outperform the expectations and be a multi-year starter at the Power-5 level.

It will be interesting to see how the final month of his recruitment plays out, and what decisions the Hokies make over the course of these final weeks.

As always, thanks for visiting HokieHaven.com. Feel free to use this thread to discuss the topics herein, or anything else Hokies recruiting-related.

He's so hard to break down, because the aspects of his game that are weakest are the ones that you don't know if that's sort of just the state of affairs, or if he'll look completely different in terms of explosiveness with another year of recovery from the knee injury:

From the film room: Shawn Asbury

He reminds me a lot of a poor man's Greg Stroman (though obviously the burst of speed being part of what he lacks is not ideal).

Only a few hot targets still on the board (of course, with only a few spots open in the class, that makes sense):

Virginia Tech Hokies 2021 recruiting hotboard

It’s been out for while today that Hooker is starting but Burmeister would play. Not sure if anyone wants to add more details on this but there you go.

Quieter week for the two guys who played (I don't have Christian's full stats yet, but he was under 50 yards in his team's win), but the roster of active guys should be increasing in the next couple weeks.

HokieHaven Friday Night Lights 2020: Week three

From Fuente:

Hokies pass-rush a work in progress

A pretty good offseason in the weight room, despite... everything. It's not exclusively moves in the right direction, but largely that:

2020 Hokies roster: Updated sizes

Somehow, I actually missed it despite being in the car (I.e. staring at my phone while my wife drove) all day.

https://virginiatech.rivals.com/news/what-it-means-robbie-ouzts-commits-to-alabama

That was a foregone conclusion - at this point, I don’t think cause or effect direction really matters - once the staff pushed for Gibble and then Hollifield. For what it’s worth, I know the staff likes Ouzts, but my personal evaluation is that they landed the best two out of those three (by a lot). Still think it was a mistake to not wait on Jordan Dingle, but that’s a choice they clearly made a ways back when the top three guys on the board really emerged as that group.

Hokies practicing with an eye on COVID concerns

Easy to see how much this is weighing on him. Also interesting that - as Big Ten coaches begin to push back on their conference's decision not to play - Fuente gives the impression that he almost wishes he didn't feel forced into playing by the fact that the ACC will go on.

I don't think he'd say it's irresponsible from a pandemic perspective (nor that he wouldn't say it), but it's adding a lot of stress, worry about his kids, and injury risk to his program. He'll do the job because it's the job, but the ancillary stuff is making this really tough for everyone.

If the Hokies continue to want him, I have a hard time seeing them beaten out:

Chris Adams names favorites, sets decision date

He certainly feels wanted right now, so that's a good sign. I haven't received enough "will definitely be a take" information from the VT end of things to be confident enough for a FutureCast prediction, but it's certainly a situation I'm keeping plenty of persistent attention on.

Quite frankly, with the dearth of realistic OT tackle prospects still on the board, it'd be unwise not to at least seriously entertain accepting a commitment.

Changing situations can lead to later adjustments, but at least to start the year, ACC is in:

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The Hokies were scheduled to have a scrimmage yesterday - and for a given definition of the term, they did - but it was very limited because there simply aren't a lot of healthy bodies available right now.

With over a dozen players out due to positive tests for the novel coronavirus (or contact tracing related to that with roommates, etc.), the staff doesn't want to risk being full-go with a very limited roster available. Add in the typical short-term bumps and bruises that you deal with during fall camp - and an extended "game week" with the NC State game pushed back - and there's just no need to risk things.

In terms of individual performances, keep in mind that (with fall camp closed to outsiders for obvious reasons) we'll only hear what those inside the program want us to hear, even if a "full" "box score" is released - quotation marks very much intentional and meaningful there - after a couple days. That said: Raheem Blackshear is the real deal, and has No. 1 RB talent... the issue, as much as you can call it one, is that he's so good at other parts of the game that there's almost a sense of guilt in making him the tailback, when other players can perform close to his level carrying the ball (but not replicate what he provides in other phases of the game).

I have been told that there was a scary-looking injury to an offensive skill player - not Blackshear or Khalil Herbert - but it remains to be seen exactly how significant it is. I've been told it could impact the quality of the 2020 team, but obviously a younger guy missing the season (when his eligibility will be frozen due to the coronavirus decision by the NCAA anyway) stinks for the kid, but it's not the end of the world, either.

Hendon Hooker hasn't done anything to lose his starting quarterback position, but there is a sense that a guy who's a bigger risk-taker could add some ceiling to this offense (my take - not what I've been told - is that they went with that philosophy to start last season, and it cost them a few games because Ryan Willis's risks weren't worth the positives gleaned from his risk-taking).

Will continue touching base to get more, but as I said at the top, sounds like it wasn't as formalized a scrimmage as you'd expect in other preseasons because of the personnel limitations.

Honestly, not as much hype as I would have expected (from the VT end of things, as least), but part of that is already having existing relationships with a lot of the active recruits. Still, when you're trying to get back on top of the recruiting world, squeezing every 1% of value you can out of every opportunity helps.

An organized approach... is still a work in progress.

A 2023 DE:

https://ready.vt.edu/dashboard.html

I’m not sure if its my app or not but what is going on. It appears on my app the Hokie Haven forum is dead.
Almost no new post and last couple are from others days apart.


While the Gobbler is where all the post are at. Did I miss something?

He's gotten such a bad shake at both of his last stops. Hopefully the Bengals are a little smarter (though yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds given the franchise's history):

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I tend to think that's a little on the conservative side (for example, North Carolina was a lot worse than VT least year, even though the records and head-to-head game were close, and lost more-important pieces), but it would have been interesting to see where the pick was in a world where Caleb Farley plays. I would guess second behind Clemson.

Hokies picked fifth in ACC, Ashby preseason all-league