Welcome to Tunnel Talk
, running through the latest in the world of recruiting and Virginia Tech.
Martin aftermath
Yesterday's decommitment by Arkansas DT Tyas Martin was a big blow to the Hokies, but not an unforeseen one. The recent wave of offers to players at the DT position - with multiple body types for the role - indicates they've seen a need, and part of that need is because they saw this coming. The effort to dominate recruiting in the Midlands has been... unsuccessful.
I'd actually believed that Arkansas was a good state to pop into for elite recruits (much more so than Texas). It's flanked by Memphis and Oklahoma/North Texas, two areas with a lot of ties to the current Hokie coaching staff. The "stay home" option has pretty much always been bad, aside from short bursts of on-field success - and despite all the money in the world, will probably always be. Little Rock (where much of the talent is concentrated) is not exactly close to Blacksburg, but the drive falls under that crucial 12-hour mark that can reasonably be tackled in a single day.
Maybe Arkansas will - and should - continue to get attention from the Hokies, and maybe the Hokies have success there (at this point, that won't likely include Martin, who has a number of SEC schools high on his list).
At DT, New Jersey's Tywone Malone is still a semi-realistic option here, in-staters
Kelvin Gilliam and
Tyleik Williams have drawn positive mention in recent Tunnel Talks, and the staff is really excited about Florida two-star Earl Miller Jr.
I'm very high on Martin's potential (in a way that
I wasn't for Latrell Neville's), so this is a loss, even if he's replaced. He has things from a physical perspective that can't be taught, and a lot of what he lacks
can be taught. But this is a position at which there are other options available, too.
In-state
Speaking of in-state prospects, if the staff seems to be turning more of its attention to the Commonwealth... well, appearances are not deceiving. There's no intention of abandoning other recruiting areas, but certainly there's a bit of acceptance that the position of the VT program (both geographically and in the CFB pecking order) is one that requires a bit of a more nuanced recruiting approach.
I've long been one who has said the majority of a class doesn't necessarily need to be built in-state, and I hold to that. Of course, that was when the staff was pursuing (and, crucially, signing) players from Maryland, North Carolina, and Georgia. "Classes don't need to be built in-state" and "doing little enough in the state to upset area coaches and prospects so they don't consider your program an option when you need to rely on the state" are different extremes within the same genre, and walking that line has been a delicate act that there has been some struggle in. If you aren't winning like 'Bama, you can't say "it doesn't matter where we go for players, as long as we get players," because you aren't going to end up meeting the second half of that sentence if you go far.
As I've said in other recent Tunnel Talks, the coaches are putting in the effort to repair some of those damaged relationships, and it's working out.
A guy like 757 linebacker Isi Etute may not get fans excited from a rankings perspective, but he's a solid prospect, one who can develop at a position of need, and quite frankly (no pun intended?) a guy that would have been pursued, landed, and groomed under the previous coaching regime into a solid player at worst, but perhaps even a star. Heck, you could include recent pledges Keli Lawson and Shawn Asbury in that category, as well.
There's a bit of leeway on the defensive side of things as area coaches see it, with major turnover on the coaching staff meaning there's understanding about why it's taken a bit longer to get those evaluations in. That should provide a boost when it comes to securing commitments from some of these guys.
The Huggins chance?
As South Carolina receiver Amari Huggins-Bruce approaches a July 2 decision - unless he pushes it back, which is seeming more and more likely (or at least, it's seeming more likely that he won't have a final decision by then: he'd go through with a commitment anyway) - the oscillating between Louisville and Virginia Tech continues.
He's seemed to trend strongly toward Louisville in the past several weeks, in part because VT doesn't have as strong a need for a player with his body type, and I
still think that's the most likely outcome for his recruitment. Of course, the Hokies, for all their positive recruiting news recently, have also taken some blows in a two-steps-forward, one-step-back routine, so positive buzz from another commitment could be welcome anyway.
A source indicates that Huggins-Bruce is telling those around him that he's leaning toward Virginia Tech at this point. The feeling from a Louisville end of things is that he's trying to introduce some drama and intrigue into the process. From the Hokies' end of things, that weird lukewarm "we'll take him but are not emotionally invested in this recruitment" vibe continues, with no definitive statements about a
chance one way or the other. It's been a weird one in that regard.
I'll continue to follow up with him and those around him, but at the very least it sounds like a legit shot to land him - we'll see if the Hokies will push in the home stretch (because Louisville definitely will) to make that happen.
