Welcome to Tunnel Talk
, with the latest in the VT recruiting scene based on our discussions with contact, behind-the-scenes analysis, and more.
DJ Harvey
When several of his West Coast-based friends either committed to programs closer to home, or dropped the Hokies from their recruitments, I thought the same would happen with three-star DJ Harvey. It hasn't, though, and he remains intent on taking his official visit to Blacksburg.
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Landing the first player out of a region can be the biggest hurdle (though not the only one, as we've seen with VT actually
losing their most prominent member of the #TX2VT mmovement after he'd encouraged other players to join it), and Harvey could open up the West Coast just a bit, especially because his Premium Sports LA friends would likely travel for unofficial visits whenever he takes his official.
The West Coast probably won't be a primary feeder of talent to Blacksburg any time soon for a variety of geographic (and even some cultural - it's tough to convince a kid from LA to fly across the country to play at a small-town school) reasons. But cherry-picking some players who could be convinced to make the move and using them to augment a more regionally-based recruiting effort could work out.
In-state recruiting
The Hokies' much-maligned in-state recruiting effort will largely depend upon improved results on the field this Fall. While the results in the Commonwealth are sometimes over-emphasized, it remains the point that spending time and resources close to home is typically going to have a greater return than far from home. As it stands, though, the Hokies are only in reasonable position for one of the top 15 this year: Virginia Beach Ocean Lakes LB/DE Naquan Brown.
Again, taking care of business on the field will change that narrative some. Five-star corner Tony Grimes may be too far gone, but a player like Tristan Leigh (while his family history with Virginia is likely to see the Hoos be the choice if he stays in-state) will at least give VT a closer look if the program looks headed in the right direction. That applies to the rest of the state rankings, too. Whether there's good enough organization on the recruiting board to take advantage of some of that... may be a question for another day.
Highland Springs High School in the Richmond area is one example of a program where the lack of a cohesive organizational effort has been a little damaging. I touched base with a few sources in the area close to that program, and here's what they said.
"There's too much talent, too consistently coming out of that school for Virginia Tech not to do well there," the source indicated. "It's not that they aren't trying, but it's a scattershot approach instead of entering the recruiting cycle with a plan, and letting that plan evolve if necessary. They can't just offer a guy when the out-of-state player at the same position commits to a different school."
That may be on the harsh side, of course, but there's a grain of truth to it (and it's similar to a thought I've had myself and expressed here somewhat regularly).
The source also noted - and I won't take the slightest credit for sharing
this thought, though it definitely follows logically - that the lack of a camp season this Summer is particularly damaging to the Hokies, too. That's where they've done a lot of their in-state evaluation and relationship-building in the past couple years. How the coaches compensate for that is going to be interesting.
The 757
Let's drill down to a different specific part of the state. Based on on-field and recruiting-trail results in the past few years, I think it was fair for former running backs coach Zohn Burden to be let go. Running backs coach is typically a spot that (because the position is largely about talent, less than hyper-specific technique instruction) can be reserved for an ace recruiter. However, the tailbacks haven't looked good yet in the Fuente era, a lack that would have been excusable if the Hokies had been lighting up recruiting in the Tidewater area.
They weren't, so he was out the door.
Unfortunately for the Hokies, he's continued to build relationships in the region since being out of his college coaching job. If he'd had those strengthened bonds a few months ago, he may still be with the Hokies (and VT may have landed, say, WR KeAndre Lambert, CB Keonte Jenkins, or others from the Tidewater in classes before their 2020 group). Now, though, it seems that when he gets back into the world of college coaching - and it'll happen sooner rather than later - the Hokies will have to contend with the next evolution of Zohn as a competitor on the trail.
So how will they counter that? You'd be hard-pressed to find a guy more popular
as a player than Darryl Tapp. A coach in the 757 isn't so sure how that popularity is going to translate to landing players from the area, though.
"Everybody loves DT," he said. "He was a great player, an NFL guy, all that. Kids are going to vibe with him. But will coaches feel like he's going to be ready to develop their players if they risk sending them to [Virginia Tech]? High school coaches want the best for their kids, and they're going to have to see results before they know what's what."
I think that's a little unfair to Tapp: I get that playing and coaching are different things, and being a teacher is the part he'll have to learn, but the techniques he's learned over the course of a long career are things that others may not be able to teach anyway. Add in that the coaching side of things also has a recent NFL assistant sharing the position group with him, and the relationship-building is the far more important part of Tapp's job.
You can look to a rival program to see an instance of success here: North Carolina has Dre Bly coaching cornerbacks in his first coaching gig. Jury's out on whether he's going to be a great teacher of technique, but he's a massively popular name after his NFL career, and has been an ace recruiter for the Tar Heels.
Tapp can do the same. I don't share the hesitance about him as a coach, but I'm not the one helping guide players where to go, either. The local decision-makers need a bit of convincing.
