While the direct impact of dismissing two assistant coaches shouldn't be felt on the recruiting trail (which may say more about the success recruiting the Tidewater and New England areas so far in 2020 than anything), it does look like the indirect impact could be felt in at least one case.

Brian Mitchell was the primary recruiter early in the process for Vineland (N.J.) athlete Tyreem Powell. While he mostly passed Powell's recruitment off to receivers coach Jafar Williams (an ace in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, among the other areas in which he's a strong recruiter), his departure could combine with other coaching moves around the country and region to make life difficult for VT. Namely, the return of Greg Schiano to Rutgers has Garden State players looking at the Scarlet Knights as a realistic option once more.

Powell had taken a couple unofficial visits to Piscataway even before Schiano's official return, and with the most (only?) successful coach in program history officially back, it could be a game-changer for him. The three-star took his official visit to Rutgers this weekend, and the Knights made a strong, strong push for him.

He does still plan to take his official visit to Blacksburg this weekend (at least at the time of this writing), so VT has a chance to convince him to remain a Hokie before the Early Signing Period hits. There are certainly some selling points, too: that Schiano has failed basically everywhere he's been since Rutgers and the magic is gone, that Schiano abandoned Rutgers once and may do it again, and most importantly, that the Knights are so far from a turnaround that they won't be successful again until long after Powell has exhausted his eligibility (they didn't win a conference game - in the post-VT Big East - until his third year last time, and until VT and Miami left the Big East to become a serious player in it, and Rutgers is starting from a deeper point in a much tougher conference now), whereas VT is in position to compete for major bowls from Day One.

The Hokies' vigor in attempting to hold onto him and the timeline he makes some moves are the two major factors that could determine where he ends up. He's a very good prospect (I believe one of those in the VT class most likely to outperform his rankings), but does the staff consider him irreplaceable? Maybe not. If he flips to Rutgers before visiting Virginia Tech, the decision could be to let him go and focus elsewhere, or the staff could double down and try to get him to flip right back. The interplay of timeline and pursuit will tell the final story here.

As of now, Rutgers stands a good chance to steal him away. The Hokies could still have their say in the matter.

Hokies seem set on taking a QB in this class (which I think is unnecessary - even unwise - but surely that doesn't dissuade them), with Rodemaker and former Arkansas commit CHandler Morris the two options at this point:

https://virginiatech.rivals.com/new...-usf-qb-commit-rodemaker-on-upcoming-official

Rodemaker's also an early enrollee (Morris would have been at Arkansas, he hasn't specifically said whether that's the case with a new destination), so he'll make a commitment and a move within a few weeks of each other.

Teammate of a weekend visitor, so he'll almost certainly be tagging along...

New Virginia Tech football offer: Wilfried Pene

I actually thought they should have kept the heat up a little bit more over the Summer (even without offering) to keep him on the board instead of making his early BGSU pledge, so even though the stars and offer sheet don't look impressive, he's one that's been on the board for a while. With a need at OL, taking a flyer on him is a worthy endeavor:

New Virginia Tech football offer: Kaden Moore

Charley Wiles is in the area (coaches are all over the country, in fact - Brad Cornelsen has been in Texas the past couple days, for example), and offered a Western Michigan commit:

New Virginia Tech football offer: Joshua Celiscar

Look for plenty more offers over the course of the week (including a few I just have to write up that came through yesterday), though most of them will be concentrated on future classes.

I know Dorian Strong has gotten... negative reviews... elsewhere, but his stats continue to break the charts week-after-week.

Hokie Haven Friday Night Lights 2019: Week 16

I'm also confident that I'm the only recruiting-site employee that's seen him play for his high school team (and I have a pretty good frame of context, having seen a ton of "good athlete, but does his team's dominance mean he can succeed at the next level?"-types at Detroit Cass Tech, where they almost always turn into All-Americans and NFL stars), and I don't have concerns about his ability to translate it to the next level.

The VT staff... still might, but that's out of my control.

I think they should be able to handle Mississippi State fairly comfortably, too:

BREAKING: Hokies selected for Belk Bowl, will play Mississippi State

As the offseason progresses (all of one week so far), Justin Fuente and Whit Babcock have narrowed in on one name at the top of the board to become the Hokies' new defensive coordinator: outgoing Missouri head coach Barry Odom. The 43-year old Odom was dismissed after a disappointing tenure in Columbia, but has connections to Fuente as his defensive coordinator three years at the University of Memphis.

Odom checks a lot of boxes, including that past link to Fuente. Of course, having worked with someone isn't necessarily a requirement, but having a knowledge of how he'd fit in with the current staff, how his scheme follows naturally from Bud Foster's into a new era, etc. My understanding is that Fuente appreciates his professional relationship with Odom (even though they may not be the closest personally).

Sources in Blacksburg and those close to Odom indicate that a job offer is on the table. There are varying levels of "job offer," of course: from an informal indication that you're the top man on the board to a contract just waiting to be signed. This sounds closer to the former (but somewhere in the middle) as the Hokies want to vet a few other candidates and wait for some national dominoes to fall before sealing the deal officially.

As for rumors that Fuente will seriously consider the Arkansas job - or even the Missouri job that Odom departed - it sounds like there's not a ton of smoke there. While you never write anything off completely without some form of contract extension, Fuente's intention is to see out the rebuilding project after suffering through the two roughest years of it. That a coordinator hire seems to be close - if not imminent - would be another tea leaf indicating that situation.

Stay tuned, as nothing is completely done here, but all indications are there might not be much of a wait to find out who the next DC is, unless there's a change of heart and it ends up being someone other than Odom.

Hokies showing plenty of renewed interest in 2020 DEs. It's been a need for a little while with Derrell Bailey penciled in as a future offensive lineman and Stephen Sings likely to go to prep school and become a 2021 prospect (and his decommitment in the wake of all that):

New Virginia Tech football offer: Van Fillinger

Lotta smoke out there...anybody credible got the scoop?

VT has one commit inside the top 30. Rudolph comes in at #28. This is absolutely a injustice by the staff of VT. Program was built on keeping in state talent, IN STATE. The excuse of evaluations of kids in state being down or what not is non sense. Recruit them and develop them just like Beamer and company did. I am a fan of Fuente but the lack of in state recruiting is ridiculous.

FYI: Penn State has 5 commits, TCU & LSU have 2. Indiana, Wake, JMU, ODU, ECU, Temple all have one or more commits before you get to VT @ 28.
- Also, UVa is one commit worse than VT. They have zero commits inside the VA Top 30.