Former Eastern Michigan kicker Chad Ryland:

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He was one of he better kickers in the country last year, a perfect 47/47 on extra points and 19/22 on field goals. Just over half of his kickoffs were touchbacks, as well.

Don't let the adjective in the title fool you here: "low-key" is not a negative description, nor an indication that the turnout was disappointing (though in some cases it was, forced by the weather). It's a description of the vibe that Saturday's visitors were treated to in Blacksburg, and it's one that they mostly appreciated.

Essentially every visit is going to feature some degree of a facility tour, some interaction with members of the coaching staff, and nowadays a photoshoot (aside from gameday visits, where those really aren't practical).

The differences are in the margins. Which coaches - from on-field staff, be it area recruiter or position coach, to recruiting-specific support staffers - interact with a prospect? That's an important distinction in how they end up feeling about the visit at the end of the day. If you're a top offensive lineman and you talk to Joe Rudolph, it's going to hit a little bit differently than if you only get facetime with a player personnel staffer. The nature of the conversations are also huge. Plenty of times on visits, prospects get the whole nine yards and possibly even some pressure to commit. That's probably coming under this staff eventually. But yesterday, it was very much a "get to know us, with no expectations beyond that" type of visit, even for the top prospects. That may make results on the recruiting trail take longer to arrive, but it definitely sets the stage for better overall long-term results when it matters.

Take, for example, what one of the top overall prospects on the trip, Leesburg (Va.) Tuscarora 2024 offensive lineman Fletcher Westphal had to say.

"The entire coaching staff introduced themselves," he explained of the meet-and-greet. "Each of them had pictures of their families which was cool to see. They shared why VA Tech was home for them and their respect for Coach Pry."

Certainly, a kid meeting each member of the staff also indicates where he fits into their pecking order (which should come as no surprise after he picked up an offer last week). But also, the nature of the conversation being 'here's who we are, here's what we like about VT' is very different in both content and tone than 'here's why you should come to VT.' The distinction may be subtle, but at the early stages of a recruitment - and to be clear, this is a kid who's not coming off the board any time soon - you get more of an advantage by laying groundwork than by trying to go all-in before that groundwork is laid.

Or take what Lexington (S.C.) River Bluff wide receiver Apollos Cook had to say. He's in a very different position on the recruiting board than Westphal, a rising senior not yet holding an offer. His invitation to visit came from a non-coaching staffer, Nash O'Fallon (who has since left the program). But when he got to meet with WRs coach Fontel Mines, it was still a very high-level 'here's who we are' discussion, rather than a recruiting pitch.

"It wasn’t really much about the X’s and O’s of football," Cook said of their conversation. "It was more about what football can do for you in life."

I'll be rolling out the interviews with players in the coming days, but the themes in what they had to say about the trip remain consistent. This is a coaching staff that isn't in a hurry to build the 2023 recruiting class. Indeed, they know that it's probably better in the long run if they don't start building it (from a commitment perspective) just yet, because it'll be a stronger - and higher-caliber - group if they lay the groundwork and cast a wide net without trying to push for pledges just yet. I wouldn't say all of that is necessarily a change from the previous coaching administration, and a lot of it is a simple matter of best-practices stuff that the vast majority of college coaches around the country abide by. But the attention to detail (and yes, perhaps a bit of leeway at the beginning of a new coaching tenure, when the pressure is not high yet) is impressive, and it's going to go a long way toward making this group recruit at a high level, as long as the product on the field is enticing to prospects.

Teammate of Mansoor Delane:

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Some left last night, some this morning. All planning to be back in Blacksburg tomorrow for the junior day (stay tuned for the list to come in a little while here). Almost all are in-state, with a notable exception:

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Bowen, Prioleau, Quinn, and Rudolph in Georgia at commit Daequan Wright's school. With the unsigned pledge taking his official visit this weekend, they're doing everything they can to wrap him up. (Which is smart - as I've said before, I think he's significantly underrated, and a surefire four-star in my eyes).

Whoops, forgot to post this to the board last night:

Mekhai White has a strong visit to Blacksburg

Hokies n the road at Florida State. Needing a minor upset.

Virginia Tech Hokies basketball preview: at Florida State

What’s the word on some of these recruits? Give us some chances some kids pull the trigger to get the ball rolling for 23/24. If it were to happen, who would it most likely come from.

I would say the athleticism and the wardrobe are of note:

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Given that he didn't take his visit to Michigan and I don't believe he made it to Louisville either... looking rosy for the Hokies next Wednesday.

Tough to articulate how frustrating this one was. The worst-case scenario with literally three seconds left was going to overtime and VT managed to lose in regulation. A lot to think about going forward.

Hokies fall on buzzer-beater

I wouldn’t say it actively helps VT at the in-state power… but it certainly isn’t going to hurt.

He’s the new recruiting coordinator there (to be honest, a position many more high schools should have officially). Of course, they’ll still visit everywhere, but if you felt like VT wasn’t getting an honest look from some kids at LCA, this should change that.

Hang here all day as we chat about recruiting, and I bring the information as it comes in.

I've been mentioning this a bit lately (including in yesterday's scholarship count story) as a possibility based on what sources have been saying... and it seems like he's willing to go public with being back for year five:

Chamarri Conner slated for Hokie return?

Looks like I forgot to post the preview in here earlier (sorry). But let's chat!

Virginia Tech Hokies basketball preview: at North Carolina

Hokies add four members to football strength and conditioning staff

Four assistants bring wealth of coaching experience to Dwight Galt’s performance team



BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Football head coach Brent Pry announced Monday that he and Dwight Galt have completed hiring Tech’s football strength and conditioning staff led by Galt. Greg Allen, Jarrett Ferguson, K.J. Florence and Matt Greenhalgh have joined the Hokies as assistant strength and conditioning coaches for football.



Allen joins the Hokies after spending the past six seasons at Old Dominion (2016-21). He served the past two seasons with Galt after being promoted to assistant director of sports performance in 2019. In addition to all aspects of the strength and conditioning program for ODU Football, he also worked with the men’s and women’s swimming programs, as well as ODU’s women’s lacrosse and field hockey programs.



Prior to Old Dominion, Allen served as a strength and conditioning intern at Richmond, working with football, men’s lacrosse and baseball. The Clarksburg, West Virginia native also interned at Marshall in 2015, assisting with the off-season football training program for the Thundering Herd.



Allen worked as a personal trainer for two years after earning his master’s degree in exercise science and health promotion from the California University of Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from West Virginia Wesleyan following his four-year playing career as an offensive lineman.






Ferguson comes back to Blacksburg after previously enjoying a 13-year tenure on Tech’s strength and conditioning staff. He served as senior director of strength and conditioning for football (2006-17) and senior director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports (2018). Ferguson played running back for the Hokies from 1998-01 and played a key role on Tech’s squad that played in the 1999 National Championship Game. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft.



The Goodview, Virginia native served as assistant director of strength and conditioning at North Carolina (2005-06), overseeing the football and women’s basketball teams. He began his career in the performance industry as an assistant strength and conditioning director at Ohio University in 2004, overseeing the training regiments for the baseball, women’s soccer, wrestling and volleyball for the Bobcats.



In 2018, Ferguson founded Steel Train Performance in Moneta, Virginia. He has served as the strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater of Staunton River High School since September 2020. Ferguson holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in education from Virginia Tech.






Florence joins the Hokies from Ole Miss where he served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the football the past two seasons. He worked primarily with the running backs, tight ends, quarterbacks and specialists during his tenure at Ole Miss, helping the program earn a berth in the 2022 Sugar Bowl and a victory in the 2021 Outback Bowl.



Florence spent the 2019 season at Marshall, serving as assistant strength and conditioning coach for football and softball. Prior to joining the Thundering Herd, Florence worked as an intern on the University of Georgia strength and conditioning staff in 2018, where he worked with the football program.

The Virginia Beach, Virginia native received a master’s degree in kinesiology from Georgia in 2019 and graduated with ODU with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2014.






Greenhalgh previously served four seasons as director of football strength and conditioning at Georgia Southern (2018-21). He was part of a staff that helped propel the Eagles to three bowl appearances, including wins in the 2018 Camellia Bowl and 2020 New Orleans Bowl. During his tenure, he helped develop a pair of 2020 NFL Draft picks in DB Kindle Vildor (Chicago) and K Tyler Bass (Buffalo).



Prior to Georgia Southern, Greenhalgh was an assistant director of strength and conditioning at Appalachian State (2014-17). During his tenure with the Mountaineers, he was part of a team that compiled a 37-14 record and Sun Belt Conference titles in 2016 and 2017. Appalachian State also registered three bowl victories during his tenure. During a two-year stint as a strength and conditioning graduate assistant at The Citadel (2013-14), he worked with the baseball program and assisted with football, men’s and women’s track and field, as well as wrestling.



The Chepachet, Rhode Island native worked as a strength and conditioning intern at Rhode Island and at South Carolina. He was a four-year letterwinner on the offensive line for Rhode Island from 2008-12 and graduated with a degree in kinesiology. Greenhalgh served as a team captain during his senior season after earning a spot on the Allstate Good Works Team as a junior in 2011. He owns a master’s degree in sports management from Western Carolina.




Virginia Tech Football announces two performance staff roles

Carly Harris returns as director of sports nutrition – football; Bryan Jackson joins VT as director of sports science – football.



BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Football head coach Brent Pry announced Monday that Carly Harris remains with the Hokies performance staff as a director of sports nutrition – football and that Bryan Jackson has been hired in the newly-created position of director of sports science – football. Both Harris and Jackson will work in close conjunction with Pry, as well as director of football strength and conditioning Dwight Galt IV, Tech’s sports medicine and athletic training team, as well as the rest of the football staff.



Harris is a registered dietician who joined the Hokies in July 2020. Since her arrival in Blacksburg, she has coordinated all of the nutrition needs for the football program, ranging from meals in Tech’s Student-Athletic Performance Center, to pregame and postgame meals at home and on the road, as well as other supplemental dietary needs. In addition, Harris manages Tech’s fueling stations, oversees inventory and ordering of products, as well as the production of pre-fueling nutraceuticals and individualized recovery shakes. She develops programmatic nutritional education materials, presentations and events for Tech’s football student-athletes, as well as assessing and analyzing dietary practices, body composition and energy balance of student-athletes in the context of athletic performance and health.



The Minnesota native earned a bachelor’s degree in foods & nutrition from the University of Prince Edward Island. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. Prior to joining the Hokies she spent a year as a sport nutrition fellow at the University of Illinois, providing nutritional care for the Fighting Illini football team, as well as the Illinois swimming and diving teams. While at Illinois, Harris was responsible for counseling student athletes on optimal nutrition for training, competition, recovery, weight management, hydration, disordered eating, travel, and supplementation, as well as coordinating body composition assessments using GE Lunar iDXA and InBody.



Before joining the Illinois football program, Harris served as a volunteer with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, where she assisted the medical staff with athletic testing during development camp and attended team education sessions.






Jackson joins the Hokies after serving in a similar role at William & Mary in 2021. With the Tribe, Jackson designed and implemented the athletics performance programs for football and multiple other sports. In addition, Jackson oversaw the biomechanical testing of athletes, as well as the collection and analysis of GPS tracking data.



He previously worked as a sports performance coaching assistant at Duke where he assisted in the implementation of sports performance programs for lacrosse, track and field, baseball, softball, rowing, swimming and dive, fencing and wrestling. He also served as the director of strength and conditioning at West Virginia State where he oversaw the strength and conditioning programs for all sports.



A U.S. Army veteran, Jackson saw combat duty in Iraq and served as a parachutist and scout with the 82nd Airborne Division. He began his coaching career as a strength and conditioning coach at Sacramento State Aquatic Center before working as a sports performance intern at Old Dominion under Galt in 2019. He completed his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from California State - Sacramento and received his master’s degree in applied physiology and kinesiology from the University of Florida.

With the incoming transfers, and guys sticking around with Covid eligibility:


Numbers gettin tight.

Four incoming:

Hokies announce incoming transfers

That they're announcing them now indicates a lack of confidence in landing remaining targets (Stanford's Ryan Johnson and Cornell's Hunter Nourzad) - though those situations aren't over either.