2017 Rivals250 LB Nathan Proctor talked with me for a few minutes yesterday. He said that offers from Georgia, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Florida and Miami really caguth his eye. He is visiting Rutgers next weekend and is trying to plan visits to North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Proctor was planning on going to the Alabama/Georgia game this weekend but he won't make it because of the weather.

Video: A few catching 2017 R250 LB's eye

We have 2 running backs lined up in the back field at all times! When will brewer be back this season is over if he isn't back soon!!

I sat down with 2018 TE Zack Kuntz today in Harrisburg, PA. He already has offers from Duke, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. He was hoping to visit Maryland this weekend for the Michigan game but the start time messed up his plans. Kuntz also wants to visit Michigan and Penn State. He might get up to Penn State for the Michigan game. Kuntz is also hoping to hear from Stanford and Notre Dame. Kuntz has a lot of family connections to Notre Dame and that offer would be hard for him to ignore. Off camera Kuntz told me he meant to mention that he is planning a trip to Pittsburgh, hopefully for the Notre Dame game.

Video: 2018 TE Kuntz headed for a hectic recruitment

Virginia Tech, UCLA and Arizona are standing out to Rivals100 OL Richard Merritt. He will take official visits to those three schools but has yet to lock any of them in. Florida, Florida State, Auburn and a few others are still involved. Merritt expects to commit at the Under Armour game or on Signing Day.

Video: Three standouts for R100 OL Merritt

Overall rating= 5th in NFL
Yards per attempt= 3rd in NFL
Completion %= 4th in NFL (74%)
TD passes= 6th in NFL
Rushes of 20yds+ =Tied for 6th in NFL (including rbs)
All this while being tied for the 5th most sacked qb in NFL so far.

Anyone know forecast for kickoff.

Through 3 games, the highest/best rated total O ranking since 2003. Before you reply about the weak competition, keep in mind the weak competition in years past such as James Madison, Furman, Western Kentucky, App State, W&M...etc. The point is, this is not the only year since 2003 that VT has played one solid team and two fairly weak teams in the first three weeks of the season. What is different? We still struggled a bit to move the ball against the bad teams COMPARED to this years not so good teams. The O ranks dramatically and statistically much higher/better. Is this a trend? Way to early to call it that with only this limited data set. Is this something noticeable? Yep. It is.

I hate complaining about refs, esp when we are down, but they are gifting this game to ECU. Unbelievable. If I was Beamer I'd lodge a complaint after this game, get these guys off the field. Absolutely atrocious.

Just a heads up, rain or shine, we'll be out tailgating Saturday before the Pittsburgh game! We'll be in the usual spot, lot four, space No., 98 and get going around 9:30 AM, with wings, courtesy of our sponsor, Bull & Bones Brewhaus of Blacksburg, as well as hotdogs, soft drinks, chips and other sides. Bring whatever else you'd like and look for our HokieHaven.com banner. Come hang out with me and other Hokies!

Full story coming, but as always, what's posted here, STAYS HERE. Don't de-value your own subscription by giving away information to others who don't pay like you do. It's also a violation of our terms of service and will result in the termination of your subscription.

Guys, I mentioned it last week, but one of the guys I saw Friday in the Indian River/Grassfield (Va.) game was 2017 three-star offensive lineman Seth Harrell. He actually played on both sides of the ball, though he didn't play a lot towards the end of the game. He told me his coach likes to rest him at the end of games when he can.

Harrell still doesn't have any offers, but that won't stay that way for long. Virginia Tech, NC State and Wake Forest have been the three on him hardest. And Harrell will be visiting the Demon Deacons this weekend. Not sure if an offer will come this weekend, but I think Wake could be first to offer.

Harrell is a legacy to NC State, but the Hokies have long caught his attention. He visited VT for the Ohio State game and said he loved the atmosphere. Harrell sat in the end zone with his father and said he had "an amazing experience." Assistant coach Bryan Stinespring was at the game Friday, too and Harrell said he's touched base with him since then. And Harrell likes what he's heard.

The only other game Harrell has been to this season was the NC State at Old Dominion game. But Harrell went mostly to watch NC State. I really like this kid. Good size, plays hard and obviously has good genes. Just a matter of waiting on the offers to come in.

Guys, we're at our usual time of 12:30 pm ET tomorrow, Friday. And as always, we have plenty to discuss, from recruiting, to football and anything else having to do with the Hokies. As I always say, come take advantage of and get the very most of your subscriptions! You've got questions, I've got answers!

Chat link: http://bit.ly/1j3hjOX

Do we still have a weatherman on here? I'm trying to get a decent forecast for Saturday before I drive 6 hours to this game.

Any chance the game would be cancelled?

ECU wide open most plays

Guys, I'll tweet it out and make it known to everyone else tomorrow, but wanted to let all you guys know about another big addition to our community!

I'm pleased to announce that former Hokies defensive tackle Derrick Hopkins will be joining the staff! Derrick as you all know, played at VT from 2010-13. He's gotten in camps with the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons. "Skip" and I have talked about getting him on board for a while now and I'm thrilled to officially have him in the mix.

Derrick will be posting regularly on The Gobbler, hold periodic Q&As and also will write a weekly column. We'll get things started tomorrow, with his first Q&A! I'll make the official post for the questions in a few minutes and you can post there. Derrick will be stopping by throughout the day to answer questions as they come in. His screen name here is Skip804, so everyone wish him a warm welcome!

Welcome to HokieHaven.com, Skip!

How long will it take for him to turn the program back around? Probably 3 - 4 years IF he is the right guy. So we are probably looking at an 8 - 10 year run of basically .500 ball and a losing record at Lane. IF we get a the right guy. Longer if he's the wrong guy. Ugh.

Do you see 4 more wins? I don't.
To get them, every kid will have to step up his game.


Caveat: If Brewer comes back and picks up where he left off, I'll have to rethink. If that does occur, we could win any game left, but would still likely drop the scUM and GT games.

Frank's weekly press conference, in which he also addressed his comments after the ECU game that VT's non-conference games are "exhibition" games: http://rvls.co/1P2cCRi

I spoke with 2017 Rivals100 DB Deon Jones. We talked about his interest in Maryland and he said he will visit for the Michigan game this weekend. He feels very close with the Maryland coaches as well as the coaches at Virginia Tech and Clemson. Jones is also getting a lot of contact from Florida, Florida State and Notre Dame. He is planning to visit South Carolina as some point this season.

Video: The latest w/ 2017 R100 DB Jones

Can anyone tell me why Donovan Riley (Sr.) is not playing? He has always been a solid (not great) DB at VT. What did he do to get in the dog house? With his experience and a little common sense, he should be starting in Fuller's absence.

Guys, my write-up on Fuller, including comments from coach Frank Beamer just a few minutes ago on the ACC teleconference: http://rvls.co/1PNFNWB

offer. 6-2, 290 and higher rated than Clay Dean

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Jarrod-Hewitt-164770

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...fensive_tackle_jarrod_hewitt_decommits_f.html

This is crazy but I see our best power RB's as:
1. Motley
2. Lawson
3. Durkin
4. Rogers
5. Peoples
6. Mac
The problem is that none of these guys are RB's except Mac who was a QB in HS. I don't know the exact order I would put them in but I would put them all above our existing RB's.

Confirmed he will miss remainder of the season due to knee surgery.

Full story coming, but as always, what's posted here, STAYS HERE. Don't de-value your own subscription by giving away information to others who don't pay like you do. It's also a violation of our terms of service and will result in the termination of your subscription.

Guys, as I mentioned before, I was on hand for the Indian River (Va.) at Grassfield (Va.) game Friday night. One reason was to see and talk with four-star WR Grant Holloway, No. 247 in the Rivals250. I was actually getting ready to post the story when Holloway called me to tell me some news.

This past weekend, he officially visited Florida for its game. This has been his dream school and he told me the visit was more for track, since he had a track offer. But before he left yesterday, Holloway got the news that the football team wanted to offer him, too. He said they're not the favorite and this doesn't change anything, but it most certainly does. It looks and sounds like the Gators are the clear favorite here.

The weekend before, Holloway officially visited Georgia and I know the Bulldogs felt very, very good about their chances after that. He told me he liked the visit and had a good time and on Friday, he was pretty high on UGA. But that was before Florida offered.

This weekend, Holloway and his teammate, two-star DE Patrick Jones, will officially visit VT for the Pittsburgh game. Going into the visit, I think the Hokies are right there, but they'll need to dazzle him, with both the football staff and the track staff perhaps more importantly. Holloway told me again tonight that his goal is the 2020 Olympics. That's a HUGE factor in his decision. I do think, by the way, that the Hokies are the clear favorite for Jones.

I'll be posting the full story very shortly, but wanted to give you all a first heads up.