Hey guys, big Northwestern fan here. I see that there's a strong chance that NU might get Joey Van Zegeren. I'm a little curious about what happened with him at Va Tech. I always liked how Northwestern runs a clean program and I hope that Chris Collins wouldn't stoop to taking a transfer with a troubled past. I don't know if that statement describes Van Zegeren. Curious what happened.

Guys, I measured 7 1/2 inches of snow outside of my house in the NRV, but surprisingly, VT had a recruiting visitor today. Prince Avenue Christian (Ga.) three-star tackle Robert Kraeling made the visit with his dad.

It's been a busy last few days for Kraeling. He visited Alabama on Saturday, where he was offered, went to Wake Forest's junior day yesterday and then made the drive to Blacksburg early this morning before the snow came. Tomorrow, Kraeling is going to Tennessee for a visit.

Today, Kraeling said he saw the facilities, hung out with a few of the linemen in their dorms and loved having a private visit. He met one-on-one with assistant coach Stacy Searels, his primary recruiter, as well as coach Frank Beamer. Kraeling really likes Searels. He briefly met his family and said it's been a "complete blessing" to talk with Searels. Kraeling likes Searels' history and believes he's passionate about his job.

This is a kid who's starting to blown up, as evidenced by his Alabama offer. The Hokies offered a few weeks ago and getting him to visit today was huge. It really gives them a chance and I'm told Searels and the staff really like Kraeling. But this kid will approach 20 offers, if not more and said he won't be deciding until late October at the earliest.

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[/B]

Robert Kraeling profile

Just a reminder, the new Rivals250 presented by Under Armour will be released shortly. I'll post the link here and also post on the front page.

Respect to UVa on the bball success but the game on ESPN tonight is, at least for me, horrible to watch. Had me thinking so I put this poll together.

With arrival of the Vicks and DeLo (Deangelo Hall)---- Techs program took off....for a 5-10 yr period.....ESPN.Gameday was
made frequent visits for about 3-5 yrs.....VT was an "IT" program........then rumours and newspaper reports of fights
and issues in town and on campus started to surface.... I feel Beamer associate the 4 & 5 * players as problems waiting to happen......and definitely took the stance of taking 3 stars and making them 4 stars (without the off the field drama)

while still having very good records.... after the VICKS,.the program started to lose its cache....and VT would open the fball season on national tv against some heavy weight powers....and proceeded to not be able to seal the deal.....

the program lost its cache. Other than workmanlike & tenacious defense (which struggled at times this past year with surprising losses to ECU & Wake undermined this past season & the program. Hopefullythis years recruiting class (rated in top 25) has signaled a rebirth.....The military bowl win against a tough cincy club has provided an additional shot of adrenaline.

Hopefully, some recent coaching changes and the success in recruiting will reinvigorate the program to return to its routine 10 win stature without beating up on D-1AA , the directional schools , and the other sisters of the poor.

I am much more encouraged this year than I was at this time last year. Crossing my fingers, toes, legs, and eyes that we are on the way back.




This post was edited on 2/11 5:31 PM by vtdiehard

Q&A No. 9, on Rivals250 QB Dwayne Lawson. I like this kid. It might not happen right away, but I think he'll be a difference maker for the Hokies.

Lawson Q&A

The new 2016 Rivals100 has been released. Here are all the relevant links:

New 2016 Rivals100
Rivals100: New five-stars, big movers
Eason still No. 1, 2 new 5-stars
Year of the LBs?

Please keep in mind that I cover prospects in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. If you have a question about a player from another region I will do my best to ask the appropriate analyst to come over and answer your question.

The rest of the rankings releases will follow this schedule:

Tuesday: 2016 Rivals250 at noon EST
Wednesday: 4-stars outside the Rivals250
Thursday: Position rankings at noon EST
Friday: Three-stars updated
This post was edited on 2/16 12:11 PM by RivalsFriedman

Guys, I spoke earlier with one of the Hokies' most recent offers, Roswell (Ga.) three-star LB Tyrone Hopper. VT offered him in person a few weeks ago on a visit.

Hopper right now has offers from VT, Memphis and Georgia Southern. Also has been getting interest from Tennessee, NC State, Wake Forest, North Carolina, West Virginia and Florida Atlantic.

With the Hokies, defensive coordinator Bud Foster and assistant coach Torrian Gray both made the visit and Hopper said they just talked about VT's defense. They also asked about him and told him what they like about him. Hopper said he liked meeting with them and now plans to be at VT's next visit day, Feb. 28.

Hopper was at Wake Forest's junior day today and was at NC State two weeks ago. He spoke highly of the academics at both places, but wasn't overly excited about either, it didn't sound like to me. It's still pretty early here. Hopper is a kid who will probably get close to, if not double digit offers. The Hokies being his major offer should help, but it's kinda too early to say whether he's leaning towards VT at all.

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[/B]

Tyrone Hopper profile

Surprising hire, for all the same reasons most here weren't thrilled about him. No offense to the elders among us (myself included), I just don't see the upside to hiring a 58 year-old with a mediocre reputation at a $275k + salary.

Glad we got Zohn--time will tell, but he seems to be hitting the ground running and is already moving and shaking in the 757.

https://twitter.com/AnthonyDasher1/status/566234785824382977

For those of us staying in on another cold Saturday.

Just a random Youtube video.

Tyrod Taylor!!!

Just read the interview Jason did and was curious about his answer to "If you could go toe to toe with anyone in the ring who would it be?".....He chose Quin Blanding which I thought was odd since Blanding towers over him and outweighs him by a solid 30 lbs of muscle, not to mention he's older and had a monster year at UVa.....Do they have a history?

I think he should have picked Smoke.

Does anyone know what the deal is with Justin Bibbs??? Played only14 minutes today with only couple of free throws. Third straight game with minimal minutes played and few points.

who are the 2 tranfers next year

For those interested, the AP's story on VT's 75-54 loss at Clemson:

Tigers Over Hokies

Wow, it's been a rough go to start for VT basketball. Clemson has been all over the Hokies, up 41-22 at halftime. VT shooting just 30.4% and has eight turnovers. Clemson shot 50%

Guys, I spoke for a while earlier with Northern Guilford (NC) RB CJ Freeman, who visited VT for junior day last weekend. I've seen him multiple times, in camps and games and have probably lobbied harder for him than anyone else to our analysts to get a fourth star. He's close.

Freeman still has two offers, from VT and South Carolina. He said he believes his next offer will probably come from Auburn, though he's gotten a ton of interest lately from Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Duke.

Freeman said his Hokies visit was "probably my best visit so far and one of my favorites." He said he loved getting to talk to all the coaches and especially hanging out all weekend with his former teammate, Mook Reynolds. Those guys are like brothers. They're very close and I think that might be the biggest factor right now that VT has working for it here. Freeman said he also spoke for a while with coach Frank Beamer in his office towards the end of the junior day and that made a good impression as well. VT was Freeman's first offer though and he's probably seen the Hokies more than anyone.

The other big thing with Freeman is he's coming off an injury in the state title game in mid-December. Freeman ran for 55 yards on five carries and a touchdown before feeling multiple 'pops' in his foot early in the second quarter. He said an MRI revealed two torn ligaments. Freeman is still in a walking boot, but gets that off in three weeks and is hoping to be on track to participate in the Rivals camp April 13 in Charlotte. But that's not a definite.

I get the feeling Freeman wants to see what other offers might come since he thinks he's close, but I do think he's a Hokies lean for sure. We'll just see who else comes in the picture.

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[/B]

CJ Freeman profile

my responsibilities result in periodic visits to various VTech related sites...can someone briefly elaborate? THANKS..

.

Guys, with all the talk of what DE Trevon Hill did off the field, his parents created this page which explains a bit more and also sets up a donation fund for him. Thoughts?

This post was edited on 2/13 12:14 AM by Jason Stamm

Hill's family asks for donations

Guys, for those interested, it looks like we might change this up later on, but for now, we'll plan on doing our podcast each Friday. Probably when football starts back up, we'll switch to earlier in the week, to recap the weekend. Here's our latest podcast:

This week's podcast

visitng at the end of the month? chance he commits to Tech that weekend?

https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechDrumline


From the GT bball game. It is towards the end..around last 2 minutes.
This post was edited on 2/11 12:52 PM by DEXTERITY

Guys, we're back with our Friday chat this week with plenty to recap and talk about, coming off the Hokies' first junior day of the year last weekend. And one more commit in the fold from that as well. At 12:30 pm ET tomorrow, I'll be answering all our site subscriber questions as I do each week, on recruiting, football, basketball, baseball and basically anything VT related. Some come take advantage of and get the very most out of your subscriptions and come joins us!

This post was edited on 2/13 12:40 PM by Jason Stamm

Click HERE for this week's INsider Chat!

Hard to believe it's already here with the weather like it is, but VT kicks off its 2015 baseball season today at Mercer, a pretty good team last season that finished just outside of the NCAA tourney at 38-17. Here's Doug Bowman's season preview.

Baseball season starts today

scoring record in Ohio.

I'm glad he's ACC anyway.

Me thinks Buzz will get some of these kids from now on.

For those interested...

Top ACC recruiters for 2015