This morning, our Adam Friedman revealed that one of Virginia Tech's top remaining targets (from a star rating perspective - more on this in a moment) will announce his college commitment today. King George (Va.) 2024 wide receiver Mekhai White will come off the board at 7 p.m.:
Before getting into the behind-the-scenes details, no burying the lede here: I've switched my FutureCast prediction from the Hokies to Maryland. You can see on his profile that the Terps now hold the majority of the FutureCast:
Even without any inside information, the timing would feel obvious: White had planned to make a July commitment, and then he didn't. He subsequently took an extra unofficial visit to College Park just over a week ago. Now, he's suddenly ready to come off the board. If it wasn't going to be Maryland, he'd likely have stuck to the June timeline. Hypothetically, the trip to see the Terps could have simply been a chance to confirm they weren't going to be the choice. This is not one of those instances.
As for the details... White has long wanted either Michigan or Virginia Tech (and he hasn't been super-secretive about it publicly or privately). The issue is simply that there wasn't room for him at either of those programs, and their recruiting approaches to him confirmed it over time. The Wolverines have commitments from Channing Goodwin (a former mutual target, though the Hokies focused on other WRs fairly early on) and four-star I'Marion Stewart - with their remaining options mostly hand-picked by QB commit Jadyn Davis, for all practical purposes. VT obviously has four-stars Brodie Adams and Chanz Wiggins, the latter of whom is a high school teammate of White.
While it feels from my perspective that there's going to be plenty of open space come National Signing Day for best-available talents like White, the staff hasn't always felt the same (and that tune hasn't changed). Indeed, WRs coach Fontel Mines was letting some guys know that Adams and Wiggins were the only two receivers he needed - even when White was still on the board and looked more realistic than either of them - and word got back to White, which rubbed him the wrong way. Even with that, if VT had changed course and emphasized him, that'd have been a very easy hatchet to bury. The reality is that the staff simply hadn't seen space for a guy whose size and skillset are similar to (if potential a little lower than) that of the guys in the fold. It doesn't matter if I evaluate these things differently, because the coaches are the ones with that power.
All that said, should VT change course down the road, I still think it'd be fairly simple to make amends with White, given what his preference has been all along. What would matter most is how entrenched he feels at the program he picks tonight, or if he's willing to make any sort of flip at all (even one to his dream option).
Before getting into the behind-the-scenes details, no burying the lede here: I've switched my FutureCast prediction from the Hokies to Maryland. You can see on his profile that the Terps now hold the majority of the FutureCast:
Even without any inside information, the timing would feel obvious: White had planned to make a July commitment, and then he didn't. He subsequently took an extra unofficial visit to College Park just over a week ago. Now, he's suddenly ready to come off the board. If it wasn't going to be Maryland, he'd likely have stuck to the June timeline. Hypothetically, the trip to see the Terps could have simply been a chance to confirm they weren't going to be the choice. This is not one of those instances.
As for the details... White has long wanted either Michigan or Virginia Tech (and he hasn't been super-secretive about it publicly or privately). The issue is simply that there wasn't room for him at either of those programs, and their recruiting approaches to him confirmed it over time. The Wolverines have commitments from Channing Goodwin (a former mutual target, though the Hokies focused on other WRs fairly early on) and four-star I'Marion Stewart - with their remaining options mostly hand-picked by QB commit Jadyn Davis, for all practical purposes. VT obviously has four-stars Brodie Adams and Chanz Wiggins, the latter of whom is a high school teammate of White.
While it feels from my perspective that there's going to be plenty of open space come National Signing Day for best-available talents like White, the staff hasn't always felt the same (and that tune hasn't changed). Indeed, WRs coach Fontel Mines was letting some guys know that Adams and Wiggins were the only two receivers he needed - even when White was still on the board and looked more realistic than either of them - and word got back to White, which rubbed him the wrong way. Even with that, if VT had changed course and emphasized him, that'd have been a very easy hatchet to bury. The reality is that the staff simply hadn't seen space for a guy whose size and skillset are similar to (if potential a little lower than) that of the guys in the fold. It doesn't matter if I evaluate these things differently, because the coaches are the ones with that power.
All that said, should VT change course down the road, I still think it'd be fairly simple to make amends with White, given what his preference has been all along. What would matter most is how entrenched he feels at the program he picks tonight, or if he's willing to make any sort of flip at all (even one to his dream option).
