Jackson has set the time for his announcement today: 3 p.m.
The three-star WR out of the Charlotte area has a group of six finalists, but really only UNC, NC State, and Virginia Tech are seriously in the mix. App State, Duke, and Maryland are the others, and didn't draw official visits from him. At this stage, I lean toward his staying home. That's not because of a lack of love for VT: despite being a little farther from home and of course out-of-state, he saw VT as much as he saw either of those programs (heck, as much as he saw both of them combined in the past two years).
I think it's simply a matter of seeing where he fits into the pecking order and going to the program that he - perhaps accurately - views as wanting him more badly. He's a nice prospect, but the two-in-the-bush status of more-highly ranked guys who can make a statement about VT's intent and ability to land guys from the Commonwealth just means that the Hokies didn't need to push him unless Jackson wanted to wait it out a bit.
HOWEVER - and here's the more interesting insider bit - I'm told that the coaching staff is still expecting good news today. Maybe it's simply a surprise decision to push for Jackson at the last second, but the nature of the communication leads me to believe that's not it. The info has been passed along a little cryptically, so I'm not positive of precisely who will be bringing the good news to the Hokies - though if you've been following along, you certainly have a couple good ideas in mind. Think guys who are top targets and took June officials and are not sticking to established timelines.
More to come later today, of course.
The three-star WR out of the Charlotte area has a group of six finalists, but really only UNC, NC State, and Virginia Tech are seriously in the mix. App State, Duke, and Maryland are the others, and didn't draw official visits from him. At this stage, I lean toward his staying home. That's not because of a lack of love for VT: despite being a little farther from home and of course out-of-state, he saw VT as much as he saw either of those programs (heck, as much as he saw both of them combined in the past two years).
I think it's simply a matter of seeing where he fits into the pecking order and going to the program that he - perhaps accurately - views as wanting him more badly. He's a nice prospect, but the two-in-the-bush status of more-highly ranked guys who can make a statement about VT's intent and ability to land guys from the Commonwealth just means that the Hokies didn't need to push him unless Jackson wanted to wait it out a bit.
HOWEVER - and here's the more interesting insider bit - I'm told that the coaching staff is still expecting good news today. Maybe it's simply a surprise decision to push for Jackson at the last second, but the nature of the communication leads me to believe that's not it. The info has been passed along a little cryptically, so I'm not positive of precisely who will be bringing the good news to the Hokies - though if you've been following along, you certainly have a couple good ideas in mind. Think guys who are top targets and took June officials and are not sticking to established timelines.
More to come later today, of course.
