While the direct impact of dismissing two assistant coaches shouldn't be felt on the recruiting trail (which may say more about the success recruiting the Tidewater and New England areas so far in 2020 than anything), it does look like the indirect impact could be felt in at least one case.
Brian Mitchell was the primary recruiter early in the process for Vineland (N.J.) athlete Tyreem Powell. While he mostly passed Powell's recruitment off to receivers coach Jafar Williams (an ace in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, among the other areas in which he's a strong recruiter), his departure could combine with other coaching moves around the country and region to make life difficult for VT. Namely, the return of Greg Schiano to Rutgers has Garden State players looking at the Scarlet Knights as a realistic option once more.
Powell had taken a couple unofficial visits to Piscataway even before Schiano's official return, and with the most (only?) successful coach in program history officially back, it could be a game-changer for him. The three-star took his official visit to Rutgers this weekend, and the Knights made a strong, strong push for him.
He does still plan to take his official visit to Blacksburg this weekend (at least at the time of this writing), so VT has a chance to convince him to remain a Hokie before the Early Signing Period hits. There are certainly some selling points, too: that Schiano has failed basically everywhere he's been since Rutgers and the magic is gone, that Schiano abandoned Rutgers once and may do it again, and most importantly, that the Knights are so far from a turnaround that they won't be successful again until long after Powell has exhausted his eligibility (they didn't win a conference game - in the post-VT Big East - until his third year last time, and until VT and Miami left the Big East to become a serious player in it, and Rutgers is starting from a deeper point in a much tougher conference now), whereas VT is in position to compete for major bowls from Day One.
The Hokies' vigor in attempting to hold onto him and the timeline he makes some moves are the two major factors that could determine where he ends up. He's a very good prospect (I believe one of those in the VT class most likely to outperform his rankings), but does the staff consider him irreplaceable? Maybe not. If he flips to Rutgers before visiting Virginia Tech, the decision could be to let him go and focus elsewhere, or the staff could double down and try to get him to flip right back. The interplay of timeline and pursuit will tell the final story here.
As of now, Rutgers stands a good chance to steal him away. The Hokies could still have their say in the matter.
Brian Mitchell was the primary recruiter early in the process for Vineland (N.J.) athlete Tyreem Powell. While he mostly passed Powell's recruitment off to receivers coach Jafar Williams (an ace in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, among the other areas in which he's a strong recruiter), his departure could combine with other coaching moves around the country and region to make life difficult for VT. Namely, the return of Greg Schiano to Rutgers has Garden State players looking at the Scarlet Knights as a realistic option once more.
Powell had taken a couple unofficial visits to Piscataway even before Schiano's official return, and with the most (only?) successful coach in program history officially back, it could be a game-changer for him. The three-star took his official visit to Rutgers this weekend, and the Knights made a strong, strong push for him.
He does still plan to take his official visit to Blacksburg this weekend (at least at the time of this writing), so VT has a chance to convince him to remain a Hokie before the Early Signing Period hits. There are certainly some selling points, too: that Schiano has failed basically everywhere he's been since Rutgers and the magic is gone, that Schiano abandoned Rutgers once and may do it again, and most importantly, that the Knights are so far from a turnaround that they won't be successful again until long after Powell has exhausted his eligibility (they didn't win a conference game - in the post-VT Big East - until his third year last time, and until VT and Miami left the Big East to become a serious player in it, and Rutgers is starting from a deeper point in a much tougher conference now), whereas VT is in position to compete for major bowls from Day One.
The Hokies' vigor in attempting to hold onto him and the timeline he makes some moves are the two major factors that could determine where he ends up. He's a very good prospect (I believe one of those in the VT class most likely to outperform his rankings), but does the staff consider him irreplaceable? Maybe not. If he flips to Rutgers before visiting Virginia Tech, the decision could be to let him go and focus elsewhere, or the staff could double down and try to get him to flip right back. The interplay of timeline and pursuit will tell the final story here.
As of now, Rutgers stands a good chance to steal him away. The Hokies could still have their say in the matter.
