Virginia Tech will see two prospects decide this weekend, one in each of the major sports. Let's look at them chronologically.
First comes on the gridiron, when local hero Cole Beck makes his choice between VT, North Carolina, and Pitt this evening. The Blacksburg High standout is a 6-1, 180-pound back with legit 10.4-second speed in the 100-meter dash (extremely fast), and he could actually play a number of roles at the next level, and even put out a junior highlight reel of defense-only clips.
I do, however, think he's a running back, and early in his career a return specialist, at the next level. I also believe he will do that at Virginia Tech - to the degree that I don't even think UNC or Pitt fans will tune in to Twitter this evening to see his choice (the coaching staffs at those schools certainly won't bother if they have the same feel for it as the Hokies do). That commitment will come after his homecoming game tonight, so it'll be a little late on a Friday, but it should mean good news for the Hokies.
It will be interesting to watch whether it means bad news for Caleb Steward down the line. Beck is the better of the two running backs, and numbers are tight enough that it makes little sense to bring in two runners in this class. If I were king of Hokie recruiting, he would be looking over his shoulder.
Tomorrow evening, a hoopster is potentially joining the fold, as well. This one has a little more mystery to it, with Fairburn (Ga.) Hughes forward Landers Nolley seeming to favor Virginia Tech and Illinois over the pack (which also included Georgia and Georgia State). When he announced his final two this morning, though, it was the Bulldogs, not the Illini, joining VT.
What's behind the twist? Well, typically when a perceived favorites list has some changes to it over time, the consistent school in the group feels pretty good. However, he is on an official visit to Georgia today into tomorrow, which not only gives the coaching staff there a last chance to sway him, it also means he'll be announcing his commitment right on the heels of that visit. Usually, a scheduled announcement right after an official visit means that school is the intended choice. (Complicating factors: usually the scheduling happens after taking the visit, indicating the strong trip led to the decision to commit, while on the other hand, why would Georgia host him on the visit if they thought both that he made up his mind and that they needed to sway him on said trip?).
At this point VT hasn't gotten a turndown, so they're still in the mix, but I would lean toward Georgia for Nolley - admittedly just a guess between the two at this point.
First comes on the gridiron, when local hero Cole Beck makes his choice between VT, North Carolina, and Pitt this evening. The Blacksburg High standout is a 6-1, 180-pound back with legit 10.4-second speed in the 100-meter dash (extremely fast), and he could actually play a number of roles at the next level, and even put out a junior highlight reel of defense-only clips.
I do, however, think he's a running back, and early in his career a return specialist, at the next level. I also believe he will do that at Virginia Tech - to the degree that I don't even think UNC or Pitt fans will tune in to Twitter this evening to see his choice (the coaching staffs at those schools certainly won't bother if they have the same feel for it as the Hokies do). That commitment will come after his homecoming game tonight, so it'll be a little late on a Friday, but it should mean good news for the Hokies.
It will be interesting to watch whether it means bad news for Caleb Steward down the line. Beck is the better of the two running backs, and numbers are tight enough that it makes little sense to bring in two runners in this class. If I were king of Hokie recruiting, he would be looking over his shoulder.
Tomorrow evening, a hoopster is potentially joining the fold, as well. This one has a little more mystery to it, with Fairburn (Ga.) Hughes forward Landers Nolley seeming to favor Virginia Tech and Illinois over the pack (which also included Georgia and Georgia State). When he announced his final two this morning, though, it was the Bulldogs, not the Illini, joining VT.
What's behind the twist? Well, typically when a perceived favorites list has some changes to it over time, the consistent school in the group feels pretty good. However, he is on an official visit to Georgia today into tomorrow, which not only gives the coaching staff there a last chance to sway him, it also means he'll be announcing his commitment right on the heels of that visit. Usually, a scheduled announcement right after an official visit means that school is the intended choice. (Complicating factors: usually the scheduling happens after taking the visit, indicating the strong trip led to the decision to commit, while on the other hand, why would Georgia host him on the visit if they thought both that he made up his mind and that they needed to sway him on said trip?).
At this point VT hasn't gotten a turndown, so they're still in the mix, but I would lean toward Georgia for Nolley - admittedly just a guess between the two at this point.
