Welcome to Tunnel Talk, with the latest in the world of Hokies and recruiting.
New recruiting assistants
Corey Fuller and Jeron Gouveia-Winslow are new to the staff in what may seem like vague roles ("Assistant Director of Player Personnel" the title for each of them), but make no mistake: these are recruiting hires. VT has had one of the smaller recruiting staffs and recruiting budgets among major power programs, and Justin Fuente and Adam Lechtenberg - the on-field assistant most responsible for directing the recruiting process on the large scale - have been stumping to improve that for a couple years now. Adding two staffers won't be a panacea or magic bullet, but should help with the overall effort.
Fuller has obvious benefits in the recruiting world for the Hokies. Not only is he one member of a well-known family of successful Hokies (with younger brothers Kyle and Kendall still strapping the helmet on in the NFL), but the connections he has to his hometown, Baltimore, and the greater DMV region should help Virginia Tech improve relationships there.
Gouveia-Winslow may not be as high-profile a name, but he's also a DC-area guy, and has an added bonus of more coaching experience (as a grad assistant at Hawaii and defensive backs coach at D-3 Brevard College). He also has Polynesian roots, and for a Hokies team looking to improve its West Coast results on the trail, that can be helpful.
As I've said, more manpower should be a major boost. It'll help close the gap against some of the other power programs. But I've been consistent over the past couple years in saying that organization of a recruiting board and a systematic approach for evaluating and pursuing talent have been bigger issues. That's more a one-man gig (or a small group - the point is that it's not necessarily something that's boosted by adding more voices to the mix), but hopefully taking some responsibilities off the plate of the higher-ups within the recruiting structure will help make that a little more streamlined and effective, too.
Chris Adams
Hagerstown (Md.) South 2021 offensive/defensive lineman Christopher Adams remains one of the top targets for the Hokies, who were surprised when they offered him about a month ago that he didn't have a bigger group of pursuers. That's largely because he's a multi-position guy who has potential on both sides of the ball, but isn't yet polished on either.
Adams is reciprocating plenty of Virginia Tech interest, and is itching to get to Blacksburg for a visit (for obvious reasons, that's not an option right now - I haven't broached the topic with him of the type of visits we've seen lately, wherein prospects head to town and give themselves a self-guided tour). My feeling having observed both sides of the coin in his recruitment is that it seems likely that staff will be able to get him to commit without taking a true recruiting visit since receiving the offer.
A push from the coaches while Syracuse and a bunch of mid-majors are the competition... obviously carries risks (though the talent-evaluation ability of this staff has basically never been in question), especially given that Adams will probably be high on the Hokies whenever they want to lean on him a bit. Waiting until other Power-5 competition arrives - and it seems like it will if there's a season in Maryland and Adams can show more on film - is a risk in the other direction, of course.
Tray Curry situation
The commits are coming so fast and furious lately that a guy who's been on the commitment list for barely a week seems like old news, but Cleveland (Tenn.) Bradley Central receiver Tray Curry is anything but.
I shared the news yesterday that he's no longer with his high school team, and the coach at Bradleyt Central wasn't interested in elaborating on any reasoning behind that.
I touched base with some coaching contacts and media members in the Chattanooga area, but have been unable to unearth much detail about the situation to this point. The high school coach isn't talking, and he's the only one with the info. Friends in the prep sports coverage industry tell me that, as recently as the weekend, coach Damon Floyd was discussing Curry as a member of the team, and bubbling with praise for his star receiver/running back. Suddenly, he's silent on the matter beyond saying that Curry's not with the team.
In the pandemic era, it'll be a little more difficult to shake news about the outcome out, as well: is he still in school at Bradley Central, just not with the football team? Is he planning to play at a place like IMG? Is his departure from the team because he intends to play somewhere else, or would ending up somewhere else be the result of being removed from Bradley Central's roster? Without typical fall camp availabilities at high school practices, it may take a little longer to determine what all goes down, unless the boots-on-the-ground in Scenic City get to the bottom of it.
Etc.
Very quickly: still expecting a commitment within the next week or so from Georgia DE Cole Nelson, and still feeling good about the Hokies' chances.
New recruiting assistants
Corey Fuller and Jeron Gouveia-Winslow are new to the staff in what may seem like vague roles ("Assistant Director of Player Personnel" the title for each of them), but make no mistake: these are recruiting hires. VT has had one of the smaller recruiting staffs and recruiting budgets among major power programs, and Justin Fuente and Adam Lechtenberg - the on-field assistant most responsible for directing the recruiting process on the large scale - have been stumping to improve that for a couple years now. Adding two staffers won't be a panacea or magic bullet, but should help with the overall effort.
Fuller has obvious benefits in the recruiting world for the Hokies. Not only is he one member of a well-known family of successful Hokies (with younger brothers Kyle and Kendall still strapping the helmet on in the NFL), but the connections he has to his hometown, Baltimore, and the greater DMV region should help Virginia Tech improve relationships there.
Gouveia-Winslow may not be as high-profile a name, but he's also a DC-area guy, and has an added bonus of more coaching experience (as a grad assistant at Hawaii and defensive backs coach at D-3 Brevard College). He also has Polynesian roots, and for a Hokies team looking to improve its West Coast results on the trail, that can be helpful.
As I've said, more manpower should be a major boost. It'll help close the gap against some of the other power programs. But I've been consistent over the past couple years in saying that organization of a recruiting board and a systematic approach for evaluating and pursuing talent have been bigger issues. That's more a one-man gig (or a small group - the point is that it's not necessarily something that's boosted by adding more voices to the mix), but hopefully taking some responsibilities off the plate of the higher-ups within the recruiting structure will help make that a little more streamlined and effective, too.
Chris Adams
Hagerstown (Md.) South 2021 offensive/defensive lineman Christopher Adams remains one of the top targets for the Hokies, who were surprised when they offered him about a month ago that he didn't have a bigger group of pursuers. That's largely because he's a multi-position guy who has potential on both sides of the ball, but isn't yet polished on either.
Adams is reciprocating plenty of Virginia Tech interest, and is itching to get to Blacksburg for a visit (for obvious reasons, that's not an option right now - I haven't broached the topic with him of the type of visits we've seen lately, wherein prospects head to town and give themselves a self-guided tour). My feeling having observed both sides of the coin in his recruitment is that it seems likely that staff will be able to get him to commit without taking a true recruiting visit since receiving the offer.
A push from the coaches while Syracuse and a bunch of mid-majors are the competition... obviously carries risks (though the talent-evaluation ability of this staff has basically never been in question), especially given that Adams will probably be high on the Hokies whenever they want to lean on him a bit. Waiting until other Power-5 competition arrives - and it seems like it will if there's a season in Maryland and Adams can show more on film - is a risk in the other direction, of course.
Tray Curry situation
The commits are coming so fast and furious lately that a guy who's been on the commitment list for barely a week seems like old news, but Cleveland (Tenn.) Bradley Central receiver Tray Curry is anything but.
I shared the news yesterday that he's no longer with his high school team, and the coach at Bradleyt Central wasn't interested in elaborating on any reasoning behind that.
I touched base with some coaching contacts and media members in the Chattanooga area, but have been unable to unearth much detail about the situation to this point. The high school coach isn't talking, and he's the only one with the info. Friends in the prep sports coverage industry tell me that, as recently as the weekend, coach Damon Floyd was discussing Curry as a member of the team, and bubbling with praise for his star receiver/running back. Suddenly, he's silent on the matter beyond saying that Curry's not with the team.
In the pandemic era, it'll be a little more difficult to shake news about the outcome out, as well: is he still in school at Bradley Central, just not with the football team? Is he planning to play at a place like IMG? Is his departure from the team because he intends to play somewhere else, or would ending up somewhere else be the result of being removed from Bradley Central's roster? Without typical fall camp availabilities at high school practices, it may take a little longer to determine what all goes down, unless the boots-on-the-ground in Scenic City get to the bottom of it.
Etc.
Very quickly: still expecting a commitment within the next week or so from Georgia DE Cole Nelson, and still feeling good about the Hokies' chances.
