Welcome to Tunnel Talk, with the latest on Hokie recruiting and more.
Shawn Asbury
It's easy to be skeptical - or at least not very excited - when a two-star player commits to the Hokies, but the more I learn about Shawn Asbury, the more I'm coming around on this being a really good pledge.
Let's start with the on-field stuff. He was hurt last year, coming off an ACL tear in January (and not playing until a little later in the season because of it, to say nothing of not being at full effectiveness). The lack of burst that jumps off the page in his film is something that's perhaps only temporary. The player himself admits that the 2019 film is not particularly flattering to him.
"He was really excited for the Spring and the camp season," someone close to him told HokieHaven.com. "He wanted to have a chance to prove he's better than the [2019] film. He knows it's not the best reflection."
Of course, he ended up getting the scholarship he always coveted anyway, and the Hokies locked him down before other programs got hip to him. In the end, the ACL tear won't negatively impact his college destination. Did it make things happen on a slightly different timetable than might have otherwise been expected? Sure. But he's a Hokie, like he always wanted to be.
Off the field, he's a popular kid in the talent-rich DC suburbs. His commitment doesn't guarantee anything, but according to the same source quoted above, it probably gives the Hokis the edge over Penn State for 2022 RB Tevin White. The four-star teammate of Asbury has visited State College several times, so getting to Blacksburg along with Asbury will be a priority in taking advantage of that crack in the door. But it's very much that crack in the door VT needed.
Asbury has a number of other friends throughout the region (he's close with four-star DT Tyleik Williams, for example), and it can only be a positive in pursuing them, as well. Again, he's not magic bullet, but landing Asbury is going to go a long way toward starting to get those negative PR stories into the rearview mirror.
Diego Pounds slipping?
There was a point where Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook three-star offensive lineman Diego Pounds looked all-but ticketed for Virginia Tech. The Hokies represented the biggest name on his offer sheet for a long time, and he took a crucial pre-pandemic trip to Blacksburg.
In the time since, however, he's blown up, with over three dozen offers now on the table. As we've seen with other prospects in the past decade or so, even a VT that is an early favorite doesn't tend to stand on equal footing when other programs - historically on VT's level, though not seen that way since the Hokies have slipped since 2011 - really begin to get into the mix.
He listed a half-dozen contenders to our Tennessee site recently, and even though he's down to just 15 schools (and should be able to remember one that was an early favorite), Virginia Tech didn't come up at all. That doesn't mean VT is out of it. But it does mean a guy who once looked like a strong VT lean is back on level footing, to say the least.
He plans to wait until he can visit some of the recent entries to his recruitment (saying, "I won't commit to a school without visiting" may also bode slightly poorly for one of the few programs he's had the chance to see in-person, though that quote is less troubling), and that should give the Hokies a chance to make an on-field statement.
As is the case with many other high-profile recruitments, that statement could prove to be important.
Shawn Asbury
It's easy to be skeptical - or at least not very excited - when a two-star player commits to the Hokies, but the more I learn about Shawn Asbury, the more I'm coming around on this being a really good pledge.
Let's start with the on-field stuff. He was hurt last year, coming off an ACL tear in January (and not playing until a little later in the season because of it, to say nothing of not being at full effectiveness). The lack of burst that jumps off the page in his film is something that's perhaps only temporary. The player himself admits that the 2019 film is not particularly flattering to him.
"He was really excited for the Spring and the camp season," someone close to him told HokieHaven.com. "He wanted to have a chance to prove he's better than the [2019] film. He knows it's not the best reflection."
Of course, he ended up getting the scholarship he always coveted anyway, and the Hokies locked him down before other programs got hip to him. In the end, the ACL tear won't negatively impact his college destination. Did it make things happen on a slightly different timetable than might have otherwise been expected? Sure. But he's a Hokie, like he always wanted to be.
Off the field, he's a popular kid in the talent-rich DC suburbs. His commitment doesn't guarantee anything, but according to the same source quoted above, it probably gives the Hokis the edge over Penn State for 2022 RB Tevin White. The four-star teammate of Asbury has visited State College several times, so getting to Blacksburg along with Asbury will be a priority in taking advantage of that crack in the door. But it's very much that crack in the door VT needed.
Asbury has a number of other friends throughout the region (he's close with four-star DT Tyleik Williams, for example), and it can only be a positive in pursuing them, as well. Again, he's not magic bullet, but landing Asbury is going to go a long way toward starting to get those negative PR stories into the rearview mirror.
Diego Pounds slipping?
There was a point where Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook three-star offensive lineman Diego Pounds looked all-but ticketed for Virginia Tech. The Hokies represented the biggest name on his offer sheet for a long time, and he took a crucial pre-pandemic trip to Blacksburg.
In the time since, however, he's blown up, with over three dozen offers now on the table. As we've seen with other prospects in the past decade or so, even a VT that is an early favorite doesn't tend to stand on equal footing when other programs - historically on VT's level, though not seen that way since the Hokies have slipped since 2011 - really begin to get into the mix.
He listed a half-dozen contenders to our Tennessee site recently, and even though he's down to just 15 schools (and should be able to remember one that was an early favorite), Virginia Tech didn't come up at all. That doesn't mean VT is out of it. But it does mean a guy who once looked like a strong VT lean is back on level footing, to say the least.
He plans to wait until he can visit some of the recent entries to his recruitment (saying, "I won't commit to a school without visiting" may also bode slightly poorly for one of the few programs he's had the chance to see in-person, though that quote is less troubling), and that should give the Hokies a chance to make an on-field statement.
As is the case with many other high-profile recruitments, that statement could prove to be important.
