Welcome to the latest edition of Tunnel Talk, with the latest updates and insider buzz from the world of Hokies and recruiting.
Miletic is massive
The surrounding factors may not be the type that make Hokie fans very excited about the most recent commitment for Virginia Tech: Danijel Miletic is a foreign prospect who was unranked at the time of his pledge (since given a two-star rating). His highlight film spans two years and still manages to be barely over three minutes. His other offers - despite having visited (and in several cases camped at) several Power-5 programs last year - come from East Carolina and UCF.
However, I certainly saw some really encouraging signs in that highlight reel, brief though it may have been, and the Virginia Tech coaching staff is even higher on Miletic than I am. They're enamored with his potential, and supremely confident that they can provide the coaching he needs to get technique up to snuff (they wouldn't be in their positions if they were anything less than confident). It's safe to say they see him as an incredibly underrated sleeper right now. I take a slightly more measured tack, but I'm squarely in their camp that this guy's boom potential is worth the bust risk. The pieces are there.
At this point, he doesn't have plans to play his final high school season in the U.S. - that would be optimal for beginning the transition to a higher level of play, and (less importantly) give a bit of context for scouts to rank him accurately. The possibility won't be dismissed out-of-hand, but given the state of the world politically and from a global health perspective, you can certainly understand why it's unlikely that a change in course is made.
An interesting elimination
Virginia Tech was trimmed from the list by local(ish) linebacker/athlete Prince Kollie out of the Bristol area recently. For a guy who visited a couple times before even picking up an offer... that may have come as a bit of a surprise (for me, too: he always expressed interest in the Hokies when we'd spoken about recruiting). Certainly the staff's delay in offering - not until after the likes of Tennessee and a few other Power-5 programs had entered the mix - didn't help.
However, a bit of position confusion played into it, as well. Every school except one is recruiting Kollie as a linebacker - and you shouldn't have to guess by this point which was the exception. The Hokies consistently told the 6-0, 200-pounder that they wanted him as a safety. He wouldn't explicitly say that was the reason Virginia Tech didn't even make his top 10, but reading between the lines, it's hard to have any other interpretation.
Of course, the staff's delay in offering can indicate a bit of skepticism about his fit anyway, and selling him on a position he's not as interested in can be another form of slow-play without ceasing recruitment altogether. For all the staff's faults or mistakes on the recruiting trail in recent years, talent identification has rarely been one: if there was indeed intent behind these decisions, I won't judge it too harshly in the short-term.
Lawson links
I mentioned in his new offer post that there are some pretty obvious connections with 2021 linebacker/athlete Keli Lawson, and that remains the case. He attends the alma mater of student-assistant Dylan Rivers (who took a medical retirement from playing early this offseason), and there's familiarity with not only the prospect, but his high school program, as well.
While the Hokies weren't in the door first (Virginia joined a couple of Group of Five programs on his early list), they certainly made the biggest impression on the young man's mind. The concept of following in the footsteps of a taller linebacker like Tremaine Edmunds, and having the freedom Edmunds did in his role - to say nothing of VT developing him into a first-round draft pick - is enticing.
I haven't directly asked Lawson what the endgame for his recruitment is, but if it's any time soon, the Hokies are in the best position to wrap him up.
Miletic is massive
The surrounding factors may not be the type that make Hokie fans very excited about the most recent commitment for Virginia Tech: Danijel Miletic is a foreign prospect who was unranked at the time of his pledge (since given a two-star rating). His highlight film spans two years and still manages to be barely over three minutes. His other offers - despite having visited (and in several cases camped at) several Power-5 programs last year - come from East Carolina and UCF.
However, I certainly saw some really encouraging signs in that highlight reel, brief though it may have been, and the Virginia Tech coaching staff is even higher on Miletic than I am. They're enamored with his potential, and supremely confident that they can provide the coaching he needs to get technique up to snuff (they wouldn't be in their positions if they were anything less than confident). It's safe to say they see him as an incredibly underrated sleeper right now. I take a slightly more measured tack, but I'm squarely in their camp that this guy's boom potential is worth the bust risk. The pieces are there.
At this point, he doesn't have plans to play his final high school season in the U.S. - that would be optimal for beginning the transition to a higher level of play, and (less importantly) give a bit of context for scouts to rank him accurately. The possibility won't be dismissed out-of-hand, but given the state of the world politically and from a global health perspective, you can certainly understand why it's unlikely that a change in course is made.
An interesting elimination
Virginia Tech was trimmed from the list by local(ish) linebacker/athlete Prince Kollie out of the Bristol area recently. For a guy who visited a couple times before even picking up an offer... that may have come as a bit of a surprise (for me, too: he always expressed interest in the Hokies when we'd spoken about recruiting). Certainly the staff's delay in offering - not until after the likes of Tennessee and a few other Power-5 programs had entered the mix - didn't help.
However, a bit of position confusion played into it, as well. Every school except one is recruiting Kollie as a linebacker - and you shouldn't have to guess by this point which was the exception. The Hokies consistently told the 6-0, 200-pounder that they wanted him as a safety. He wouldn't explicitly say that was the reason Virginia Tech didn't even make his top 10, but reading between the lines, it's hard to have any other interpretation.
Of course, the staff's delay in offering can indicate a bit of skepticism about his fit anyway, and selling him on a position he's not as interested in can be another form of slow-play without ceasing recruitment altogether. For all the staff's faults or mistakes on the recruiting trail in recent years, talent identification has rarely been one: if there was indeed intent behind these decisions, I won't judge it too harshly in the short-term.
Lawson links
I mentioned in his new offer post that there are some pretty obvious connections with 2021 linebacker/athlete Keli Lawson, and that remains the case. He attends the alma mater of student-assistant Dylan Rivers (who took a medical retirement from playing early this offseason), and there's familiarity with not only the prospect, but his high school program, as well.
While the Hokies weren't in the door first (Virginia joined a couple of Group of Five programs on his early list), they certainly made the biggest impression on the young man's mind. The concept of following in the footsteps of a taller linebacker like Tremaine Edmunds, and having the freedom Edmunds did in his role - to say nothing of VT developing him into a first-round draft pick - is enticing.
I haven't directly asked Lawson what the endgame for his recruitment is, but if it's any time soon, the Hokies are in the best position to wrap him up.
