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1) What are the biggest influences for a recruit? Rank the impact each has on a recruit's choice.
- school's reputation in that sport
- school's academic reputation
- the coach
- school's reputation for sending players to the pros
- school's location
- parents' preference
- other
Is this different for football and basketball? - wwhokie1
Chris Coleman: I'll answer the last question first. Yes, I think it is different for basketball recruits. They care a lot less about location than football recruits, because basketball is a traveling sport that is played on week nights. They grew up with their parents or guardians unable to see most or many of their games, and many attended basketball factories outside of their home state. For example, Jalen Hudson is from Richmond, but played his last two years of high school basketball in Ohio. Justin Bibbs is from Ohio, but played his final two seasons in Florida. Satchel Pierce is from Ohio, but he played in Pennsylvania. Basketball is a completely different animal.
First of all, I want to combine two of your influences together: school's reputation in that sport, and school's reputation for sending players to the pros. If a school has a high reputation in football, chances are they've sent a ton of players to the pros (Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, etc.). It goes hand in hand, I think.
Obviously the influences would vary depending on the recruit. Each person is different and unique. In general though, it probably goes something like this…
1: School's reputation in that sport/sending players to the pros. If you start getting calls from Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama, USC and LSU, you listen. Nothing will make a recruit's ears perk up like a big name school.
2: The coach. People matter. A coach with a big name and who is a great salesman and closer is going to have a big impact on how well his team recruits. The best recruiting schools in the country have the best reputation (Ohio State's tradition of winning) along with the best coaches (Urban Meyer).
3: Other. The system. This depends on the position a recruit plays. Obviously a pro-style quarterback isn't going to be interested in Georgia Tech while Paul Johnson is the coach.
4: Location. In general, I believe that if a recruit is torn between two schools, he'll usually pick the closer one. That doesn't happen all the time of course, but location still plays a big role.
5: Parents' preference. This is important, but I think most parents let their kid make the final decision. Josh Sweat's mom certainly preferred Virginia Tech, but that didn't help us.
6: School's academic reputation. This is overrated. Schools like Stanford and UCLA can't admit most recruits anyway. Even if their academic reputation did attract more recruits, most of them couldn't qualify for admission.
That's my view of things. Obviously that list could be flipped depending on the specific recruit.
2) What's the average star ranking of our offensive and defensive starters out of high school? - UTPr0sim
CC: Good question. First, let's do the offense. We'll use the Rivals.com ranking system…
Michael Brewer: 3
JC Coleman: 4
Sam Rogers: 1
Isaiah Ford: 3
Cam Phillips: 4
Bucky Hodges: 4
Ryan Malleck: 3
Jonathan McLaughlin: 3
Wyatt Teller: 4
Eric Gallo: 2
Augie Conte: 3
Wade Hansen: 1
Average: 2.92 stars
Despite the presence of four 4-star recruits on offense, Tech's average star ranking comes out to 2.92 stars. That average is weighed down by the presence of two walk-ons - Sam Rogers and Wade Hansen - who were assigned 1-star status.
Now, for the defense. We aren't quite sure who is starting in the secondary or at what position, so I just picked the five guys who I believe are the best players.
Dadi Nicolas: 3
Corey Marshall: 4
Luther Maddy: 2
Ken Ekanem: 4
Andrew Motuapuaka: 3
Deon Clarke: 4
Ronny Vandyke: 4
Kendall Fuller: 5
Chuck Clark: 3
CJ Reavis: 4
Brandon Facyson: 3
Donovan Riley: 3
Average: 3.5 stars
When the Hokies are in their base defense, the front seven features four 4-star recruits: Ken Ekanem, Corey Marshall, Deon Clarke and Ronny Vandyke. All were big-time in-state signees for the Hokies, as was rover CJ Reavis. Kendall Fuller is the only 5-star recruit on the team. For the most part, Tech's defense was highly-regarded coming out of high school.
3) If in 10 years Tech decided to build a brand new basketball arena, which current arena would you most want to model it after? - MBHokie90
CC: I expect Tech's next basketball arena will have its own unique design with Hokie Stone and other types of architecture that is unique to the school. I have a very poor eye for picturing things. I'm the type of guy who can't tell what my wall is going to look like if I paint it a new color until the paint has actually dried.
The newest, most modern arena in college basketball will be The Pavilion at Ole Miss. It opens this coming season.
In my ideal world, Tech's next basketball arena will be across Spring Road from Lane Stadium, exactly where the current Lacrosse/Soccer practice fields are located. I don't think there's any other spot to put it. That's a similar layout to Ole Miss, where their football stadium and hoops arena are side by side. You can also build a new parking garage that is connected to the new arena, as Ole Miss did.
Here's an indoor view of the arena…
Forward Together: Arena Fly-Through from Ole Miss Rebels on Vimeo.
Tech doesn't need their next basketball arena to be big. They just need it to be modern, they need it to provide the benefits that will maximize revenue, and they need it to pass the eye test for recruiting purposes.
4) I distinctly recall Frank Beamer wanting more depth to match the 1996 Nebraska team after the Orange Bowl. He noted how they kept plugging in fresh players, and that eventually overtook Tech's starters. Did VT ever get to the point Frank wanted after that game? - hokienole
CC: Good memory. I specifically remember Ken Oxendine being on TV the week after the Orange Bowl. He talked about how much deeper Nebraska was, and while Tech's starters were just as good, the Huskers kept running in backup linemen that eventually wore the Hokies down. That eventually lost the Orange Bowl, with the help of about 10 dropped passes.
There have been times when Virginia Tech has featured some very good depth on both sides of the ball. Take a look at this breakdown of snaps of the offensive linemen on the 2000 team…
LT: Anthony Lambo (536), Anthony Davis (216)
LG: Matt Lehr (659), Joe Marchant (129)
C: Steve DeMasi (511), Jake Grove (277)
RG: Josh Redding (653), Luke Owens (120)
RT: Dave Kadela (657), Matt Wincek (151)
Now, look at the breakdown of snaps of the defensive linemen on the 1998 team…
Stud: Corey Moore (472), Ryan Smith (267)
End: John Engelberger (484), Chris Cyrus (285)
Nose: Carl Bradley (487), David Pugh (253)
Tackle: Nat Williams (510), Chad Beasley (230)
The backup defensive line played a ton of snaps that year. The same thing happened in 1999…
Stud: Corey Moore (499), Derrius Monroe (192)
End: John Engelberger (403), Chris Cyrus (332)
Nose: Carl Bradley (441), David Pugh (264)
Tackle: Nat Williams (221), Chad Beasley (330)
Backer: Jamel Smith (587), Jake Houseright (127)
Chris Cyrus played nearly as many snaps as John Engelberger. Chad Beasley actually played more snaps than Nat Williams (because of an injury), and Jake Houseright got 127 snaps as a backup linebacker.
Fast forward to 2001, and Tech's defensive line was very deep yet again…
Stud: Lamar Cobb (366), Cols Colas (318), Jason Lallis (61)
End: Nathaniel Adibi (377), Jim Davis (287)
Nose: David Pugh (361), Dan Wilkinson (252), Channing Reed (105)
Tackle: Chad Beasley (399), Derrius Monroe (241), Mark Costen (71)
Mike: Jake Houseright (359), Brian Welch (351)
Virginia Tech went nine deep on the defensive line in 2001. If you want to count Lallis (who sacked Ken Dorsey in that Miami game) and Mark Costen, then you've got 11 defensive linemen who played at least 71 snaps. In fact, Costen (71 snaps), who was Tech's #10 or #11 defensive lineman that year, played nearly as much as Dewayne Alford (79 snaps) did as Tech's #3 defensive end in 2015. Bud Foster even rotated Jake Houseright and Brian Welch evenly at mike.
So yes, I think Frank Beamer did a good job of accomplishing his goal shortly after that Nebraska game. Tech began getting a lot deeper on the defensive line in 1998, and that trend continued up through approximately 2007. I think Tech faced fewer challenges on the recruiting trail back then than they do now (more competition these days, plus a head coach who is nearing retirement), and as a result I believe the Hokies were better at recruiting in the 1990s than they are today. Remember, recruiting rankings were done differently back then.
As far as the offensive line goes, let's look at where those 2000 linemen were from…
Anthony Lambo: New Jersey
Anthony Davis: Virginia
Matt Lehr: Virginia
Joe Marchant: Utah
Steve DeMasi: Virginia
Jake Grove: Virginia
Josh Redding: Pennsylvania
Luke Owens: Virginia
Dave Kadela: Ohio
Matt Wincek: Pennsylvania
Virginia Tech did a very good job of supplementing their in-state linemen with out-of-state talent back then. They routinely recruited New Jersey and Pennsylvania for linemen, and it's good to see them doing that again.
Another thing that I want to point out is that Tech wasn't afraid to hit the JUCO circuit back then. Joe Marchant was a JUCO recruit. (He came to Tech from Dixie Junior College, along with fellow offensive lineman Daniel Nihipali, who played in 1999.) On the defensive line, Corey Moore and Channing Reed were also JUCOs. Moore became a star, while Marchant and Reed supplied important depth.
The Hokies probably never got quite as deep as Nebraska, but Frank Beamer and his staff certainly made it a point to get deeper up front after that game. I believe they succeeded.
5) Have the two new basketball additions raised, kept the same, or lowered expectations for next season? If they've gone up, by how much? - Gretna Hokie
CC: It certainly doesn't lower them, and I don't think it does anything but raise them. It's tough for me to assign a number to it, but I like this team more with Johnny Hamilton and Ty Outlaw than I do without them. I don't think I can put a number on how much better it makes them, but Hamilton brings size, athleticism and defense to the center spot while Outlaw brings scoring ability and toughness. The Hokies were lacking those things last year, so naturally the addition of those things will make them better.
First of all, there is still no confirmation (other than his back-and-forth with his high school coach on Instagram) that Outlaw has committed. However, with the semester ending, I expect it's just a matter of getting the transcript work done before an official announcement is made. That's my gut feel.
Rev. Zeke Vodka had this to say about Outlaw on the recruiting board…
"This is a kid that bought stock in himself. He believed he could play higher and people had missed on him. I love that attitude in a kid. In fact, I remember him still playing late in AAU because he wanted bigger schools to get on him. So he develops a chip on his shoulder and went JUCO, knowing he wouldn't have to sit out a year once he transferred from UNC-G. This is not a JUCO kid in the typical sense we often think of. He is smart and attacked his choices, being intelligent and thoughtful. All along, he wanted to play in the ACC. Mostly, he said to hell with everyone that doesn't think I'm as good as I think. So he buys stock in himself and might be closer to being right than many initially thought. And yes he has been a late bloomer to some extent, but most of that is due to him working his butt off to prove people have been wrong on him. Never underestimate a kid like that, with a boulder on his shoulder."
It sounds like Outlaw might have a bit of that junkyard dog mentality that I've been wishing for over the last several months. He'll help Virginia Tech at the 3 and the 4 spots. He, along with Zach LeDay and Kerry Blackshear, will make the 4 spot (power forward) Tech's most improved position from last year to this year.
Hamilton isn't going to wow anybody with his offensive ability, but he'll be one of the most athletic centers in the league and he can block shots. He brings the athleticism to the 5 spot that Satchel Pierce doesn't possess, though Pierce has a more refined offensive game at this point. I feel they complement each other fairly well.
Tech won 11 games this past season. I don't know what the schedule will look like, but I'm shooting for 16-18 wins this year. Three ACC teams won between 16 and 18 games last year…
Syracuse: 18-13, 9-9
Clemson: 16-15, 8-10
FSU: 17-16, 8-10
None of those teams made the NCAA Tournament or the NIT, but they were competitive.
If the Hokies can get to 16-18 wins this coming season, that will be a good sign for 2016-17, as they'll bring everybody back from the 2015-16 team. From day one, I've been shooting for year three of the Buzz Williams era as Tech's first NCAA Tournament team since 2006-07. That remains my goal, and I believe it's attainable.
