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1) With all the focus on QB, where do we stand in regards to WR for C/O 2021? – VTECHFAN
Chris Coleman: According to the 247 database, 299 recruits from the 2021 recruiting class have an offer from Virginia Tech. Of course, the actual number isn’t quite that high, but you get the point. That’s a lot of guys.
When William Johnson committed to Virginia Tech, I don’t think I was aware that Virginia Tech was recruiting him heavily. Same for Arkansas defensive tackle Tyas Martin. When graduate transfer Evan Fairs committed to the Hokies on Thursday night, I didn’t even know that he existed, much less than the Hokies were recruiting him.
That’s my two-paragraph way of saying to take my answer to this question with a grain of salt. I know some names, but certainly not all of them. Some random wide receiver who I’ve never heard of could commit to Virginia Tech tomorrow for all I know.
Here are the main names that I’m aware of…
Dekel Crowdus: Borderline 4-star/3-star from Lexington, KY. If I had my way and the recruiting services had a half-star system, he’d probably rank as a 3.5-star guy. About 5-11, 170, Crowdus would be a slot receiver. He likes Tech, and pays quite a bit of attention to the Hokies on social media, but is listed with a number of good offers. To my knowledge he’s never visited, though I could be wrong. Based on the fact that he hasn’t visited, I’d say Tech’s chances aren’t great right now, but that could change if recruiting gets opened back up.
Ahmari Huggins-Bruce: A high 3-star recruit from South Carolina, Huggins-Bruce has a 100% Crystal Ball prediction rate to Virginia Tech on 247. For whatever that’s worth. He’s a good prospect, and I think he’d be a slot in college. Schools like Louisville and NC State seem to be the top competition.
Jaylen Jones: Jones is a 3-star recruit from Richmond who could potentially play inside or outside at the college level. He also owns a 100% Crystal Ball prediction rate to Virginia Tech. BC, Pitt, UVA, Wake Forest and some others have also offered. Pitt seems to be the biggest competition. He caught 76 passes for 1,369 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior. Right now I’d be a bit surprised if the Hokies didn’t get him, but you know how recruiting goes. I could see him being Tech’s next commitment. Or not.
Joshua Burrell: Burrell is a 6-2 outside receiver prospect from South Carolina. He is a high 3-star prospect with a 4-star offer list. Virginia Tech and Florida State are probably his top two, though he’s also got offers from Tennessee, Louisville, NC State, Penn State, and others. He has a twin brother (a safety type) who also holds a Tech offer, but who doesn’t hold an offer from those other major programs?
That doesn’t count current VT commitment, 4-star Texas wide receiver Latrell Neville. Whether or not that commitment holds up is a matter of debate. I know very little about Crowdus, but I like Burrell, Jones and Huggins-Bruce very much. I think Huggins-Bruce is a true slot, Burrell is a true outside receiver, while Jones is a versatile guy who could line up wherever needed. I’d take all three of those guys right now, even if Neville stays committed.
2) How would you rank these factors that went into Dematrius Davis’s decision:
-NFL draft that only saw Dalton Keene drafted from Tech
-Coronavirus lockdown that gave other universities more time to focus on virtual recruiting top targets like Davis
-Davis’s desire to play/practice with elite level talent and his inability to convince other top recruiting targets to join him in Blacksburg
-Mike Vick’s level of involvement in Davis’s recruitment
-Blacksburg’s distance from Texas
-Virginia Tech’s football-related facilities
-Anything else I’m leaving off that you’d like to add
- Babcock
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CC: I like this one. If I spent several hours thinking long and hard about it, maybe my answer would be different, but here’s where I’m at right now…
1: Davis’s desire to play/practice with elite level talent and his inability to convince other top recruiting targets to join him in Blacksburg. This is the main reason out of all the reasons you gave, in my opinion, and it outweighs the other reasons on your list by quite a bit.
2: Coronavirus lockdown that gave other universities more time to focus on virtual recruiting top targets like Davis. It’s not just the fact that other schools have more time, but the fact that his scheduled visit next month is now postponed. If there were no Covid-19, and Davis was wavering, Fuente could say “Dematrius, you are scheduled to officially visit us next month. Don’t decommit. Come visit. Sit down with us face to face, tour the campus, see everything we have to offer…see all the things that made you commit in the first place. If you still want to decommit, then fine. But don’t do something rash just a month before you are set to take your visit.” Unfortunately, that’s not an option.
3: Distance. Dematrius Davis, Sr. (the father) noted that the family wasn’t looking for the “hoopla” that comes with staying in-state in Texas. “We just wanted somewhere that’s a family-oriented place, small and that plays some good, old-fashioned football.” I have no idea whether Auburn is “family-oriented” but it is small, and they play good, old-fashioned football. I suppose he could get the same things there, and it’s closer to home. But I think this factor had much less to do with it than the first two.
Honestly, those three outweigh the others by quite a bit. I don’t think Keene being the only drafted Tech player had anything to do with it, though at the same time, $52 million in rookie NFL contracts this year for Auburn players doesn’t hurt. Some say lack of contact with Michael Vick hurt. I disagree. Vick was also Devyn Ford’s favorite player, and the coaching staff got Vick to come to campus and meet with Ford at least once. What happened? Ford committed to Penn State. My favorite all-time baseball player is Dale Murphy, but I wouldn't choose a college based on a conversation with Murphy.
I’ll also throw “money” in there as a reason Auburn would be more attractive to him, and no I’m not talking bag men. First, I’m talking about cost of attendance and new NCAA rules.
Auburn: $5,568 per year. The second-highest total in the country (2015 numbers). Here’s a good read about Auburn’s COA.
VT: $3,620 per year.
That’s $2,000 more per year that Auburn can legally pay. I don’t have any way of knowing if that helps Auburn in this specific circumstance, but I can with 100% certainly say that being $2,000 lower per year does not help Virginia Tech.
Also regarding money, as rabid as Auburn fans are, I figure that thanks to the new NCAA rules allowing players to make money by marketing themselves, the Tiger fanbase is lining up to “help.” Auburn is a small town like Blacksburg, but their alums take football a lot more seriously. In the Auburn-Alabama rivalry, people destroy landmark trees on campus because of football. At Virginia Tech, construction of a key football facility was held up for nearly a decade because of landmark trees. It's the total opposite. And that’s not me making a political statement…it’s just me pointing out the simple fact that fans down in that part of the country take their football more seriously than fans in this part of the country.
Between COA and boosters stepping up to help players market themselves, I’m certain that Dematrius Davis can make more money above the board at Auburn during his college career than he could at Virginia Tech. How much? I don’t know. The difference in COA alone would be about $8k over four years. What about the marketing aspect? Is that an extra 10-grand? 15-grand? 25? 50? 100? I have no idea.
Considering that Cam Newton once turned down $180k from Mississippi State to go to Auburn, then I think it’s safe to assume that a star quarterback at Auburn is going to have a chance to make a ton of money…enough to set himself up pretty well in life even if he doesn’t make the NFL. Adjust over a decade of inflation, consider that college football is a more valuable commodity in 2020 than it was back then, and how much could a really good starting quarterback at Auburn conceivably make in today's market? $200k? $250k? $500k?
I don’t know, we’ll see, but if those are the types of numbers that are being presented to him (and those are the types of numbers I would be presenting if I were Auburn), then do we have any right to criticize his decision? No. Recruiting in the future is going to be less about coaches vs. coaches, or facilities vs. facilities. It’s going to be more about which schools can give the players the best chance to make the most money, and it will all be perfectly legal. So if you own a business, you’ve got a nice marketing budget, and you want Virginia Tech to succeed in this modern era of college football, then it’s time to step up. Otherwise you won’t have much of a right to complain when Justin Fuente and all other future Virginia Tech coaches get outbid on the recruiting trail.
3) Years ago the NCAA had player job rules where I believe the job had to pay the same as anyone else they would hire for that position. Does the NCAA have any caps on endorsement rates and/or total fees any one player can collect? What keeps SEC school Alumni Chevrolet from paying incoming freshmen $10K, or more for a commercial? If not, isn't the NCAA basically endorsing cheating through endorsement $$$'s vs. previous ghost, or highly compensated employment? - MCL3 Hokie
CC: As far as I can make it out, the complete plan hasn't been finalized. The NCAA is basically saying "here's what we are going to do, and we plan to have it in place by the 2021-22 season, but we don't have any details for you yet because the plan hasn't been finalized." So we don't know exactly how it's going to look. But of all the articles I've read, I haven't seen any mentions of a limit. If someone else has seen such a mention, let me know.