The First Bank & Trust Friday Q&A: Top Recruits (So Far), The Death Of The Pac-12, And More

Chris Coleman | Lead Analyst and Columnist

June 28, 2024

Christian Evans, Virginia Tech — Christian Evans is a great fit at defensive tackle for Virginia Tech. (@CXE_5)

1) Forget 247 and on3. Who are your five favorite recruits committed to Virginia Tech and five favorite targets we have a good shot with? – IV_Hokie12

Chris Coleman: It’s tough this time of year, because we don’t have a senior season to go on. There are a couple of guys in the class who I can see myself liking a lot once senior highlights are published. For example, I can see Zeke Chinwike taking a big leap as a senior, and thus moving up my own personal board in the winter. However, if he doesn’t take a big leap, he’s probably a 2.5-star player for me. There’s a ton of guesswork.

With that said, here are my top five as of June 28, 2024, and I’m guessing this list could change a lot by the time I get to study senior highlights on Hudl.

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Related Recruits

Jayden Anderson 2025 · WR Noah Chambers 2025 · LB Brett Clatterbaugh 2025 · LB Messiah Delhomme 2025 · S Christian Evans 2025 · DT Brennan Johnson 2025 · LB Yvan Kemajou 2025 · DE Micah Matthews 2025 · WR Matthew Outten 2025 · WR Jeffrey Overton 2025 · RB Major Preston 2025 · CB

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34 Comments

MiamiSailingHokie July 4, 2024 at 3:12 PM

Head waiter at Greeks Cellar. Parked there employee parking, wallked to game, then worked after!
132711Hokie July 1, 2024 at 9:29 AM

As best I recall, one of the big reasons the Southwest Conference blew up was all the cheating. It was a joke that Eric Dickerson took a pay cut to go from SMU to the NFL.
BMA1981 June 30, 2024 at 9:51 PM

For years I hoped for beer sales in Lane. And now I wish I never had. Trust me, I drink more beer than 95% of the people on the planet. But the behavior of fans has really deteriorated. The purpose of being in the stadium is to watch a football game, root for your team, and be at least civil to the fans of the opposing team. If you want to get drunk off your ass just go to TOTS. I'll be joining you as soon as the game is over.
DJ Golf June 30, 2024 at 11:07 AM

Coleman picked the right game to have 26 beers on board.
1. Bruin2Hokie July 1, 2024 at 7:23 PM
  
  Hugging the porcelain is a tough way to spend gameday. But it would be a toss-up vs watching that 2005 Miami game...
middletennhokie June 30, 2024 at 8:49 AM

Great article Chris as usual. We enjoyed our trips to the top of the mountain to watch Sewanee play Emory & Henry and the like. Rip `em up! Tear `em up! Leave `em in the lurch. Down with the heathen. Up with the Church.–Yea, Sewanee's Right!"
HokieDelNorte June 29, 2024 at 11:26 AM

Didn’t Delhomme go to WV?
1. Jessie Dog June 29, 2024 at 7:09 PM
  
  That was Deuce Edwards
mygreenbaypackers June 28, 2024 at 8:37 PM

Maybe you should drink IPAs. Would not need 26 to get drunk. haha
nvpbrown June 28, 2024 at 8:31 PM

Regarding: > My phone doesn’t work in Lane, but it also barely works in Cassell Coliseum for basketball games. But that’s a Verizon thing. Or maybe it’s just a me thing. I'm pretty sure it's a Verizon thing. We switched from Verizon to T-Mobile last year and now have decent data service in both Lane and Cassell.
1. Reston Hokie2 June 29, 2024 at 12:22 AM
  
  The mobile phone services are based on timesharing the bandwidth. If 20,000 people are trying to use the Verizon service then it will be sucky. Most likely fewer people are trying to use the T-Mobile service.
DoubleD`s June 28, 2024 at 8:16 PM

Dang bruh 26 @CC26 from here on
1. hokiesteve01 June 28, 2024 at 8:32 PM
  
  Miller ponies perhaps?
ONELLY June 28, 2024 at 4:12 PM

Not sure aTm to the SEC suggests a more nationalized conference. College Station is pretty close to Louisiana...
BK82 June 28, 2024 at 3:40 PM

At age 64 I drink 6 to 10 bottles of Budweiser during every tailgate. But 26 beers is just darned impressive, especially if there was no eventual involvement with the local constabulary. And agree, not a fan of beer sales in Lane. (And I like the Marching Virginians at halftime - it's all part of the game day experience.)
1. MiamiSailingHokie July 4, 2024 at 3:15 PM
  
  We never left Lane until final whistle, win or loose.
VTHogmollies June 28, 2024 at 3:40 PM

"On another note, I bet the TSL message boards were pretty toxic in the fall of 1949…that was a rough season for the Fighting Gobblers." Laughed out loud at this one - well played CC.
1. IB4TECH June 28, 2024 at 7:04 PM
  
  @Hokiepro was all over that one.
2. Hokie Chris June 29, 2024 at 7:29 AM
  
  Washington and Lee will really get after ya.
Stork June 28, 2024 at 2:55 PM

Hoos sucked even in 1931. Go figure.
huskerHokie June 28, 2024 at 2:45 PM

I still have a T-shirt that proclaims Nebraska as the BIG 8 football champion.
RiverViewHokie June 28, 2024 at 2:43 PM

26 beers? Had to be all Coors Light.
1. VTHogmollies June 28, 2024 at 3:43 PM
  
  My dad used to say, "drinking Coors Light is like having sex in a canoe, it's f***ing too close to water." Still pretty tasty though on a hot Summer day after cutting grass...or in Lot 4 pregame.
  1. knapnhokie June 28, 2024 at 4:25 PM
    
    your dad was a smart guy. He should put out a book of his best material.
    1. VTHogmollies June 28, 2024 at 8:28 PM
      
      "Nobody gets promoted the day after the company Christmas party" was another.
      1. knapnhokie June 29, 2024 at 3:13 AM
        
        Hilarious keep em coming
TomTurkey June 28, 2024 at 2:43 PM

Good choice of questions and great answers. Yep, this Boomer wants to watch VT win (with no apology to Conan the barbarian). I am abif Highty-Tighties fan. ???
HydrogenHokie June 28, 2024 at 2:37 PM

I don’t think there is a single elite HS program that doesn’t “recruit” players tbh. I know in SWVA that Salem has long been accused of it, and then Botetourt of late. Stands to reason that good players want to be around other good players for exposure.
1. hokie_world June 29, 2024 at 7:52 AM
  
  My HS (back in the 70's) didn't recruit for the Swim Team or Field Hockey BUT people moved into the area as it was better to be known as the #2 swimmer at my HS than to be the #1 at Podunk HS. Same with Women's Hockey team. Not sure about the Swim team these days, but the Hockey team is still winning state titles regularly and when not they were in final 4.
Nortazhokie June 28, 2024 at 2:10 PM

"But if you’ve seen one halftime band performance at a football game, you’ve seen them all." Not necessarily. The Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon halftime performance for the 1996 WVU game will not be forgotten. Nobody left their seat.
1. Nortazhokie June 28, 2024 at 2:11 PM
  
  Actually, just saw reread your message and you specifically did mention band performances. I agree with your statement.
2. Tim Lewis June 28, 2024 at 10:16 PM
  
  As much as I dislike uva, I thought their pep band was very funny. Too bad WVU couldn't take a joke.
proudhokie2001 June 28, 2024 at 1:44 PM

Just win! Easy as that. Nice article.
gemrooty June 28, 2024 at 1:44 PM

Regarding Kemajou...FWIW, in the past week Penn State has taken commitments from three DE.