Latest / Boundary Corner Podcast / Summer Hot Streak

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Summer Hot Streak · Boundary Corner Podcast

0:45
And welcome back to the Boundary Corner Podcast with my partners
0:50
Brian Siegler and Jonathan Talley.
0:52
I'm Curtis Wilson and this portion of this episode is
0:55
brought by Doctor Lord Jeremy Counts at the Main Street
0:58
Pharmacy in Blacksburg. If you love this podcast, the
1:02
oakies the Town of Blacksburg. Make sure you are supporting
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Main Street Pharmacy when you head to town.
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Whether you need prescriptions of two by toothpaste or just
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want to stop, say hello that Jeremy and his team take care of
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you. The money you spend at Main
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Street Pharmacy goes towards the things you support.
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So next time you're Blacksburg, head on down to three O 1 S Main
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St. Fellas.
1:25
It's been a little little time away.
1:27
We haven't really done a proper live stream here in about a
1:30
month. How y'all been?
1:35
Pretty good, man. I can't complain.
1:37
Sports keeping me busy. Personal sports, kids sports.
1:41
But ready for the real sports? There we go.
1:44
Football. Well, as y'all both know, we
1:46
were discussing before we hopped on here.
1:48
It's hot. It ain't fun to go outside.
1:51
It's not even fun at this point to go to the pool anymore.
1:54
Like, the water's lukewarm. Like, you get out, you're
1:58
immediately hot and dry. It's yucky.
2:00
So I've been staying inside, chilling, playing video games,
2:04
working. I mean, obviously we've been
2:09
doing hokey stuff too, right, Brian?
2:10
I mean, you know, we ain't just been sitting on our hands and,
2:13
you know, not doing anything. Oh, yeah, yeah.
2:16
I mean, we we put out a nice little episode a couple weeks
2:19
back. Great space, tally, by the way.
2:20
Great space you produced. It all of that.
2:23
Man, all of us, man. That's a it's a joint effort.
2:26
Even you crazy folks that's in Hokie Nation Vt Twitter is, it's
2:30
all of us. Very true.
2:34
Yeah man, we we we put out that one.
2:36
I mean I appreciate the support that one did some pretty good
2:39
numbers both you know the Night Of and then everybody kind of
2:43
listening back and then we we put out the episode with the
2:46
highlights there. So I mean, appreciate all
2:48
everybody that really checked that out.
2:51
And and and kind of hanging in there with us with a little bit
2:54
of a new format there that we dropped on y'all 100%.
2:59
And while we were doing all that and while we were being hot,
3:03
watching kids sports, avoiding vacations, I don't know how that
3:08
happened to all of us this summer.
3:10
The boys decided to look at the calendar in the fall and we
3:14
circled the date and that date is September 9th.
3:21
All three of us going to head to the promised land of Blacksburg,
3:25
VA for the Purdue game. It is an orange effect.
3:28
I think that's no shock to Y'all, why Tally kept pushing
3:31
that game on us, pushing on us. We are going to be there.
3:36
I know me and Brian already making plans to be in town on
3:39
Friday afternoon into the evening.
3:42
Tally is still trying to put his game plan together.
3:45
A lot easier going from Richmond to Roanoke than coming from
3:48
Alabama up to Blacksburg. Well, your boys will be there,
3:52
so we'll definitely be putting it out there where we're going
3:55
to be. Hopefully meet some of y'all,
3:57
obviously, who are on the space, y'all who follow every week.
4:01
I mean, I'm looking for, man. I haven't been since 19, so it's
4:04
been four years for me. It's time.
4:08
It is time. It's time, man.
4:10
It's probably time last year, but you know.
4:12
No, the one time last year you did you.
4:17
Did hide to stay away last? This is the year.
4:20
It's not the year. Tally still feeling.
4:24
He still be. Still feeling?
4:27
I'm feeling good, man. And it's awesome that we got to
4:29
circle that date and all three of us get to go down, yeah, and
4:33
hang out and do some fun stuff. Tickets already secured.
4:36
We ain't playing. Listen, I know y'all watching
4:39
this black people when we talk about doing stuff.
4:42
At the end, everybody don't go. We ain't doing that.
4:45
We already got the tickets. We got parking deposit period.
4:48
I talked to a sponsor. We already talked.
4:51
We already talked to Jeremy at the Main Street pharmacy.
4:53
He's already blocking enough two spaces off for the cars.
4:57
We are in Blacksburg that weekend and tonight we're going
5:04
to be in a lot of stuff in recruiting, talking about a
5:07
little bit of everything and let's bring him home.
5:10
Mataysis 247 Sports Hokey scoop, Big man, How are you doing
5:15
tonight? I'm doing great.
5:17
I mean, I always loved chopping it up with you guys.
5:20
I feel like the last time we did this, I don't know if it was
5:22
like March or April, but you know, a lot of stuff has come to
5:26
fruition since then, so. I was.
5:28
I was just about to say he did not give you a proper
5:32
introduction. You got to get a man his
5:37
flowers. He came on here.
5:38
What was that? Was that in, mate?
5:39
It was in March. In March, came in here in March
5:44
and the the the teller of truth mate sis is back to take his
5:49
victory laps. I put a I put an expert up the
5:53
other day of a couple of things that you said and guess what
5:57
man. You you you was right on it.
6:00
You was right on it. I went back and listened to it
6:02
and I was like, I guess you do know what you're doing.
6:06
He does. I was a little skeptical for a
6:08
while. I had.
6:08
I had to tweet at it with some of these started coming through.
6:10
I was like, hey, but hey, let's come talk about it.
6:12
Let's go. Talk about it.
6:14
I guess I do know what he talking about.
6:16
Well, Brian, let's hit it up, man.
6:17
Let's start it up. Yeah, man, let's start.
6:19
Let's let's start. I mean we talked about it four
6:21
months ago. I mean he said hoagies had a
6:23
good chance to land Keelan, Brody, Adams.
6:26
Let's start there. The the the big dog here in
6:29
Virginia. Last Thursday it came through
6:32
so. What does it tell you about this
6:34
staff landing a big time recruit like Healing Adams?
6:37
I mean it was sick. I mean, you know, obviously back
6:41
in in March we were talking about it.
6:43
And you know, at that point and I was like I feel pretty good
6:46
about this. Like I like where Virginia Tech
6:48
is sitting. Like you have to understand
6:50
these recruitments go back years and years back to the old staff.
6:54
Like there are people all over Virginia scouting this guy.
6:58
Then it becomes a national thing.
7:00
There are teams like Georgia involved.
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And for Virginia Tech to go there, this is undisputedly the
7:07
number one guy, at least on their offensive board.
7:11
You can argue Chris Cole is the top, top guy, but you know to to
7:16
set your sights on someone, the number one guy, and land him,
7:20
you know, go into these big battles.
7:23
It it it speaks volumes about the staff, you know, targeting
7:26
these guys, scouting them, staying on them, building those
7:29
relationships. And you know, I was, I was
7:32
trying to think about it and it's like I know there is Gabe
7:35
Williams this year and you know this cycle has felt special for
7:38
a variety of reasons, just other four stars.
7:40
But you really have to go back to like a guy like Devin Hunter
7:44
in terms of like how big landing someone of this caliber is.
7:49
Gunnar Gibbons is obviously up there, but you know, a playmaker
7:53
at wide receiver that can change your program.
7:56
And and there are top programs across the country targeting him
8:00
to be their future number one and Virginia Tech wins out.
8:04
I mean, that tells you everything you you need to know
8:06
there. I mean, absolutely.
8:07
You go through and look at his offer list, Alabama, Auburn,
8:09
FSU, Ohio State, Penn State. You know, so many schools wanted
8:15
this guy. He chose the Hokies and the
8:18
other big piece was Green Run. That's 757.
8:23
Something that we talked about just a few months ago was we
8:27
hadn't got anybody big from there yet.
8:30
And lo and behold, you know, we land Brody here and it's pretty
8:35
sweet. And then all of a sudden we
8:37
start looking in March, you said to us, you said to us on this
8:41
very program, the Hokies could have multiple players in the top
8:46
ten of this class. Didn't believe him.
8:48
We didn't believe him. But once again, Callie, he told
8:53
the truth. He told the truth, the teller of
8:56
truth. Because as of right now, three
8:59
in the top 10. Keelan Adams obviously leading
9:02
the way there at #4 Gerard Johnson.
9:06
We've also got, you know, Chance William from down in King
9:10
George, so three in the top ten, Guys like Eric Mensa, guys like
9:15
Noah Jenkins, Josh Clark, six in the top 25.
9:21
Which of these players surprised you the most when you like we're
9:24
going because you you already kind of felt, my assumption is
9:29
you heard things about Keelan and you were like there's a
9:32
chance there. But what?
9:33
What came out of nowhere? When you saw either the last two
9:36
or the commitment come up to say they did, they got him.
9:42
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy because like on paper, I felt like there
9:45
was a good chance with them. Still feel like there's a good
9:47
chance with Chris Cole and that would be, you know, four guys in
9:50
the top 10. I think the last time Virginia
9:53
Tech had at least three people in the top ten in state was like
9:57
2017 or 2016. I put out some tweet last week
10:01
about that. But you know, Keelan was
10:04
definitely a little surprising. You know, obviously since March,
10:08
things have been trending in the right direction.
10:10
I think with Gerard Johnson like it was between.
10:14
UVA and Virginia Tech. So I felt good there.
10:17
I felt like after that official visit to UVA, Virginia Tech
10:21
having the last chance there really cemented that.
10:25
And then with Mensa, it was interesting because in the
10:28
beginning of at least this year, his recruitment was kind of
10:32
slow. There were a bunch of teams on
10:34
him and obviously he was very well regarded.
10:37
And then kind of later on, Ohio State got in the mix a little
10:41
bit. And that's when it started to
10:43
kind of you know, so I would say he's probably the most
10:46
surprising one because when you look at Virginia Tech
10:49
historically trying to get their number one guys at defensive
10:53
tackle, it usually doesn't turn out that well.
10:55
But you know, again, it's just a testament to the staff for being
10:58
able to stick on these guys and you know, whether it was Ohio
11:02
State kind of in with 1 foot or you know whatever, they they
11:07
stuck on him and they made him a priority.
11:10
And brought him into the fold. So I would definitely say Mensa
11:13
was probably the most surprising of the three for me.
11:18
Yeah, I mean, it kind of jumped out of nowhere too.
11:19
I mean, all of a sudden, you know, we hear some, some, some
11:23
wheels start turning and as soon as they started turning, all of
11:26
a sudden an announcement came up.
11:27
There wasn't really that kind of that that period where it's
11:31
like, Oh yeah, well, you know, he's kind of, we think he's
11:33
going to commit, he's going to announce a date.
11:36
It wasn't any of that. It was like he felt it.
11:39
And just kind of pull the trigger.
11:42
Yeah, definitely. I I guess what for me, I was
11:46
when when when Adams committed again, this is no, not saying
11:50
this staff is Alabama or anything like that.
11:53
But for me, being from Alabama, the Brody Adams commitment kind
11:58
of felt like the Julio Jones commitment way, way back when.
12:02
Because Alabama's always been Alabama, but they weren't really
12:05
known for, like, wide receivers like Julio Jones.
12:09
When he committed and again, I don't know how much that y'all
12:12
look at Alabama recruiting and stuff, but I think I may have
12:17
been Nick Saban's first year, which was like 07 and the year
12:23
before they got like Marquis Maze, which that's kind of the
12:28
the receivers that we were used to Alabama getting.
12:31
He was a really good kid here in Alabama, but not it wasn't like.
12:37
We thought he was going to go to powerhouse at that time.
12:40
But Julio on the other hand, I think Alabama mayor went 6-6 and
12:44
six or something like that Nick's first year and then Julio
12:49
on the other hand was like everybody wanted him.
12:51
He's, I mean you've seen him. He was a manchild, went to a
12:56
school called Foley here and Alabama was able to keep him
13:00
home. So.
13:02
Again, I don't know the numbers for sure, but their recruiting
13:05
ranking for them was always low. I went 14 or we're 12 or
13:10
whatever. That year when they got Julio,
13:13
which was like 08, they jumped up to like either two or three.
13:17
Next thing you know they're playing in national championship
13:20
or SEC championship against Florida and stuff like that.
13:25
The the Brody Adams commitment reminded me a lot of, like the
13:30
Julio. Commitment of that time.
13:32
So again, I I'm not comparing the two schools, but I would
13:36
love to see Virginia Tech continue to momentum in the
13:40
trajectory. That would be wonderful.
13:42
So winning some games this year is the first thing we got to do.
13:46
Absolutely, Yep. And you know, talk about
13:52
winning. I mean, I think that's that's
13:53
going to be a big part of keeping this train rolling, I
13:56
mean. Yeah, you got three in the in
13:58
the top ten, six in the top 25 right now.
14:02
You put some wins with that it's going to make you know some of
14:06
the other ones that we were close on that we were in that
14:09
final two or final three that that might be the thing that
14:12
pushes them over and and kind of gets us a couple more wins.
14:15
So hopefully we can put some some good, good, good games out
14:19
there this fall and and let the chips fall where they may start
14:24
in 25. Absolutely.
14:26
So you know, we still obviously got some big targets up on the
14:30
board there. We got Makai White, you get
14:33
Chris Cole, both here in Virginia.
14:34
Cole, the number one player in the state, you know, top, I
14:38
think he's top 50 right now, 247 and composite, just an absolute
14:41
stud all around. And then there's, you know,
14:45
they're talking about the hot streak.
14:46
They're notifying, they're noticing these guys coming here.
14:49
And you've got the things of could they flip Fred Johnson
14:53
from South Carolina? Can they flip Rainier, who's
14:57
here in the RVA out of Minnesota?
15:00
So those four prospects, mate, how are we sitting with them so
15:04
far? Yeah, it's interesting.
15:06
I mean, definitely. I thought Makai White was gonna
15:09
be a commit, I would say back in June, so a month ago.
15:15
Obviously things are a little tricky there.
15:18
Just when. You start going on these
15:20
streets, you start building up the class and you're looking at
15:22
guys like now you have Brody Adams as your number one guy and
15:27
you have Chance Wiggins coming into the fold.
15:30
Two of the, you know, best wide receivers in all of Virginia and
15:34
some of the top receivers in the country, and now you're looking
15:38
at the roster. You already have a bunch of guys
15:40
that you know you could bring back the following year.
15:43
It's tough with the numbers and I know they always work out and
15:46
you know, I've heard. Several things, but I definitely
15:50
think that, you know, Virginia Tech is still very high with
15:54
Makai White and I think you know as a talent he's right there
15:58
with Chance Wiggins. I know they both play for the
16:00
same high school team, but like, I feel like when you have that
16:03
type of talent, you want to bring that in despite what the
16:06
numbers say, like you'll always work it out.
16:09
But my only concern there is simply if they're looking at
16:13
this roster and, you know, Prize still trying to reconstruct
16:16
everything. If he's just a little hesitant
16:19
to put too many numbers in the wide receiver room but but I
16:22
still think you know they're they're sitting very highly
16:25
there. He's still obviously I'm
16:27
committed excuse me, moving on to like Chris Cole.
16:33
I mean Virginia Tech has been on in the longest of anyone.
16:37
He's been to Blacksburg so many times.
16:39
He has so many connections with this staff and you know it's
16:43
it's one of those things where. You know, I'm not saying it's a
16:47
Josh Sweat situation, but someone that knows the school so
16:51
well and is being courted by all these big programs, like you
16:55
start, you know, they have nice toys too to play with and you
16:59
start to wonder, okay, the longer it goes, is he going to
17:02
start to feed into that or is he a guy that, you know, wants to
17:06
resonate with this message of being the hometown hero?
17:08
He's seeing so many guys. From the state of Virginia, we
17:11
talked about it. Three guys in the top ten.
17:14
Does he want to be the icing on the cake, The guy that brings
17:16
Virginia Tech back, I think that is resonating with him.
17:20
I still think Virginia Tech is in the lead.
17:23
I don't think this recruitment's going to end anytime soon, but I
17:27
I still feel really good about Chris Cole and then a guy like
17:31
Fred Johnson again, you know, another top ten guy.
17:34
I can't believe we're. Talking about this many guys in
17:37
the top ten in Virginia, but you know, back in, you know, I feel
17:43
like his, his whole situation, the South Carolina happened very
17:46
quickly. He got an offer, he went on a
17:48
visit. All of a sudden he's committed.
17:51
I know he's very close with Brody and I know there is a
17:54
little bit of movement there from South Carolina that they
17:57
were targeting Brody with him and I think that was part of the
18:02
reason that. You know, he wanted to go to
18:04
South Carolina, kind of start their own trend and now that
18:07
Brody's in the boat, like I've been hearing, you know, there's
18:11
been a lot more smoke there. So all to say that I would have
18:14
shut that down a month ago, but I think Virginia Tech is really
18:18
pushing hard now. And you know, I'm not, I'm not
18:22
going to say I'm predicting a flip or anything, but I
18:25
definitely like where Virginia Tech is sitting right now and
18:28
you know that recruitment is far from over.
18:31
And then lastly. Rainier, like, he's a guy that
18:34
I, you know, I did put in an initial crystal ball.
18:37
I thought he was going to go to Virginia Tech.
18:39
Obviously, some things happened. He ends up in Minnesota.
18:43
You start to wonder as the cycle continues.
18:46
Is a guy like that from Richmond that has a spot with Virginia
18:50
Tech, with all these guys we're talking about, is he going to
18:53
want to go all the way over to play in the Big 10, to be in
18:55
Minnesota cold winters? You know all the all those sorts
18:58
of things like he likes the message there, but he knows he
19:02
has a spot. So I would say he's he's the
19:04
most likely of a flip candidate and definitely still has a spot.
19:10
Flip them all, get them all, flip them all there about it.
19:13
But it's the whole momentum thing, right?
19:14
Y'all it's You're seeing Brody, you're seeing the top five guys.
19:18
You're seeing like knowing them from Highland Springs, You're
19:21
seeing guys and it's, and this is the best part, it's not 1
19:24
area of the state, It's Richmond kids coming, it's Nova kids
19:27
coming, It's kids out on the Eastern shorts, the 75
19:31
everywhere. It's coming and it goes back for
19:34
years. It's the original building.
19:37
And I've been sitting here for the longest time and it took
19:41
Frank Beamer 6 years roughly to do something like this.
19:46
Six years. And I know that was the 1980s
19:47
going into the 1990s, But I mean, Chris Cole's the top
19:52
player. Is this a Cornell Brown
19:54
situation where it's not a kid from the beach or Richmond, but
19:59
like Cornell's Lynchburg is 45 minutes from Blacksburg.
20:01
Is it the kid right down the road that's the top dog in the
20:04
state that everybody wants in the country?
20:07
That they say, no, I'm staying here because we can do something
20:11
big here like Cornell and them. Did I?
20:16
Think I think it could be. I really do.
20:19
But that's a great that's a. Great lead into what else we got
20:22
to talk about. Got to talk about Gabe Williams,
20:25
you know, Gabe Williams, Heck of a player, heck of a player, you
20:29
know, top 247 player. We've been watching him on the
20:33
seven on seven. So he's doing his thing,
20:36
beasting, he's starting to put, put up workout tapes.
20:39
I mean he's just, he's been on the show like he's just an
20:43
awesome kid to talk to, but he's a hell of a recruiter as well.
20:47
So I guess my question is. Do you think with his commitment
20:52
and how that happened and when it happened that kind of
20:56
springboarded all of the momentum that we had going into
21:00
the summer? Definitely, definitely.
21:03
I think like you know, especially that weekend, I think
21:07
there was 4 commitments. Marcellus Barnes junior was a
21:11
guy that came on an official visit with no intention of
21:14
committing and you know Gabe Williams is in the building like
21:18
I'm committed let's make this home and he's a guy that you
21:22
know coming from Tennessee he's just trying to check out the
21:24
place and then all of a sudden he's saying you know this guy is
21:28
legit I'm legit let's make something happen, you know and
21:31
ends up committing the same weekend.
21:33
So you know he he's definitely the most outspoken I think you
21:38
know we've seen you know he's he's kind of surpassed any
21:42
expectations I've had of you know often times you see these
21:46
four stars commit and you're starting to wonder you know what
21:49
kind of momentum is that going to build.
21:50
But with gave it's like it's everywhere.
21:52
It's all the time. It's in your face.
21:55
It's, you know, it's awesome, like him going back with the,
21:59
the defensive end from West Virginia, like just some awesome
22:03
stuff, you know, like. I know part one of the things
22:06
that I was thinking about too, with what a lot of these kids
22:09
are doing. And again, I don't know
22:11
everything about it but. Like, NIL is your name, your
22:15
image and your life. It's like being on Twitter,
22:17
being engaged with people, you know, doing some podcasts.
22:21
If you do this thing the right way, man, I mean, it does matter
22:24
what you do on the field, but you can be a fan favorite a long
22:27
time before you are a stat favorite.
22:30
So I mean to see recruits jump in there and start recruiting
22:34
and things like that is awesome as a fan, but I think that you
22:38
know their family and them like. It can pay dividends for them as
22:42
well, just because of the NRL stuff.
22:45
Yeah, building a brand, man. He's building a brand right out
22:48
the gate. Yeah, he's building a brand.
22:50
And you know what? And he understands.
22:52
He does the way that works, too. So the way he was talking on
22:56
when he's on here, what he's been doing on drugs and media,
23:01
what he did with. Yeah, exactly.
23:02
He knows. He knows how to build a brand.
23:05
He knows how to build a brand A. 100% And I'm looking at this kid
23:09
and I'm just because we talked with him one-on-one.
23:12
I mean like the way he carried himself.
23:15
He's like, I'm about to turn 17. It's like you're about to turn
23:17
17 the way you get yourself. I'm here if I'm him and I'm
23:21
thinking like this because he might play safety, right.
23:24
That kid could name himself Headhunter because when he gets
23:28
done with his football career, he's either going to be an agent
23:31
getting every player he can under his realm.
23:33
But he's going to go into the corporate world to be headhunt
23:36
big CE O's and stuff to take position with companies, the way
23:39
he carries himself, the way he sells himself.
23:42
And it's also to see that and you not only see him though, I
23:45
mean look at Davi, look at look at all of them.
23:48
It's like they're following his lead and it's like it's just
23:51
something building that I don't think we saw.
23:54
But after a three win season happening 100% and you know,
23:58
Davi was kind of the 1st died to be the face of the class and he
24:02
was kind of doing that and you know, in text groups and in Dms,
24:06
but you know Gabe is the outspoken one.
24:09
I love that. About the headhunter 100%.
24:11
Like he's already a fan favorite.
24:13
Like guys love him. And not only that, but like he's
24:17
doing it not only for like the public's reaction and you know,
24:22
to get the momentum going, but, you know, I never thought I
24:26
would describe a really highly ranked four-star guys this.
24:30
But he's the glue guy of the class.
24:31
Like he's keeping everyone motivated.
24:33
He's getting all these guys, like, you know, by sharing so
24:36
much people feel closer to him and he's making, you know, he's
24:39
checking in with everyone so they feel closer to the group.
24:42
And that's why I feel like, you know, often times when we're
24:45
looking at these four stars and whatever, like the first comment
24:48
you see is, well, will this guy stay till signing day.
24:51
And I know that's like a separate conversation.
24:53
But as of now, like all these guys are so invested into
24:57
Virginia Tech, into the community, staying close with
25:00
the coaches, and you got to give a lot of credit to gave her, you
25:03
know, fostering that environment. 100% and you know
25:07
let's, let's, let's talk about the coaches for a minute because
25:10
you got guys crushing it. I mean JC Price Fontell Mines.
25:15
I feel like Chris Mark on every big guy we've landed.
25:17
He's the secondary, I mean. So I feel like he's going in
25:20
there selling the defense of what it is and letting those
25:23
guys do it. But let's talk about the two new
25:25
guys that was just getting on board the last time we talked
25:28
here. Elijah Brooks, Ron Crooks.
25:31
They have absolutely hit the ground running.
25:34
Coach Brooks the big time. Definitely a part in the Gabe
25:37
Williams landing. Help them at law him and JC
25:39
close that out and Tyler Mason in his room itself.
25:43
Coach Crook walks in Tommy Ricard you know up out of Ohio.
25:49
It's a top 50 player in Ohio. I'm gonna tell you know how big
25:52
that state is with football. Aiden Lynch up in Jersey, a
25:56
borderline 4 star kid and then Hanchuck lower guy.
26:01
Might stay in the defensive room, might come over to the
26:03
offensive line room. Depends on how it falls.
26:06
But what are y'all's view on the ability of these two guys?
26:10
And I mean to have this success, I mean, if you told us a year
26:14
from now, hey, they're pulling guys left and right, I don't
26:17
think we're shocked. But it's like they walk in and
26:19
it's like, come here, come here. And they're getting them.
26:24
Yeah, absolutely. I think for you know Elijah
26:26
Brooks, you know he's always been kind of known as this guy
26:29
plugged in with Maryland being the recruiter based guy like
26:34
being able to build these relationships and you know he's
26:36
done a great job of kind of leveraging that and also
26:39
bringing it back to the staff. Like still you have Tyler Bowen
26:42
to who you can like bring you know hand in hand walk into a
26:46
high school in Maryland and you know be on a first name basis
26:50
right away like these guys just they get it when it comes to
26:53
Maryland. And so I would say, like Brooks
26:55
is definitely hit the expectations set for him and has
27:00
done a really nice job this cycle.
27:02
Ron Crook, like to be honest with you, I didn't know much
27:06
about his recruiting background. I knew he was an experienced
27:09
guy. You're bringing him in to be,
27:11
you know, stepping into these big shoes left by Joe Rudolph.
27:14
You're bringing him in to be a guy that's, you know, very
27:16
technical and has all this experience at so many stops and
27:21
playing so many different types of schemes that he can relate to
27:25
these kids and kind of coach them up and build that offensive
27:28
line. I've been kind of shocked to
27:30
hear, you know, the guys that he's resonating with, like
27:32
Ricard and Lynch, you know, he's able to relate to them in this
27:37
kind of calm way. He's able to kind of, you know,
27:40
coach them through but not like, in a way that's like very
27:44
sophisticated but makes sense to them.
27:46
And I think, you know, he's finding the right types of guys
27:49
that resonate with his message and he's not like a rah, rah in
27:53
your face like type of recruiter.
27:55
And I think there's, you know, plenty of guys on the staff that
27:58
you look at and you're like okay.
27:59
These guys are the recruiters of the bunch.
28:01
Like they're good coaches, but they're the ones that were
28:04
putting it, you know, our aces. But but Crook has lived up to
28:08
his billing man. Like he has done a great job on
28:10
the trail and you know, just being so knowledgeable and you
28:15
know all the reviews from these guys on their official visits
28:19
and you know, committing has been great.
28:21
So huge credit to him. I think he's far surpassed any
28:24
expectation I've had of him on the trail.
28:28
Yeah, you love love to hear that.
28:29
I mean, especially with the offensive line, especially how
28:31
much they struggled last year and how much of an emphasis is
28:34
going to be kind of backfilling a lot of those positions to get
28:37
some some depth across the offensive line heading in the
28:40
next season. Let's pivot a little bit to talk
28:43
about some of that, cuz we need to backfill a lot of positions
28:46
across the roster. The staff I feel has done a
28:49
pretty good job of of that so far this class.
28:53
What position group do you think will see the most commitments as
28:57
we kind of wrap up the summer and head into fall camp?
29:01
Yeah, I would. I would definitely say they're
29:03
looking to bolster that linebacker room, maybe add
29:05
another defensive end. And I think already on defense,
29:08
you're kind of done there, like maybe Rainier in the back end
29:12
looking at guys like, you know, Fred or Chris Cole to fill out
29:19
that linebacker unit, which would be absolutely stacked.
29:22
And then, you know, mainly for offense, I think you feel good
29:26
at receiver. You have your quarterback, you
29:29
have a running back building out that offensive line, maybe
29:32
adding one to two more guys. You know, I think they're kind
29:35
of slow playing that offensive line room right now.
29:38
Like, I don't know if there's any definite names that jump to
29:41
the top in my head right now, but that's the thing, too.
29:44
Like you always have the transfer portal coming up.
29:47
That could be a way to address it.
29:50
And Crook has already done a good job in the transfer portal,
29:53
you know. So I don't know, we'll see.
29:55
But I would definitely say offensive line, linebacker.
29:57
Those are the main two points right now.
30:00
Getting a guy that can, you know, be a mic and then you
30:03
know, finding a versatile fit outside too.
30:06
Yeah. And the whole thing is that what
30:09
we saw for years prior to this was sort of the unbalanced
30:12
recruiting cycles. I think right now we got, we got
30:16
three on the offensive line. You just said that we need a
30:18
couple more. We got 3 defensive linemen and
30:21
you've already said it, mate. We need one more end of who's
30:23
going to be that guy out there. If we just look at it and take a
30:27
step back, it's like everything makes sense, right?
30:30
Like everything makes sense. Like it's all level.
30:33
To where? Why it was?
30:36
And we saw it last year when you don't build a roster right and
30:39
you have 14 running backs in A room.
30:43
You mean you don't take 4 running backs in one cycle?
30:47
No, we've had that conversation so many times.
30:51
Like, I mean, OK, maybe one will transition here.
30:54
Maybe. Like, no, they're still in the
30:56
running back room this year too. It's like, God damn it can't do
31:01
this shit. But y'all get the gist like
31:05
right, like we all, we can all step back and tell you're seeing
31:08
it first hand. And I think that's where it goes
31:12
like who's left out there, right who's left out there.
31:17
That's still potential. Who are we targeting and may be
31:21
committed elsewhere. And that's where it gets really
31:23
interesting because, you know, we take a look right now and I
31:28
know I don't have this part of the rundown, but we've been
31:31
talking about it. +3 is special. I know you've been paying
31:33
attention to it. Text 34 overall, right?
31:37
34th overall? We're 8th in the ACC and a lot
31:41
of people would scream bloody murder, but Mr. Siegler keeps
31:44
trying to point to that number. Right, Brian?
31:45
What's that number we keep pointing to?
31:47
Let's look at that average recruit ranking because that's
31:50
that's higher than we've seen since at least 19 I think maybe
31:55
even 18 up in that 88 and change range right now, so.
32:02
Yeah, I'd love to live right around 89.
32:04
That would be 8989. 1/2 would be a nice place to live.
32:08
Well, I mean, we got the man over here.
32:09
Tell him to quit dropping our rankings.
32:12
Oh God, he got a he got a beef with you and say wait a second,
32:15
he he literally, he screenshotted and texted us the
32:20
day after. Keelan, go ahead, go ahead.
32:22
You got to go. Ahead day after Keelan we had
32:24
like .0019 drop. Crazy.
32:30
I'm like he's doing this because he know he's coming over here.
32:36
I promise. It's not me.
32:37
I promise. It's not me.
32:38
Every time I go on a podcast and try to defend our rankings
32:43
experts, it always happens. It always happens and it's the
32:47
most frustrating thing. Don't get me.
32:49
I like seeing the reaction because it's pretty funny, but
32:52
like, you know it, it's crazy. But here's the thing I asked and
32:56
and this is where and I don't understand all the metrics and
32:59
I'm sure it's dad and all this. What changed with Keelan Adams
33:02
in one day? He still, I mean, we look at the
33:05
profiles. The only thing not certifying
33:07
him is this 40 times his height, his weight.
33:10
A lot of your ring King guys have seen him in action and it's
33:13
like legitimately the only thing you don't have is a laser time
33:17
40. But you saw the kid play if you
33:20
did not feel like he was fast enough.
33:23
You wouldn't put him in the top 150.
33:25
You wouldn't put him as a top five player in the state.
33:27
You wouldn't put him, you know, upper, you know, right at the
33:30
mid 90 level. And that's why I think that's
33:32
what gets us. It's like what changed?
33:34
And the only thing to change was he didn't go to Alabama.
33:37
He didn't go to South Carolina, He didn't go to Ohio State
33:40
again, Virginia Tech. It's always like they they
33:43
always look at it. They look every commitment.
33:47
They look at the guy. They reevaluate.
33:49
It must be some UVA into, you know.
33:52
That's gotta be. It's gotta be.
33:54
That's the only way it makes sense.
33:56
Gotta be somebody messing with us.
33:57
Gotta be somebody messing with us.
33:59
Man, we we see Davi's ranking drop in.
34:02
I mean, he hasn't really camped anywhere or anything, and by all
34:06
accounts he's gotten taller since he was a four-star.
34:12
So, you know, sometimes it doesn't.
34:17
Make hobby got dropped because his his parents don't have
34:20
athletic backgrounds. All in all, you can't say that
34:22
dude, his dad was a fucking killer in the UFC, but tell you
34:26
were such a good sport on this man.
34:27
And we got. I'm trying.
34:29
We we love you, man. You know that.
34:31
Before we get into more topics, because we got a lot more stuff
34:34
to cover, we got to pay some bills.
34:36
We got a quick pause here for a message from our digital
34:38
partners. As we take a quick break, we'd
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34:59
Now back to the episode. And we are back up Tally you on
35:03
mute, big old uh oh. Hey, guys.
35:06
Still on mute. I'm good.
35:07
You are good. Hey man, we back sometimes how
35:10
we do shoot this live, so sometimes there is a little bit
35:13
of technical difficulty, Sometimes it's usually
35:16
difficulty. But we are back with my guy mate
35:19
Sis. I told him before we started I
35:22
thought his name was a villain name.
35:24
He told me he's a superhero, so we take a he's he's the good
35:30
guy. He's not the villain, but he's
35:32
got a cool name. But yeah, he's here chopping it
35:34
up with us a little bit. We've been grilling him a little
35:37
bit, having a good time. Next thing we'll pivot to is
35:41
talking about Coach Pry. Coach Pry talked about his six
35:44
hour footprint, which we've been doing a pretty good job of
35:48
staying in. We've got a lot of say local
35:52
kids, Virginia kids, you know, DMV kids, but Marcellus,
35:57
Marcellus Barnes, Marcellus Barnes Junior is one of our
36:02
high-ranking recruits that we got.
36:04
It came out of the East Tennessee area.
36:08
Committed right wing gate or same weekend Gabe committed.
36:10
So great to have him in. Like I said another four-star
36:14
guy that we have. We've been going to Tennessee a
36:17
little bit in the last couple of cycles and it's been pretty good
36:22
to us. Do you see us continuing to go
36:25
to that Tennessee area and create those relationships?
36:29
Yeah, it's kind of crazy to me that you know, I thought that
36:32
you know it would kind of be like a one off that you're
36:35
looking at you know at the very, you know edge of your radius
36:38
picking guys up like obviously Tennessee has a lot of good
36:42
prospects And then you look at last year you get Mose Phillips,
36:45
Lance Williams, Aiden Green, Chance Fitzgerald and you know
36:49
Green and Fitzgerald were kind of towards the end of the cycle
36:53
and kind of and Phillips as well.
36:55
You know, all three of those guys were kind of the the right
36:58
before signing day, figuring those guys out and having those
37:02
relationships established and you know, kind of being open to
37:06
bring those guys on when other options didn't work out.
37:09
So you know, definitely it surprised me because I always
37:13
think, OK, they're done here. Like, you know, it's tough to
37:17
pick guys out of Tennessee that you know want to come all the
37:19
way over to Virginia Tech. But, you know, they keep finding
37:22
ways and, you know, credit to the staff.
37:24
They're finding the guys that are receptive, they're targeting
37:27
schools that, you know, have talented prospects, but also
37:30
that want to go on these visits. And then, you know, they're
37:32
taking the onus to say if you get this guy on campus, we have
37:36
a chance. And so far it's worked out
37:38
pretty well. I mean, I kind of talked about
37:40
it before with Barnes. But, you know, he was a guy
37:43
that, you know, offers from Michigan State.
37:45
He was going to go to, you know, other big 10 schools on official
37:48
visits, comes to Virginia Tech for his first official visit.
37:51
And he's like, this is it for me.
37:53
I can't ask for more. And like, since since then,
37:56
like, still checking in on him. He's over the moon excited about
37:59
being a hokey. Like nothing's changed there,
38:01
you know. So being able to identify guys
38:04
like that I think is really important.
38:06
I definitely think they can make a pipeline out of it.
38:08
I'm not saying like let's expect four guys every cycle from
38:12
Tennessee, but you know, the talent is there and if they're
38:15
receptive to the message, Virginia Tech has a good shot
38:18
there. Yeah, and it and it's something
38:20
that, mate, we've discussed with you, we've discussed with other
38:23
people. It's all about picking off, you
38:26
know? Certain number of prospects in a
38:29
certain range from each state. You know Barnes is a top ten guy
38:32
in Tennessee. I think all four of us sit here
38:35
every year and you say if we pick one top 10 Tennessee guy
38:39
off every year, Yep, that's good.
38:41
That's good. He's probably going to be a
38:42
borderline 4 star. He's probably going to be
38:45
athletic. He's probably, to your point
38:47
tally you know some of those schools down that way that are
38:49
good football factory. So he's probably coming from
38:51
good coaching. And I think that's a big thing.
38:54
I think that's what we got to keep looking at.
38:56
And that radius thing Tally you talked about there, I mean we've
39:00
seen it with the exception of Davi down in Florida, which you
39:03
don't count, Florida, cuz Florida and parts of Georgia,
39:06
it's out of your radius, but it should never be out of a radius.
39:09
You got to do that. But I want to flip over to this
39:11
staying into the kind of geography talk here, let's talk
39:14
about North Carolina. The state of North Carolina does
39:16
have the second most, you know, commits for Virginia Tech right
39:20
now. And that's it 3.
39:22
And you mentioned to us back in March that you thought, you know
39:26
Charlotte was going to be a big, heavy hit area.
39:29
And so far it's not been that heavy.
39:31
Only one commitment, Quinton Reddish, who recently tally,
39:34
believe it or not, Quinn Reddish got a bump.
39:37
I don't know if you saw that out of bump.
39:39
So they're not all against us, but he recently got a bump.
39:42
But do you think they're going to gain more traction down in
39:45
the Charlotte area this fall or is it just for this cycle, just
39:49
some things didn't break the right way?
39:51
Yeah, not all the predictions coming true from March
39:54
unfortunately, But you know, Charlotte still is that targeted
39:58
area. I would say it's, you know,
40:00
outside of Virginia, that's the spot that the staff is really
40:03
targeting. The thing about North Carolina
40:05
in general, you know, a lot of guys in the top 50 are from
40:09
those Charlotte areas. If you look at the top 50 of
40:12
North Carolina, nearly every single player is committed.
40:16
I think like there's 44 out of 50 guys.
40:19
From North Carolina in the database that are committed
40:21
right now and it's because it's such a talent hotbed like they
40:25
they've invested into football recently and they've really
40:29
gotten so many guys to come over there and play for these really
40:32
big programs. And it's you know, you know
40:36
across the country these schools are coming in and building these
40:40
relationships for years. And you know, admittedly, I
40:43
thought it was going to be more fruitful this year.
40:46
But I think this is definitely an area to keep your eye on in
40:49
the following cycles. Because you know, as Virginia
40:53
Tech begins its rise, you know, whether that's recruiting
40:56
momentum or on the field next fall and they really start to
40:59
get it going. You know, this is an area that
41:02
instead of going to Louisville or instead of going to Georgia
41:05
Tech or you know all these other various schools that are
41:08
involved with that area, UNC, you know Virginia Tech is going
41:12
to become a place that's going to become very familiar.
41:15
So it's definitely tough in North Carolina.
41:19
But that's the area that you know, this staff is really
41:22
working hard to get, you know, some inroads in.
41:25
Yeah, and let's let's talk about that a little bit.
41:27
Cuz when we had pride on, he talked about how he still feels
41:31
like in terms of the relationships, particularly I
41:34
think probably the six hour radius versus the Virginia
41:38
relationships, they're still kind of building that right.
41:41
They're not quite. Getting guys on campus as early
41:44
in their high school career as he would want.
41:48
So that might be something that when you look at Charlotte area
41:52
you talked about how you know you got so many kids in North
41:54
Carolina that are already, you know, they've given their
41:56
commitment so far, right. So unless we're flipping some of
41:59
those guys the the the window's a lot narrower now.
42:02
That might be something when we look long term into 25, maybe 26
42:06
where we start making some more inroads when we're getting those
42:08
kids on campus a lot sooner in the in the recruitment cycle and
42:11
have a better shot of kind of getting them earlier in the in
42:15
the spring and in early summer window instead of having to kind
42:18
of push later in the cycle. Let's let's pivot a little bit
42:23
because you know we talked about the bringing the guys in.
42:26
Let's talk about a couple guys that went out.
42:29
In this case, we had a couple guys that hit the portal in the
42:31
spring window. I'm going to ask you this, which
42:35
one surprised you more between the two?
42:37
Kyrie Moisten or Cam Johnson. I think for me it's Kyrie
42:41
Moisten just because you know he's a guy that and even going
42:46
into this year like I know they brought some help at defensive
42:49
end through the transfer portal in JUCO.
42:53
But he's a guy that was kind of in the too deep.
42:57
Like it seems like every week when they're updating the depth
43:00
chart he was like right there for defensive end #2.
43:04
And you know he's a guy that jumps in the portal and is going
43:07
to Cincinnati, which you know has a great defense.
43:10
Like say what you want about them.
43:12
They have a great defense and they know how to develop guys on
43:14
that defensive line. When I I know like a lot of
43:18
people look at Cam Johnson and they're they're looking at his
43:21
you know high school ranking and saying this guy was a four-star
43:25
bonafide whatever. You know he did come into
43:27
college he was like 165 maybe you know on a good day but yeah
43:34
so wet that's what I was looking for.
43:35
But, you know, he was a guy that, you know, he did get a
43:39
little bit of experience but you know, clearly wasn't ready this
43:42
year to impact the team. And I think what I'm surprised
43:47
like just in general of leaving, I'm surprised that, you know, I,
43:50
I don't think he's found a home yet, which is so crazy to me.
43:53
You know, this is a guy one year removed or a year and a half
43:57
removed from being, you know, a consensus 4 star among every
44:01
ranking industry. And you know, he's still looking
44:04
for a home. So I know it.
44:06
He's probably a guy that a lot of people looked at and said,
44:09
you know, Dang. But when you're looking at the
44:11
two position groups, like you feel good about cornerback
44:14
heading into next year, you're bringing guys like Barnes for
44:17
the following year that's going to, you know, a guy that's going
44:20
to be able to develop Joshua Clark too, who I still think is
44:23
the most underrated guy on the commitment list and could play
44:27
at corner as well. So you feel good there at
44:30
defensive end. You know, they brought in some
44:31
guys to help out, but I really thought Moisten would have a
44:35
chance to really stick in that too deep.
44:37
So I am a little, you know, I think that was the big, the
44:40
bigger surprise for me. Right looking.
44:44
I mean, this isn't just something that I seen the other
44:47
day, most Phillips. I seen a picture of him another
44:51
day. Did y'all see it?
44:58
Jesus Christ, I don't know what his ranking is.
45:00
I don't care right now. But when you start talking about
45:04
weights and sizes and the way that people look coming out of
45:08
high school. No disrespect to Cam Johnson, I
45:11
hope he goes on to have a great career but a little light in the
45:15
ass and then you start seeing these people coming in or these
45:18
people that prize going and getting and like, he said when
45:21
he was on the podcast, he said, I told the players on the
45:25
roster, it's my job to have a competitive roster.
45:28
I'm bringing people in to take your place.
45:31
Looking at players like most Phillips that are able to come
45:34
on campus and step in and contribute, man, it's going to
45:38
be. A very competitive thing, you
45:41
know, And even thinking about our recruits that we have, you
45:44
know, right now all of these wide receivers that we've got,
45:48
looking at somebody like a Makai White out there, that's like,
45:51
hey, are we going to take it if we're?
45:53
I never thought we'd be in that situation where we're like, are
45:55
we going to take a four-star receiver?
45:58
Crazy. But anyway, you know, over to
46:00
the next point that I was going. To hold on tally before you jump
46:03
to that next. Point go ahead.
46:05
Start, but no, I mean I hold on to that point because I know
46:08
where you're going next. Like Mensa.
46:09
Let's look at the just look at the 247 rankings and the bodies
46:12
y'all have on these guys. I start looking even somebody
46:16
like Gabe Williams at six, four £200.
46:19
I mean, Kianta Jenkins is playing, you know, star
46:22
linebacker at 2:15, the safety's are playing at like two O 5 you
46:26
look at. This is 290 pounds.
46:32
Every bit of it. I think it's all in his legs.
46:34
It's it's that point. Yeah, but it's the point that's
46:37
being made is, and it's a great point, Ally, that look, what we
46:41
were bringing in and what we are bringing in, what we are
46:44
bringing in is guys that, like you said, I set it to us
46:47
directly. I'm bringing people to take your
46:49
jobs and one of the most important things about taking
46:52
that job right off the get go is is your bodily physically ready
46:55
to go through a Division One football season.
46:58
The guys we're getting right now, if they ain't ready, they
47:01
ain't far from it. Yup, talking about some of the
47:05
guys that we did get talking about it.
47:07
You know, one of the guys that we did get out of the portal,
47:10
Antoine Powell, Riley. I mean, God, that was at
47:14
Florida. God, that was productive at
47:16
Florida. We go statue him out of the
47:19
portal. How do how much do you think?
47:22
My man? I call him Glenwood Mac, I think
47:26
my man Glenwood. I like that.
47:27
Yeah. How much do you think he played
47:29
in us having that chance and going and grabbing, answering
47:33
out of that, out of the portal? Yeah, there's definitely some
47:37
Indian River ties there. Obviously, he was the head
47:39
coach. I think, you know, just in
47:42
general he's been really good for this recruiting staff.
47:45
And this is something that you know when you get that extra
47:48
investment from the athletic department and you're able to
47:51
bring in guys like that to help out your operations.
47:54
Like he's done a great job in terms of high school
47:56
relationships and you know, he was definitely big here.
47:59
I think he was definitely a key factor.
48:02
But, you know, looking at Powell's recruitment in general,
48:05
like if you guys remember when he was back in, you know, going
48:10
through his visits and Florida came up and he had some ties
48:13
there, some family ties. Virginia Tech was always right
48:17
there. Like it was always Michigan,
48:19
Oklahoma, UNC, they were kind of shuffling out there.
48:23
Virginia Tech was always at the top and then Florida at the last
48:26
second, You know, he decided to go there.
48:28
And you know, I think he figured out really quickly, You know,
48:32
this isn't the best fit for me. They're more of a 3-4.
48:35
I'm kind of playing this, you know, outside linebacker,
48:38
rushing specialty and you know, kind of 1/3 down role.
48:43
Whereas I could be more of a natural, you know, playing in a
48:47
four, three and you know, playing in my home state,
48:51
playing with the program that I'm familiar with.
48:53
So I think there are a lot of reasons there.
48:56
And you know, it's kind of funny because it I hear so often like
48:59
in high school recruiting, like if you're finishing #2, you
49:02
might as well finish last. But I think like definitely in
49:05
this recruitment, finishing #2 definitely helped them in the
49:08
transfer portal. And that, you know that is
49:10
something to keep an eye out for.
49:12
When these guys are are going through this and starting to
49:15
look at, you know they go to a program that's not the best fit,
49:18
they're back on the market and you know he's his stats were
49:22
pretty absurd in terms of you look at his PFF stats and you
49:26
know how effective he was in the time that he played So and you
49:30
look at a position of need like he is a great fit for what
49:34
Virginia Technique is. Just get the quarterback on the
49:36
ground. That's what they need.
49:39
Go kill quarterback. That's all you gotta do and
49:41
that's all he is gonna do here. And it's good to hear that
49:44
because I think in the area of transfer portal, we've talked
49:46
about it with you before and we've talked about amongst
49:48
ourselves those relationships going forward after the
49:53
commitment. Yes, they're still gonna be
49:55
recruited after the NLI is signed.
49:59
You know, every I'm sure I've got a feeling talking with Brent
50:02
Brown here, I got a feeling there's like an agenda to say,
50:05
you know, all those kids that we didn't get, make sure they're
50:08
doing okay. Not only probably being genuine
50:11
to say check on to make sure they're doing Okay, these kids
50:13
are going through changes. But it's also a business
50:16
approach to say, you know what if it ain't going okay and they
50:19
keep seeing your number pop up checking in on you, hey, you're
50:22
doing okay. How's can going?
50:25
It resonates. It resonates over time.
50:28
Let's talk about the other kind of big land in the portal.
50:31
After the spring stuff was Clayton Frady.
50:35
I kind of came out of nowhere Clayton Frady out of Gardner
50:38
Web. You know, it happened almost too
50:43
late because I think it was just a day or two before the portal
50:46
closed to where we would not have been able to land him.
50:50
You know, obviously some All Big S honors got preseason All
50:53
American honors. So played primarily right
50:55
tackle, did play some left. What pieces fell together for
51:00
him to land in Blacksburg? And do you think from, you know,
51:05
from what he's done in the past, is there a legitimate shot he
51:07
could play this year? Absolutely.
51:10
I mean, you know, I think he's definitely going to be in
51:12
competition for, you know, whether it's right tackle or
51:15
left tackle, however Crook wants to set it up, you know, he's
51:18
going to be there. I think he only allowed like 3
51:21
sacks over three years or something.
51:23
So he's a guy and obviously it's different competition and you
51:26
know, take that with a grain of salt, but you know, a guy that
51:30
at least was proven was like all freshman American, whatever.
51:33
I think there are numerous things there, like obviously the
51:37
top guy in terms of offensive line, you're looking at a guy
51:40
like Troy Everett that ended up at Oklahoma.
51:43
And I think once, you know, Virginia Tech went all out, and
51:47
we're hoping you know, by the way, the only time I've been
51:50
wrong twice on a crystal ball is Troy Everett.
51:54
So forever haunt me in. My you know, if he if he goes
51:57
one more time, you can try to get the strikeout.
51:59
I know we'll see if he transfers from Oklahoma.
52:03
You know, that would be not the best strikeout to have.
52:05
But you know, in all seriousness, like they were
52:08
looking to bring in one more guy.
52:09
And I think, you know, when they were looking at Basal Tutten,
52:12
like you're looking in the same league, You see this guy on film
52:16
all of a sudden, you know, and and by the way, like Ron Crook
52:19
was told, we need this, we need someone, you know, go out there,
52:23
see what you can find and you know, was able to find a guy and
52:27
you know, again, he's finding people that resonate with his
52:30
personality, his kind of technique and mentoring.
52:34
And you know, I think there are other schools like Duke was
52:37
heavily on him as well. So there were other Power Five
52:41
programs on him. But I think they were able to
52:43
find someone that they said he fits with our identity and
52:47
instead of, you know, Freighty like you said, it was kind of
52:49
towards the end of the cycle. He looked at it and said, I got
52:52
the offer, this is a great fit for me, let's make it happen.
52:56
So, you know, sometimes things happen quickly like that they
52:59
could be fluid. But All in all, you know, I
53:02
think it was a good pick up and even as a depth piece, I mean
53:05
you look at the offensive line, you could use it more depths
53:08
guys there like it seemed pretty thin last year, obviously kind
53:11
of wore down as the season went on.
53:13
But you know, getting a guy in there for competition and a guy
53:16
that could be a proven starter, like we'll see how the
53:19
competition translates. Same with Tutton, like I think
53:22
it only helps your team in the long run.
53:25
Yeah, yeah. And you talked about the the
53:27
step up there and you talked about the competition for him
53:29
being being Duke in there and when you talk about Duke and.
53:33
FCS lineman and being able to do something well with that last
53:37
year, if they're targeting the same type of prospects, that's
53:40
probably a pretty good sign. So let's pivot a little bit to
53:44
talk a little conference realignment.
53:47
Definitely a big topic out there right now.
53:49
We got a new round of speculation with a CC media day
53:53
and then some more rumors about FSU out there if the Hokies in
53:58
the near future were to move on from the ACC to either the SCC
54:02
or the Big 10. How do you feel it will impact
54:05
Hokies recruiting and as an extension of that, their ability
54:10
to compete at a high level against whoever their new
54:13
conference opponents may be? Yeah, I mean, I think with
54:17
anything it's going to take time.
54:18
Like, I've always thought that Virginia Tech was going to enter
54:23
the Big 10, even dating back to like 2016.
54:26
I always like that. Seemed like Sands is you know,
54:29
Memo, like just increasing the school, getting the
54:32
capabilities. Like I always thought they were
54:34
destined to become a big 10 type of school.
54:38
And I definitely think like you're you're you're starting to
54:40
see, I kind of talked about it with Glenwood Mac a little bit
54:45
like you're investing in the staff, you're investing in your
54:48
facilities, you're investing in these people, making sure
54:51
everyone's accounted for. Like the athletic department is
54:53
really prioritizing football and they're putting the money behind
54:57
it. And now you're talking about
54:58
actually having a budget for it, not just maxing it out, you
55:01
know, like getting the TV deals, you're talking about playing
55:04
bigger opponents. I think it would greatly help
55:07
recruiting and if if Pry can do anything, give him a bigger
55:11
wallet and he's going to make it happen, you know.
55:15
Sally, I think you, I think you had a good one with with the
55:17
Glenwood Mac. I think that's going.
55:19
To I don't know why, man. When I seen his name, I was
55:22
like, that's it, you know, keeps making me think of Fleetwood
55:25
Mac. So I was like, Glenwood Mac.
55:27
Yeah, we got to, we got to throw that in there.
55:29
But yeah, try to work it in there.
55:30
Definitely, definitely. But you know, talking about the
55:32
conference realignment and things that we can do different
55:36
and we've done different. You guys talk to a lot of high
55:40
school commits and recruits and you talk a lot about nil.
55:44
I guess have you talked to any of these guys about nil and how
55:48
to hokey stack up to maybe some of the people that are
55:51
recruiting against us? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely an
55:55
interesting topic and it definitely comes up time to
55:57
time. Like, it's funny whenever you
55:59
read our articles on commitments and whatever, it's always like,
56:02
yeah, Virginia Tech's home and blah, blah, blah.
56:04
But you know, there are other like, messages about it too
56:07
that, you know, there's kind of an understanding of it.
56:09
I wouldn't say there's anything like specifically that, you
56:12
know, we're Privy to or anything like that.
56:15
But I think that Virginia Tech is, at least, you know, the word
56:18
I would use is competitive. Like, they seem very competitive
56:21
with other schools in terms of NIL and just, yeah, All in all,
56:27
I don't think any of the recruits are, You know, that's
56:30
not usually the first topic of conversation.
56:32
Like, what am I getting once I step on campus, you know?
56:35
But I do think they've made it competitive.
56:38
They made strides there and I think that, you know, is
56:41
helping. But I think it's more of like a
56:43
cherry on top than, you know, a legitimate factor for some of
56:47
these guys saying, OK, I want to go to Virginia Tech, which I
56:51
think is a good thing overall, to be honest.
56:53
Yeah, definitely, definitely. We got to get them to get some
56:56
new uniforms now. That's the last time we can get.
56:59
We can get them across some new uniforms then.
57:02
I feel like we good. I 100% agree.
57:09
Let's see here. Nope, Curtis disappeared.
57:11
Yeah, Curtis disappeared, Said The baby got sick.
57:14
Get enough of me, man. No, man, we can't never get
57:17
enough of you. He said he said baby got sick,
57:20
so he's. We going to roll this one
57:23
through. So let's talk about this last
57:24
topic because something came across today regarding NIL and a
57:29
little bit about the transfer portal with the the bill from
57:34
Congress, the bipartisan bill you know talking about
57:38
transferring one time after three years some other
57:41
guardrails for NIL. Is that do you think something
57:45
like that is a type of legislation that would
57:48
ultimately? Help the Hokies?
57:50
Or do you think it would work against us in the long run
57:54
considering especially if we stay in the ACC?
57:57
Yeah, I mean, it's difficult. Again, it's kind of difficult to
58:00
judge at the outset, like hearing about it.
58:04
I feel like it would benefit Virginia Tech just because like
58:08
specifically for NIL, if you're looking at the biggest winners
58:13
from it and you go and you can check right now and go to, you
58:16
know, the top 25 teams and you see a couple names in there that
58:20
you're not used to seeing. Like, those are the guys that
58:22
have really figured out a way to do it, right.
58:25
And like with Virginia Tech, like obviously they're
58:27
recruiting better now. You look at, you know, it's
58:31
definitely helped them to a certain extent, but they're
58:34
still 34th right now. They're not in the top 25 like
58:37
last year they were in the 40s, I think 45th overall or
58:40
something. So I definitely think it would
58:44
help them in the long run kind of equal to playing field in
58:47
terms of you know when you're when you're talking about all
58:50
these programs kind of competing for the same thing.
58:53
Like I think it would help in that regard, but I still think
58:56
it's early to tell like how it would directly impact them.
58:59
I think they would be fine either way.
59:02
From a let me ask this from a player perspective, because
59:06
obviously with this bill comes a handful of compromises on the
59:10
NIL front, but I'd say the bigger compromise is on the
59:14
transfer portal front, where other than.
59:17
A few certain situations, you'd have to play three years with
59:21
your first institution before you could transfer without
59:24
penalty. Kind of gets us kind of back
59:27
into basically the framework that we were operating under
59:31
before the transfer portal and before the one time transfer
59:35
rule kind of came into play for these institutions.
59:40
Just think about the players you've spoken with, You think?
59:44
They would be more willing to take some concessions on the NIL
59:48
front. Or do you think they'd be
59:50
willing to sacrifice the lack of freedom of mobility in order to
59:56
be able to maximize NIL to a little bit more of a situation
1:00:01
with those new guardrails in place?
1:00:02
Yeah, that's a really good question.
1:00:04
I I would say that you know if that if that were to be the case
1:00:08
first of all it's it seems like so completely arbitrary like
1:00:11
just putting a time frame on you know someone.
1:00:14
But I understand that's the old days and now we're like kind of
1:00:17
caught up to current standards and you know portal madness all
1:00:21
the time. But I feel like, you know that
1:00:23
just makes recruiting tougher and it makes NIL that much more
1:00:27
important because if you're going to stay at a place you
1:00:29
want to make sure you're taken care of whether you're on,
1:00:31
especially if you're not on the field, you know to to make sure
1:00:34
those promises are up are up kept.
1:00:37
And so I definitely think that would become a bigger topic of
1:00:41
conversation. And to your point maybe that's
1:00:43
where maybe it hurts. Virginia Tech, you know, I would
1:00:47
say they're competitive right now.
1:00:49
But if everyone has equal playing fields, you know, you're
1:00:51
really going to have to start to target the Brody Adams of the
1:00:55
world early on and and and try to make sure that you're good
1:00:58
with them and then you know you move on to your next one.
1:01:01
But yeah, overall, I I definitely think, you know, it
1:01:06
would cause more players to think about longerterm futures
1:01:09
and, you know, kind of making sure that they keep their NIL
1:01:13
intact. Yeah, I just was looking at
1:01:18
that. I was like, you know, I was
1:01:20
trying to think back to my playing days and like if if I
1:01:22
had something in place like that would would mobility matter more
1:01:25
to me or being able to to make the money?
1:01:28
And obviously that's a different conversation probably depending
1:01:31
on who you are and where you come from and and everything
1:01:33
like that, but. You know they're they're talking
1:01:37
you know I'm always I'm I'm big on player mobility and and
1:01:41
player choice so I've always been kind of that advocate.
1:01:45
So looking at it, I'm like, all right, so you you're putting a
1:01:47
three-year on on the player. Are we going to put five years
1:01:50
on the coaches unless their contract runs out or they get
1:01:52
fired Like what what what are we doing here.
1:01:56
So that that was my first thought.
1:01:58
When I saw that pop, I was like, all right.
1:02:00
So we we going to start doing, you know, is this just for the
1:02:02
players? Are we going to, you know?
1:02:04
You'll talk about coaches. Yeah, you know it's going to be
1:02:07
just for the players. If I'm going to play, I'm taking
1:02:09
the money. Give me the money.
1:02:12
I want the money wherever I choose.
1:02:15
I chose that because I'm happy. But if I can get a little bit of
1:02:18
fiddles while I'm now hook me up, that's just me.
1:02:23
I kind of agree. Yes, man.
1:02:26
We've had a great time tonight, man.
1:02:28
We appreciate you coming in and giving us your expertise.
1:02:32
We know that you're going to work hard.
1:02:34
When you get back to the office to get those guys to bump some
1:02:37
rankings up for us, man, we're just trying to get the top 25.
1:02:41
That's all. We ain't asking for much.
1:02:42
We're creeping, we're creeping on the top 25 in terms of
1:02:46
average. So I like that.
1:02:47
I like we're treating up on that, that that's nice.
1:02:50
That's really nice. I'll make some calls, don't
1:02:53
worry. Thank you.
1:02:54
Thank you, man. That's all we wanted to hear.
1:02:56
That's all we wanted to hear. We went to the good guy name, I
1:02:59
mean. You know, your dad did not name
1:03:01
you that cool name for you to be and be an asshole to people.
1:03:05
I'm not the superhero, so no promises.
1:03:07
But I am the good guy, so I'll put in a word.
1:03:09
There you go. We appreciate you, brother.
1:03:11
Yep. Well, we appreciate it.
1:03:13
But hey, it's been a blast tonight.
1:03:15
As always, every time you come on it's a good time and we
1:03:20
really appreciate you taking the time to come on and chop it up
1:03:23
with us and give us some some new information and take your
1:03:26
victory lap a little bit on what you talked about in March.
1:03:29
Yeah, feels good and obviously always a blast.
1:03:32
So looking forward to the next time we got to do it again.
1:03:35
Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir.
1:03:37
That's going to wrap up this episode of the Boundary Corner
1:03:39
Podcast brought to you by Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg on
1:03:43
behalf of Batay sis, our guest and our partner Curtis Wilson.
1:03:47
I'm Brian Siegler. Jonathan Talley, visit our.
1:03:51
Website at Boundary Corner V t.com to listen to all of our
1:03:55
episodes. While you're there, don't forget
1:03:58
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1:04:01
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1:04:11
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1:04:19
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1:04:23
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1:04:27
listening. And as always, let's go Hokies.