Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech had the 24th-ranked recruiting class in all of college football as rated by Rivals.com, landing some of the top high school talent in the Commonwealth.

But did the team do everything it needed to do?

The question is now who in the class could step up when the regular season starts this fall and where should some of those versatile players could line up on the field.

Mike Farrell is the lead national recruiting analyst at Rivals.com, and is regarded by some to be the nation's foremost recruiting analyst.

He joined Rivals in 1998 to cover the happenings of the Big East, but now his coverage spans all of college football.

He's made several appearances on College GameDay and ESPNews and was willing to talk with the Collegiate Times to give his opinion on Tech's 2009 recruiting class.

Collegiate Times: On a scale of one to 10, how would you rank Tech's recruiting class and why?

Mike Farrell: Based on what Frank Beamer has done in the past, I would say an eight. It's a top-25 ranked class nationally and they addressed a lot but not all of their needs through their recruiting. They're normally within the top-25 to top-40 recruiting classes; but being able to pull in two of the top 100 prospects, which are impact players on offense, pushed them into the top-25.

CT: How does this year's class compare to other top recruiting classes in the country?

MF: They don't have as much star power as a lot of the other classes. They've got five guys ranked four stars, and the rest of their class is made up of mostly three-star players. In the Atlantic Coast Conference, there's a little bit a drop off after Florida State, Miami, North Carolina and Clemson in terms of four- and five-star recruits. Tech didn't grab as many high impact players but (gained) a lot of depth.

CT: Were there any needs the team didn't address?

MF: Quarterback without a doubt; they needed one pretty bad. They went after Kevin Newsome pretty hard, but he wound up at Penn State. Since they really put all their eggs in that one basket, they didn't have a whole lot of other options.  I think they should have spread out their interest a little more. Also, they probably should have gone a little deeper on the offensive line; they picked up two guys but should have signed on one or two more. Other than that, they did very well.

CT: Which player can have the most immediate impact?

MF: Logan Thomas; he's just a rare athlete. At 6'6" and 240 pounds, he's very athletic. He can play out at wide receiver or in the slot at tight end and create an immediate mismatch. He can just do so much and he'll have an immediate impact on the team.

CT: Where should Logan Thomas play?

MF: I think he should play tight end. I don't think he has the flat-out speed to be a wide receiver, but he doesn't need to line up next to the tackle and do a lot of blocking. He should be utilized in the slot like a lot of NFL tight ends these days. I also think they should put him at quarterback in some packages like they did with Greg Boone, who Thomas is a much better athlete than. It could help in the red-zone where they utilize all his abilities.

CT: Who do you think could prove to be a pleasant surprise in the fall?

MF: Jerrod Williams. Hard to say he'll be a surprise cause he's a four-star kid. But because of his size and his ability I think he can step in a lot sooner than most people would think and have an impact. Not necessarily as a starter but maybe on special teams and in the two-deep packages.

CT: What could they have done better?

MF: Gone after more quarterbacks. I've seen it before in a lot of situations where a team puts a lot on one QB and they miss out on a lot of players. They just didn't have a back-up plan at quarterback after Newsome fell through and they definitely needed to bring in someone to be ready to play in a backup role.

CT: Who do you feel like is the most dynamic athlete picked up by the Hokies?

Continue Reading: 12 Next »