Singningday
Also joining the Hokies is tight end Jerome Lewis from Rochester, N.Y., defensive back Kyle Fuller from Baltimore, Md., cornerback Detrick Bonner from McDonough, Ga., and defensive end Justin Taylor from Norwood, N.C.
The Hokies also added two quarterbacks from out-of-state — Ricardo Young, from Washington, D.C., and Mark Leal from Greenacres, Fla.
Young is rated the No. 21 dual-threat quarterback in the country by Rivals and was the Gatorade State Football Player of the Year for the District.
Leal is ranked the 28th best dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.
Of the 20 players in the 2010 recruiting class, 12 are projected to play on the defensive side of the ball, while eight players are projected to play offense. Five are offensive linemen.
Beamer said that while the number of offensive linemen signed may seem high, Tech followed its original plan.
“We have an overall of how many offensive lineman we’d like to have in the overall scheme, you know, and how many defensive ends we’d like to have, how many defensive tackles you’d like to have in the program, and we try to stay fairly close to that,” Beamer said.
In past years, the Hokies went out-of-state often, signing highly recruited offensive linemen who never made it to the field due to struggles such as academic ineligibility or injury.
In recent years, however, they’ve looked more toward homegrown products.
“I think what’s happened is — well, some of those misses ... caused us to continue to catch up as to the number of offensive lineman we’d like to have in our program,” Beamer said.
Some familiar names highlight the 2010 recruiting class as well.
Four brothers and one cousin of current or former Hokie football players signed Wednesday, including former Hokie and current NFL safety Vincent Fuller’s brother, Kyle; former Hokie Ryan Shuman’s brother, Mark; current Hokie Antoine Hopkins’ brother, Derrick; and current Hokie Nubian Peak’s brother, Tahrick.
Also, Zack McCray is the first cousin of current Hokies’ backup quarterback, Logan Thomas.
“When we get brothers coming, like Tahrick Peak, Mark Shuman, Kyle Fuller and Derrick Hopkins, and a cousin, like Zack McCray, you like the statement that it makes about your program and how you treat people,” Beamer said.
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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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The first thing they can learn is how whoever makes then schedule doesn't have a brain in his/her/their head(s)... scheduling an opening game in a neutral field, that's worked out great so far. Nice job to the brain trust who planned that one out.
Best of luck kids...
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Yeah, because a matchup of two top-10 teams on national television with tons of hype and exposure make no sense at all. I'd much rather play JMU or William & Mary to start the season, right?
Look, the exposure offered by games against top competition is invaluable for our program. Obviously we'd like to be winning these games, but recruits are looking for teams that play top competition and are on television a lot. And if you're thinking about contending for a national championship, our ACC schedule alone isn't going to be enough.
And relax, VT playing in D.C. against Boise St. is essentially a home game for us anyway.
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No, I'd rather them play what the tenative schedule had them playing - Central Michigan, who closed out their season with a bowl win, in Blacksburg.
Remind me again how that "national exposure" worked out in past seasons against USC and Alabama at neutral fields? VT playing in DC is a home game which is why they won against USC, right? Oh wait...
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Let's see: USC in 2004 - ended up BCS #1 and beat Oklahoma 55-19 in the title game - we lost due to a highly controversial pass interference call. Alabama in 2009 - ended up BCS #1 - we lost after holding a lead at the end of the 3rd quarter. With the exception of the loss to ECU in 2008, a year in which we won our share of squeakers and showed poorly against Furman, I would not say that these neutral site games have gone badly for the program. More to the point of your argument, the outcomes had much less to do with the location of the game and more to do with the fact that we were playing the best talent in college football.
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